Thomas Rawlins (1727–1789) was an English sculptor, architect and architectural author, who specialized in funerary monuments.

Biography

Thomas Rawlins was the son of a

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

worsted Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead, a village in the English county of Norfolk. That village, together with North Walsham and Aylsham ...

weaver. He was trained by a London sculptor and ran a successful business as a funerary monument mason in Norwich from circa 1743–81, specialising in coloured marbles. In 1753 he advertised himself as, ''a carver and mason at Duke's Palace Yard, Norwich of monuments and chimney pieces both ancient and modern.'' Ranking high as a sculptor in the view of art historian

Nicholas Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

, Rawlins' style spans from late Baroque

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

to Neoclassical. This stylistic change, according to Pevsner, is illustrated by two monuments in St Andrew's Church, Norwich, the first to John Custance (circa 1756) the second to Richard Dennison (circa 1767). Later monuments to William Wilcocks (1714–1770) in St Swithin's (now

Norwich Arts Centre Norwich Arts Centre is a live music venue, theatre and art gallery located in St Benedict's Street in Norwich, Norfolk, England. It has a capacity of 260 for standing music concerts and 120 for seated events. In November 2014, it was named "Brita ...

), and Robert Rushbrook (1705–81) in

Saint John the Baptist, Maddermarket, Norwich The Church of St John the Baptist, Maddermarket, is a redundant Anglican church in the city of Norwich, Norfolk, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is in the care ...

, display a great awareness of neo-classical motifs. His monument for Sir Thomas Churchman at St Giles' Church, Norwich however, is considered to be his finest work. It features a medallion portrait and a sarcophagus, which is decorated with allegorical figures representing

Vanity Vanity is the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness to others. Prior to the 14th century it did not have such narcissistic undertones, and merely meant ''futility''. The related term vainglory is now often seen as an archaic ...

, Time, and Judgement, along with an Egyptian pyramid in construction. Rawlins also practised as an architect. His designs, like his contemporary

Thomas Ivory Thomas Ivory (1709–1779) was an English builder and architect, active in Norwich. Life Ivory was born in 1709. His early years and education remain obscure. His earliest recorded large commission was in his capacity as a builder and timber m ...

, architect of the Octagon Chapel (1756), were

Neo-Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective ...

in style. He competed for the Royal Exchange (

City Hall, Dublin The City Hall, Dublin (), originally the Royal Exchange, is a civic building in Dublin, Ireland. It was built between 1769 and 1779, to the designs of architect Thomas Cooley, and is a notable example of 18th-century architecture in the city. ...

) in 1769, and exhibited designs at the Society of Artists in 1767, 1769 and 1770 and at the Royal Academy in 1773, 1774 and 1776. In 1765 the Ipswich Journal advertised a proposed work on architecture by Rawlins and in 1768 he published a pattern book, ''Familiar Architecture: or Original Designs of Houses for Gentlemen and Tradesmen; Parsonages; Summer Retreats; Banqueting-Rooms; and Churches.'' Further editions of Rawlins' pattern book were issued in 1789 and 1795, and in contemporary times it has been called influential and practical. Archer (2005) suggests that Rawlins' book was seeking to address a bourgeois provincial, rather than an elite metropolitan, clientele, and notes his emphasis on the need for flexibility on questions of proportion so as to fit buildings to the inclinations of their owners. His only documented architectural works are the entrance to St. Andrew's and Blackfriars' Hall, Norwich in 1774, (subsequently rebuilt) and Weston House completed in 1781 for John Custance at

Weston Longville Weston Longville is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, approximately north-west of Norwich. Its name is derived from the Manor of Longaville in Normandy, France, which owned the local land in the 12th century. It covers an area o ...

. The Blackfriars entrance was in a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

style, and housed Norwich Library. The house was described by one critic as a "dull five-by-five bay two-and-a-half-story house" it later became the residence of Parson

James Woodforde James Woodforde (1740–1803) was an English clergyman, mainly in Somerset and Norfolk, remembered as the author of ''The Diary of a Country Parson''. This vivid account of parish life remained unpublished until the 20th century. Early life Ja ...

, and was demolished in 1926. In 1772 his reinforcement with ironwork of the south aisle of Saint John the Baptist at Maddermarket became the subject of satirical verses. Nonetheless, Rawlins is commemorated by a stone in the floor of the church, describing him simply as an architect who died on 18 March 1789.Norwich Mercury, 21 March 1789

Works

File:John Custance monument.jpg, Monument to John Custance by Thomas Rawlins (circa 1756), St Andrew's Church, Norwich File:Thomas Rawlins - Monument for Richard Dennison (1767).jpg, Richard Dennison's monument (1767) St Andrew's Church, Norwich File:Monument to Hambleton Custance (died 1757), Saint Andrew's Church, Norwich.jpg, Hambleton Custance's monument (1757) St Andrew's Church, Norwich File:Rushbrook monument 1781.jpg, Robert Rushbrook's monument (1781)

File:Timothy Balderston's monument (1764).jpg, Timothy Balderston's monument (1764) St George's Church, Colegate, Norwich

References

Sources

*A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660 -1851 ( Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art) edited by Ingrid Roscoe, Emma Elizabeth Hardy, M. G. Sullivan pub. Yale University Press 2009

External links

*
Familiar Architecture, Or Original Designs of Houses
' by Thomas Rawlins, 1789, from

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rawlins, Thoas 1727 births 1789 deaths English sculptors English male sculptors English stonemasons