John Bacon Junior - 1777 -1859
John Bacon Junior received his initial training under his father, John Bacon. At the age of 12 he attended the Royal Academy Schools and by his mid teens, he was exhibiting at the Academy himself. On his father's death, he completed his unfinished works, including the statue depicting William III in St James Square, London. He worked sometimes with the monumental mason Samuel Manning. Bacon Junior became a prolific and successful sculptor (he is acreditted with 188 memorials before he went into partnership) , perhaps too successful, and his later work tended to the formulaic, before he more or less retired in about 1830.
Bacon’s “speciality” was grieving women and angels, wearing clinging classical drapery over well rounded contours which were more reminiscent of the end rather than the beginning of the 19th Century. His faces tended to the classical, Junoesque or even matronly rather than youthful The figures were often lounging or casually cross-legged and leaning on an elbow Bacon’s memorial to John Herring in St George Colegate (click here for details) is a perfect example of this genre.
