Edward Bowring Stephens
| Edward Bowring Stephens | |
|---|---|
Edward Bowring Stephens, c.1860s, National Portrait Gallery, London
|
|
| Born |
10 December 1815 Exeter |
| Died |
10 November 1882 London |
| Nationality | British |
| Known for | Sculpture |
| Awards | ARA, Gold Medal RA, 1843, Battle of Centaurs and Lapithae |
Edward Bowring Stephens ARA (10 December 1815, in Exeter – 10 November 1882, in London), (works signed E B Stephens) was a British sculptor from Devon. He was honorary secretary of the Institute of Sculptors circa 1861.
Edward Bowring Stephens was born in Exeter, the son of James Stephens (1777–1849), a statuary mason. His middle name may relate to a familial tie with the prominent Bowring family of Exeter, descended from local wool merchants, a member of which was Sir John Bowring (1792–1872), Governor of Hong Kong, whose marble bust was sculpted by Stephens and is now in the collection of the Devon and Exeter Institution, Exeter.
Stephens began his artistic training as a pupil of the Exeter-based draughtsman and landscape painter John Gendall (d.1865), who gave classes at his premises at "Mol's Coffee House". In 1835, aged 20 he moved to London to become a pupil of the sculptor Edward Hodges Baily (1788–1867). In 1836 he was admitted a student of the Royal Academy and in 1837 gained a silver medal at the Society of Arts for a small original model of Ajax defying the Gods. His first exhibits were in 1838 at the Royal Academy, of Narcissus, An Arcadian Nymph, Maternal Love, and a bust. The next year he sent for exhibit Diana and another bust. Early in 1839 he travelled to Rome, Italy, where he stayed for three years and gained valuable experience.
In about 1842 Stephens returned from Italy to London and in 1843 was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Academy for a small relief work of The Battle of the Centaurs and Lapithæ. At about this time he gained a commission for a life-size statue in marble of John Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle (d.1842), of Bicton House near Exeter. The work is signed "1844", and may therefore have been posthumous. The bust remains on display in Bicton House in 2013. In 1845 he assisted in the decoration of the summer pavilion at Buckingham Palace and sent two of his group sculptures the Great Exhibition of 1851, where they attracted notice: Satan Vanquished and Satan tempting Eve, for a chimneypiece at Buckingham Palace. In 1864 Stephens was elected an associate of the Royal Academy, but possibly in the mistaken belief on the part of the members that he was Alfred Stevens, the sculptor of the Wellington monument in St. Paul's Cathedral, London. He exhibited many works at the Royal Academy, including busts, statues and groups, frequently of contemporary Devon notables.
...
Wikipedia