Alexander Munro

With Faustus Fine Art, London, 2001;

From whom acquired by the father of the present owners.

A distinguished Scottish sculptor of the Victorian era, Alexander Munro emerged as a pivotal figure in the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Born in Inverness, Scotland, he was the son of a stonemason. His prodigious talent was recognized early, leading to financial support from his father's employer, the Duchess of Sutherland, who brought him to the attention of the architect Charles Barry. Barry in turn introduced him to John Thomas and Munro travelled to London to work with Thomas on the new Houses of Parliament. He subsequently took up studies at the Royal Academy schools where he became friends with Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood had a lasting impression on his work.

Despite his promising career, Munro's life was tragically short. He succumbed to lung disease in 1871 at the age of 45. Nevertheless, his contributions to British sculpture, particularly in advancing the naturalistic and emotive tendencies of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, have left an enduring mark on the art world. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1849 to 1870, as well as at the Great Exhibition in 1851. His most renowned work, Paolo and Francesca (1851–1852), epitomizes the Pre-Raphaelite aesthetic with its delicate rendering and emotive subject matter. Indeed, it has been claimed that this piece is the ‘only true example of Pre-Raphaelite sculpture’ (Read, op. cit., p. 97). The marble version of this work is housed in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

Munro's oeuvre encompasses portrait busts, medallions, and genre sculptures, often infused with naturalistic detail and sentimental themes. This beautiful relief of Lady Alwyne Compton encapsulates Munro’s propensity for naturalistic motifs, adorning the subject with an ivy wreath and acorn necklace. The model was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1854 (no. 1524) as 'Lady Alwyne Compton: a medallion', and another marble version is in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth House.

Born in 1829, Lady Alwyne Compton (née Florence Caroline Anderson) was married to Lord Alwyne Compton, Bishop of Ely (1825–1906).

RELATED LITERATURE

B. Read, ‘Was There a Pre-Raphaelite Sculpture?’, Pre-Raphaelite Papers, Tate Gallery, 1984, pp. 97-110