Banks, THOMAS

Banks, THOMAS, sculptor, born in Lambeth in 1735, for seven years was apprenticed to an ornament carver, and in 1763 gained a medal for a bas-relief from the Society of Arts, in 1770 the gold medal of the Royal Academy. In 1772–79, having married a well-to-do wife, he resided in Rome. He gained much fame but little profit, and on his return to London, his refined imaginative style was little appreciated in comparison with the inferior performances of some of his contemporaries. In 1781 he repaired to Russia, where he was well received by the Empress Catharine, who purchased his 'Cupid,' and gave him a commission for a group called 'Armed Neutrality.' Next year he returned to England, where, in 1784, he exhibited perhaps his finest work, 'Achilles Enraged,' now in the entrance hall at Burlington House. In 1785 he was elected a member of the Royal Academy. The monuments of Sir Eyre Coote in Westminster Abbey, and of Captains Burgess and Westcott in St Paul's Cathedral, were among his works. He died February 2, 1805. It was in purely imaginative works that Banks most excelled; in practical subjects, his introduction of the ideal was incongruous and inartistic.