WEEKES, Henry

(b. 1807 . Canterbury, d. 1877 Ramsgate)

English sculptor. He was apprenticed to William Behnes in 1822 and studied at the Royal Academy (1823-26), winning a silver medal for sculpture in 1826. In 1827 he became an assistant to Francis Chantrey, with whom he remained until the latter’s death in 1841; he then took over Chantrey’s studio and completed his unfinished works, including the bronze equestrian statue of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1841-44; London, Royal Exchange).

In 1852 Weekes was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy (ARA) and a full member of the Royal Academy in 1860; from 1869 until his death he was Professor of Sculpture there. He was the most successful establishment sculptor of the mid-Victorian period. His sculpture and writings, more than any other contemporary sculptor’s, embodied current beliefs in fusing classicism and realism. Although he essentially maintained Chantrey’s outlook, he was more intellectual than his mentor and had a wider imaginative range. Like Chantrey, he varied the format of his many portrait busts according to the subject; they ranged from the classical herm type in Henry William Whitbread (marble, 1864; Southill Park, Beds) to historical realism in Sir Joshua Reynolds (marble, 1874; London, Leicester Square).

Bust of a Gentleman

Weekes exhibited 124 works at the Royal Academy between 1828 and his death, with over a hundred being portraits. He wrote in 1852 that the objective of portraiture was “to give the eye permanently that which no history or biography will be able hereafter thoroughly to convey to the imagination.” His best works achieve this aim, combining emotional impact with accurate portraiture and exemplary technique.

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The Young Naturalist

This marble represents an idealised young girl tentatively approaching the waters edge, her hair and drapery billowing behind her. She is portrayed in contemporary dress, holding a starfish and standing on naturalistic seaweed-covered rocks.

This work is rare within Weekes’s oeuvre, which is overwhelmingly composed of portrait busts. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1857, signed and dated: H. WEEKES, A.R.A. Sc. / 1857.

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