Thomas Campbell

Thomas Campbell (1 May 1790 – 4 February 1858) was a Scottish sculptor in the early 19th century. He has several important public works, most notably a statue of Sarah Siddons in Westminster Abbey. He also has several works in the National Gallery in London. He was heavily patronised by the British aristocracy, as evidenced by his works. Life He was born in Tolbooth parish, Edinburgh Old Town, now part of the Royal Mile. He was the son of Douglas Campbell, "gentleman servant", and Helen Thorburn. He was apprenticed to John Marshall, marble cutter on Leith Walk. During his apprenticeship he befriended James Locke, later to be credited with the naming Tweed. Whilst at Marshall's, over three years, he sculpted two figures for the facade of the Royal Bank of Scotland, which around 1817 attracted the patronage of Gilbert Innes of Stow, depute governor of the Bank. He paid for Campbell to study at the Royal Academy Schools in London from 1818, and also permitted him to set up a studio in Rome, Italy in 1819, where a connection continued until 1830. In Rome he met with both Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen. In London he studied under Joseph Nollekens and assisted Edward Hodges Baily. He was briefly assisted in Rome and London by his much younger and short-lived brother, James Campbell (1810–1833).