Charles Bell Birch (28 September 1832 – 16 October 1893) was a British sculptor.

Biography

Birch was born at

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...

in south London, the son of the author and translator Jonathan Birch (1783–1847) and his wife Esther (née Brooke). As a child he showed artistic promise, and at the age of twelve he was admitted to study at Somerset House School of Design. In the following year, 1845, his father moved to Germany, and Birch attended the Royal Academy in Berlin, where he produced his first significant work, a bust of the British Ambassador to Berlin, the

Earl of Westmoreland Earl of Westmorland is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of England. The title was first created in 1397 for Ralph Neville. It was forfeited in 1571 by Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland, for leading the Rising of the Nort ...

. Birch returned to England in 1852 and became a student at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

of Arts, gaining two medals. For ten years he was principal assistant to

John Henry Foley John Henry Foley (24 May 1818 – 27 August 1874), often referred to as J. H. Foley, was an Irish sculptor, working in London. he is best known for his statues of Daniel O'Connell in Dublin, and of Prince Albert for the Albert Memorial in Lond ...

R.A. and from 1852 till his death he exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy, and was elected an Associate member of the Academy in 1880. Birch won a significant prize of £600 in an open competition in 1864 from the

Art Union of London The Art Union of London, established in 1837, was an organisation which distributed works of art amongst its subscribers by lottery. Art unions Art unions were organisations created to function as patrons of art. Members would pay a small annual ...

for his marble work ''The Wood Nymph'', which was judged to be the "best original figure or group". It was subsequently selected as one of the representative works of British art for the Vienna, Philadelphia and Paris Exhibitions. To mark the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria's reign in 1887, Birch was commissioned to carve a statue, in

Carrara Carrara ( , ; , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some Boxing the compass, west-northwest o ...

marble, of the Queen for

Udaipur Udaipur () (ISO 15919: ''Udayapura''), historically named as Udayapura, is a city and municipal corporation in Udaipur district of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is the administrative headquarter of Udaipur district. It is the historic capit ...

in India. Subsequently at least eight copies of this statue were cast in bronze for locations in Britain and throughout the

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. In 1891 he was one of eight eminent artists who were invited to submit designs for new British coinage. Adrian Jones and Horace Montford were pupils of Birch.

Selected works

* ''Wood Nymph'' (1864), his first really popular work * ''Dragon'' (1880) on Temple Bar Memorial * Statue of ''Lieutenant Walter Hamilton'' in Dublin (about 1880), now on display in the

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. * Statue of

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation o ...

(1883) in

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* Statue of

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(1884), one of the

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, in Queen's Park (Toronto) * Allegorical statues of "Justice" and "Plenty" (1887), for the

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New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. * Statue of

William Earle (soldier) Major General William Earle (18 May 1833 – 10 February 1885) was a British Army officer of the 19th century.

(1887) outside

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* Fountain (1889) in the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney The Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney is a heritage-listed major botanical garden, event venue and public recreation area located at Farm Cove on the eastern fringe of the Sydney central business district, in the City of Sydney local government ar ...

* Statue of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

(1896), at the north end of

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in London * Statue of William Ward, 1st

Earl of Dudley Earl of Dudley, of Dudley Castle in the County of Stafford (now the West Midlands), is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, both times for members of the Ward family. History Dudley was first used for a p ...

, (1888) Castle Street,

Dudley Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...

, England * Bust of Prince Frederick William of Prussia, taken from sittings before his marriage with the Princess Victoria * ''The Last Call'', a group representing the attempt to save the Residency at Cabul in 1879 * An equestrian statuette of William III, created for the King of the Netherlands * A series of illustrations for

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

's poem ''

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'' created for the Art Union of London (1880)

References

Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Birch, Charles Bell 1832 births 1893 deaths 19th-century British sculptors 19th-century English male artists Artists' Rifles soldiers Associates of the Royal Academy English male sculptors People from Brixton Sculptors from London