John Birnie Philip (23 November 1824 – 2 March 1875) was a nineteenth-century English sculptor. Much of his work was carried out for the architect Sir
George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...
.
Life
Philip was born in London, the son of William and Elizabeth Philip.
He studied at the Government School of Design at
Somerset House in London under
John Rogers Herbert, and then at Herbert's own newly opened school in
Maddox Street
Maddox Street is a street in the Mayfair area of London, extending from Regent Street to St George's, Hanover Square.
History
Maddox Street was completed in 1720. It was named after Sir Benjamin Maddox who owned the Millfield estate on which th ...
. He went on to work in
Augustus Pugin
Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 181214 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and, ultimately, Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival st ...
's wood carving workshop at the
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north ban ...
before setting up his own studio.
Much of Philip's work was commissioned for buildings by the
Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
architect Sir George Gilbert Scott. At
St Michael, Cornhill
St Michael, Cornhill, is a medieval parish church in the City of London with pre- Norman Conquest parochial foundation. It lies in the ward of Cornhill. The medieval structure was lost in the Great Fire of London, and replaced by the present ...
, in the City of London, he carved the decorations for the porch built by Scott as part of his Gothic embellishment of Wren's church. They included an elaborate
tympanum sculpture depicting ''St Michael disputing with Satan'',
[ which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1858, his first work to be shown there.] He did further carvings for the interior of the building.
As part of Scott's restoration of St Mary's chapel at Sudeley Castle, Philip made a font and reredos, and a white, life-size, marble effigy for the canopied tomb of Catherine Parr
Catherine Parr (sometimes alternatively spelled Katherine, Katheryn, Kateryn, or Katharine; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen of England and Ireland as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until ...
. The effigy was shown – unfinished – at the Royal Academy in 1859.[
In 1863–64 Scott commissioned Philip, along with ]Henry Hugh Armstead
Henry Hugh Armstead (18 June 18284 December 1905) was an English sculptor and illustrator, influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites.
Biography
Armstead was born at Bloomsbury in central London, the son of John Armstead, a chaser and heraldic engraver ...
(1828–1905), to make the podium frieze, the ''Frieze of Parnassus
The Frieze of Parnassus is a large sculpted stone frieze encircling the podium, or base, of the Albert Memorial in London, England. The Albert Memorial was constructed in the 1860s in memory of Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria.
The f ...
'', on the Albert Memorial
The Albert Memorial, directly north of the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington Gardens, London, was commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her beloved husband Prince Albert, who died in 1861. Designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the Gothic R ...
in Kensington Gardens
Kensington Gardens, once the private gardens of Kensington Palace, are among the Royal Parks of London. The gardens are shared by the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and sit immediately to the west of Hyd ...
. Philip carved the images of architects (including Scott himself) on the west side of the monument, and those of the sculptors on the north. As well as his work on the frieze, he modelled the bronze allegorical statues of ''Geometry'', ''Philosophy'', ''Geology'' and ''Physiology'' for niches on the western side of the canopy, and the gilt metal angels on the spire. At the time of the commission, Philip and Armstead were little known compared to the other sculptors working on the memorial. While carrying out this work, Philip lodged in the kitchen wing of The Pavilion, Sloane Place
Sloane Place, later The Pavilion, was a large house built by the architect Henry Holland in Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one o ...
in Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
Elsewhere in London, Philip produced allegorical figures (including ''Art'', ''Law'' and ''Commerce'') for the front of Scott's Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreig ...
on Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Sq ...
, eight figures of monarchs for the Royal Gallery in the Palace of Westminster (1868–69), a "young woman in classical drapery floating forward on a small cloud" on a drinking fountain in West Smithfield Square (1870) and the decorations, depicting plants and birds, on the Portland stone capitals of the piers of Blackfriars Bridge
Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge, carrying the A201 road. The north end is in the City of London near the Inns of Court and Temple Ch ...
. By 1870, Philip's success meant he could move into his own home and studio at Manresa Road, Chelsea.
In 1874, the year before his death, Philip was paid £312 for carving "the Relievos etc." on the entrance porch at the Royal Academy's Burlington House
Burlington House is a building on Piccadilly in Mayfair, London. It was originally a private Neo-Palladian mansion owned by the Earls of Burlington and was expanded in the mid-19th century after being purchased by the British government. To ...
.
His works in churches and cathedrals include the reredos
A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images.
The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for e ...
es for Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is an Anglican cathedral in the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
The cathedral has its origins in AD 672 when St Etheldreda built an abbey church. The present ...
, St. George's Chapel, Windsor[ and ]Lichfield Cathedral
Lichfield Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England, one of only three cathedrals in the United Kingdom with three spires (together with Truro Cathedral and St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh), and the only medie ...
, decorative work at Wakefield Cathedral
Wakefield Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of All Saints in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, is a co-equal Anglican cathedral with Bradford and Ripon Cathedrals, in the Diocese of Leeds and a seat of the Bishop of Leeds. Originally the pa ...
, the tomb of Dean Lyall in Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...
and the tomb of Lt Col Willoughby Moore in York Minster
The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Arch ...
. For the Victoria Memorial, Kolkata
The Victoria Memorial is a large marble building on the Maidan in Central Kolkata, built between 1906 and 1921. It is dedicated to the memory of Queen Victoria, Empress of India from 1876 to 1901.
The largest monument to a monarch anywhere ...
, in about 1864, Philip produced a bronze bust of Charlotte Canning, Countess Canning
Charlotte Canning, Countess Canning (''née'' Stuart; 31 March 1817 – 18 November 1861) was a British artist and the first vicereine of India. She was one of India's most prolific women artists – two portfolios in the Victoria and Albert Mu ...
.
Often commissioned to make commemorative municipal works, Philip produced
a bust of Richard Cobden for the Halifax Chamber of Commerce (1867),[ a statue of the humanitarian ]Richard Oastler
Richard Oastler (20 December 1789 – 22 August 1861) was a "Tory radical", an active opponent of Catholic Emancipation and Parliamentary Reform and a lifelong admirer of the Duke of Wellington; but also an abolitionist and prominent in th ...
, now situated in Northgate, Bradford
Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...
, and one of the Reverend Robert Hall in De Montfort Square, Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city l ...
.
His last work was the statue of Edward Akroyd
Lieutenant Colonel Edward Akroyd (1810–1887), English manufacturer, was born into a textile manufacturing family in 1810, and when he died in 1887, he still owned the family firm. He inherited "James Akroyd & Sons Ltd." from his father in 1 ...
, M.P., erected at Halifax.[ The work, in bronze, had been designed and partially modelled by Philip at the time of his death, and was completed by his assistant Ceccardo Egidio Fucigna. Much earlier, Philip had been responsible for the elaborate carving in Scott's church of All Souls, Haley Hill, Halifax, founded by Akroyd in 1856.
His apprentices included ]Thomas Stirling Lee
Thomas Stirling Lee (London, 16 March 1857 – 29 June 1916, London) was an English sculptor, specialising in reliefs and portrait heads.
Early life
Lee was born in Lambeth, London on 16 March 1857, the son of John Swanwick Lee, a surveyor. ...
.
Family
200px, Frances Septima Birnie Philip by her sister Beatrice
Philip married Frances Black in 1853. They had ten children, including a daughter, Beatrice (also called 'Beatrix' or 'Trixie'), who married James McNeill Whistler
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...
in 1888. Their daughter Ethel
Ethel (also '' æthel'') is an Old English word meaning "noble", today often used as a feminine given name.
Etymology and historic usage
The word means ''æthel'' "noble".
It is frequently attested as the first element in Anglo-Saxon names, b ...
married the writer Charles Whibley
Charles Whibley (9 December 1859 – 4 March 1930) was an English literary journalist and author. In literature and the arts, his views were progressive. He supported James Abbott McNeill Whistler (they had married sisters). He also recommended ...
. Birnie's youngest daughter Rosalind Birnie Philip
Rosalind Birnie Philip (14 November 1873 – 6 February 1958) was the sister-in-law of James McNeill Whistler. After the death of her sister Beatrice Whistler, Beatrice in 1896 Rosalind acted as secretary to Whistler and was appointed Whistler's s ...
acted as Whistler's companion, secretary and house-keeper after Beatrice's death, and was appointed his executrix. From December 1900 to February 1901 Birnie's son Ronald accompanied Whistler on a trip to the Morocco, Algiers
Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques d ...
and Corsica
Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...
. Beatrice, Ronald, Ethel and Rosalind all modelled for him at various times, as did their mother Frances. His eldest daughter, Constance (1854–1929), married the artist Cecil Gordon Lawson
Cecil Gordon Lawson (3 December 1849 – 10 June 1882 London) was a British landscapist and illustrator.
Life
The youngest son of William Lawson of Edinburgh, a well-regarded portrait painter, and of a mother also known for her flower pi ...
.
Death
Philip died of bronchitis
Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi (large and medium-sized airways) in the lungs that causes coughing. Bronchitis usually begins as an infection in the nose, ears, throat, or sinuses. The infection then makes its way down to the bronchi. ...
at his home, Merton Villa, King's Road
King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents), is a major street stretching through Chelsea and Fulham, both ...
, Chelsea on 2 March 1875, and was buried in Brompton Cemetery
Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Establ ...
.[
]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Philip, John Birnie
1824 births
1875 deaths
19th-century British sculptors
19th-century English male artists
British architectural sculptors
English male sculptors
Sculptors from London
King's Road, Chelsea, London