Exhibition
Peter Scheemakers: The Famous Statuary, 1691-1781
Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
This event has passed
This exhibition features early sketches and photographs of sculpture by Peter Scheemakers (1691-1781), one of the most successful sculptors in eighteenth century England.
Despite his success in his own lifetime, Scheemakers’ work is largely unknown today. His masterpiece is the memorial to Shakespeare in Poets’ Corner, but he contributed another eighteen monuments for Westminster Abbey, and about seventy for other British churches, as well as numerous public statues, garden sculptures and portrait busts of the wealthy and famous.
This exhibition, featuring early sketches and photographs of Scheemakers’ sculpture, featured alongside another exhibition in Leeds Art gallery as part of Continental Sculptors in 18th Century Britain:
David Le Marchand: An Ingenious Man for Carving in Ivory
Lower Sculpture Study Gallery
2 October 1996 – 5 January 1997
Organised by the British Museum with the National Gallery of Scotland and Leeds Art Gallery
Publication
Peter Scheemakers: ‘The Famous Statuary’ 1691-1781
Peter Scheemakers was one of the most successful sculptors in eighteenth century Britain, yet today his work is largely unknown. His masterpiece is the memorial to Shakespeare in Poets’ Corner, but he contributed many more monuments to Westminster Abbey and other churches, as well as public statues, garden sculpture and portrait busts.
In this essay Ingrid Roscoe gives an account of Scheemakers’ career, followed by a discussion of his workshop practice.
This essay has now sold out. A copy is available to read in the Henry Moore Institute’s Sculpture Research Library.
Getting here
This exhibition took place in the Upper Sculpture Study Gallery of Leeds Art Gallery, which is curated by the Henry Moore Institute.
Leeds Art Gallery
The Headrow
Leeds
LS1 3AA
United Kingdom
T: 0113 378 5350
E: art.gallery@leeds.gov.uk