Matthew Noble (23 March 1817 – 23 June 1876) was a leading British portrait sculptor. Carver of numerous monumental figures and busts including work, memorializing Victorian era royalty and statesmen, displayed in locations such as Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral and Parliament Square, London.[1]
Life
Noble was born in Hackness, near Scarborough, as the son of a stonemason, and served his apprenticeship under his father. He left Yorkshire for London when quite young, there he studied under John Francis (the father of sculptor Mary Thornycroft). Exhibiting regularly at the Royal Academy from 1845 until his death, Noble became recognised after winning the competition to construct the Wellington Monument in Manchester in 1856.
Noble created a large body of work including portrait busts, statues and monuments. The deaths of two his sons, including Herbert (himself a promising sculptor, who was killed, aged 19, in the Abbots Ripton rail accident) are said to have contributed to Noble's own early death, aged 58, in June of the same year.[2] He is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London, on the west side of the main entrance path from the north, towards the central colonnade.[3] His uncompleted works were finished by his assistant Joseph Edwards, who also discarded the studio's plaster models.[2]
Selected works
1845-1849
1850-1859
1860-1869
1870 and later
Church monuments and memorials
Throughout his career Noble was responsible for creating a number of monuments and memorials for British churches and cathedrals. Examples include
Memorial to Lady Vanden Bempde-Johnstone in the Chancel of the Church of St Peter, Hackness
Tomb chest with effigy, in grey and white marble, as a memorial to Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey, died 1859, in the Church of Saint John the Baptist at Flitton.[58]
^Robinson, Leonard (2007). William Etty: The Life and Art. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 418. ISBN 978-0-7864-2531-0.
^ a bUniversity of Glasgow History of Art / HATII (2011). "Matthew Noble". Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain & Ireland 1851–1951. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
^Benjamin Wheatley, Henry (1891). London, Past and Present: Its History, Associations, and Traditions · Volume 1. London: John Murray. p. 282.
^"Marble bust of George Hudson (1800-1871)". Science Museum Group. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
^"Henry Smith (1826-1883)". Art UK. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
^"John Phillips (1800-1874)". Art UK. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
^Richard Pollard & Nikolaus Pevsner (2006). The Buildings of England: Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. p. 296. ISBN 0-300-10910-5.
^"Memorial to Captain Edmund Moubray Lyons". The Courtauld Institute of Art. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
^"Crimean War Memorial to the 77th East Middlesex Regiment". The Courtauld Institute of Art. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n oJo Darke (1991). The Monument Guide to England and Wales. Macdonald Illustrated. ISBN 0-356-17609-6.
^"Peel Park, Salford". Parks & Gardens. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
^"Statues and memories of empire in post-imperial France and Britain". Cast in Stone. University of Essex. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
^Historic Environment Scotland. "Wellington Square, Monument to James George Smith Neill, CB (Category B Listed Building) (LB21821)". Retrieved 19 September 2022.
^"Monument to Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone (1779-1859)". Art UK. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
^Cadw. "Anglesey Column (5432)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
^"Monument to Field Marshall Lord Anglesey". The Courtauld Institute of Art. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
^"Monument to Admiral Lord Edmund Lyons (1790-1858)". Art UK. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
^"Memorial to Edmund, Lord Lyons". The Courtauld Institute of Art. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
^"Sir James Outram". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
^"Monument to James Outram". The Courtauld Institute of Art. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
^"Sir Robert Bentley Todd, Statue, King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill". Public Monuments and Sculpture Association. Archived from the original on 20 May 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
^"Prince Albert Memorial". The Courtauld Institute of Art. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
^Historic Environment Scotland. "Wellington Square, Monument to Archibald William, Earl of Eglinton and Wintoun (Category B Listed Building) (LB21822)". Retrieved 19 September 2022.
^ a bDiane Bilbey with Marjorie Trusted (2002). British Sculpture 1470 to 2000 A Concise Catalogue of the Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum. V&A Publications. ISBN 1851773959.
^"Bust of Oliver Cromwell". The Courtauld Institute of Art. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
^"Bust of Prince Albert". The Courtauld Institute of Art. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
^"Bust of Queen Victoria". The Courtauld Institute of Art. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
^"Bust of Thomas Goadsby". The Courtauld Institute of Art. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
^"Statue of Prince Albert". The Courtauld Institute of Art. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
^"Statue of Queen Victoria". The Courtauld Institute of Art. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
^"Bust of Edward, Prince of Wales". The Courtauld Institute of Art. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
^"Bust of Princess of Wales, later Queen Alexandra". The Courtauld Institute of Art. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
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