William Calder Marshall (18 March 1813 – 16 June 1894) was a Scottish sculptor. Born in Edinburgh, he attended the Royal High School and Edinburgh University before enrolling at the Royal Academy school in London in 1834, where he won the silver medal. He studied under Francis Chantrey and Edward Hodges Baily, and then, in 1836 went to Rome to pursue his study of classical sculpture, staying for two years.
An exhibition at Westminster Hall in 1844 proved to be the turning point of his career, leading to many commissions for public monuments to decorate the new Houses of Parliament - for which he made statues of the Lord Chancellors Clarendon and Somers, and of Chaucer - Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral. At Manchester, he made the colossal bronze of Robert Peel in Manchester; with a statue representing the city, illustrative of manufactures and commerce, and another, symbolising the Arts and Sciences, at the base of the pedestal.
His monument to Edward Jenner, the discoverer of vaccination was set up in the south-west corner of Trafalgar Square in 1858 and inaugurated at a ceremony presided over by Prince Albert. The statue, which depicted Jenner sitting in a chair in a relaxed pose, was moved to Kensington Gardens in 1862.
In June 1864, Calder Marshall was commissioned to make an allegorical group representing ’’Agriculture’’, one of the four representing various “skills” to be installed on the Albert Memorial. A model was completed within two months. His ideas - unlike those of the other sculptors working on the groups - received a generally positive reception from the Executive Committee overseeing the monument, and the sculpture was completed by April 1868. It shows a female personification of Agriculture, directing the attention of farmers to the benefits of modern technology, symbolised by a steam cylinder and cog, and a retort.
Calder Marshall was the most prolific exhibitor of statuary at the Royal Academy in the Victorian age.
A number of his works were reproduced - often in reduced sizes - in Parian Ware porcelain by Copeland, one representing Sabrina proving especially popular.
Famous quotes containing the words calder and/or marshall:
“Dr. Calder [a Unitarian minister] said of Dr. [Samuel] Johnson on the publications of Boswell and Mrs. Piozzi, that he was like Actaeon, torn to pieces by his own pack.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“If parents award freedom regardless of whether their children have demonstrated an ability to handle it, children never learn to see a clear link between responsible behavior and adult privileges.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)