The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Flaxman, John

Born July 6, 1755, in York; died Dec. 7, 1826, in London. English sculptor and graphic artist; representative of classicism.

Flaxman studied at the Royal Academy of Arts in London from 1770 to 1772 and became a professor there in 1810. From 1787 to 1794 he worked in Rome. He sculpted official monuments, including memorial stones in Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. He executed elegant drawings in the style of ancient Greek vase painting to illustrate the Iliad and the Odyssey, the plays of Aeschylus, and Dante’s Divine Comedy (published 1793–1807 in engravings by T. Piroli). From 1775 to 1787, Flaxman created harmoniously clear reliefs in the antique spirit for the pottery manufacturer J. Wedgwood.

REFERENCE

Constable, W. G. John Flaxman, 1755–1826. London, 1927.

References in periodicals archive

29-32 in LVA; and Sienkewicz, "John Flaxman Redux: Copying, Homage, and Allusion in the Watercolors of Benjamin Henry Latrobe," forthcoming in The British Art Journal.

Shattered Landscapes: Revolutionary Ruins in the Virginian Watercolors of Benjamin Henry Latrobe

Greatly influenced by British illustrator John Flaxman, Moritz Retzsch worked in outline form, and his etchings were generally known as Retzsch's Outlines.

Retzsch's Outlines and Poe's 'The Man of the Crowd'

Among the medieval narrative sources accessible to the artists, Havely identifies as the most significant Boccaccio's version in his Esposizioni, whose influence is discernible in the illustrations by Henry Fuseli, John Flaxman, and Jean August Dominique Ingres.

Antonella Braida and Luisa Cale, editors. Dante on View. The Reception of Dante in the Visual and Performing Arts

adding a picture-gallery decorated in a Neo-Classical style, a sculpture-gallery, another picture-gallery in the Greek style, a Hindoo Room, an Egyptian Revival Room (with furniture in an extraordinarily powerful Graeco-Egyptian style designed by himself), a Flaxman Room lo show off works by John Flaxman (1755-1826), and various other rooms for the display of Greek vases.

Thomas Hope: regency designer

For fifty-six years, from 1950 to 2006, I acquired books, prints, and drawings by William Blake and his friends, such as the writer and artist George Cumberland, the sculptor John Flaxman, the book-illustrator Thomas Stothard, and the sensational painter Henry Fuseli.

Bibliomania: the felicitous infection and the comforting cure (1)

Girodet, although influenced by John Flaxman and Johann Heinrich Fussli, uses a different technique: the delicate overlay of ink washes creates subtle modulations, while Fussli contrasts vigorously dark washes on light-colored paper.

Romance and rebellion: the most expressive and wild-tempered artist of his generation, Girodet was commissioned by some of the biggest names in France, and gave free rein to his imagination in executing an impressive array of brilliant paintings

While there, Clarke met the writer Charlotte Smith, the sculptor John Flaxman, and other notable artists and writers.

James Stanier Clarke and the Firebrand

The grandfather, Jacob Christian Jacobsen (1811-1887), amassed sculptures by his contemporary and compatriot Bertel Thorwaldsen, a Neo-Classicist akin to John Flaxman in Attic dexterity, but lacking Flaxman's sharpness and tightness of design.

Art from Copenhagen: two brewers' legacy at the Royal Academy

Gilson, "Tradition and Innovation in Cristoforo Landino's Glosses on Astrology in his Comento sopra la Comedia (1481)" (48-74); Charlotte Miller, "John Flaxman's Working Copy of Dante's Divina Commedia" (75-87); Olivia Santovetti, "'Il lettore mutatosi in collaboratore': Digression and the Reader in Carlo Dossi's Texts" (88-103); Shirley W.

Brief notices

Homer, John Flaxman (1755-1826) achieved an international reputation in

Round and about: May 2003. (Frontline)

John Flaxman will be producing and directing a special music tribute to theater legend Hal Prince, an active supporter of The Partnership.

Freedman to be honored March 11