BACON, JOHN, an eminent English sculptor, was born in the year 1740. His father, who was a cloth worker in descended from an ancient family in Shropshire. Though, in the age of child hood, Bacon discovered a propensity for drawing, bit first opportunity of exercising it was on bc coming an apprentice at a porcelain manufactory, at. the age of fifteen. There he was' employed in paint. mg china, and in forming small ornamental pieces in clay, which betrayed early indications of that genius which afterwards led him to such celebrity. The sight of the models of different sculptors, sent to 'a pottery near the manufactory to be burnt, excited a great desire in Bacon to make something similar to them ; and, in the year 1758, he formed a small figure of Peace, after the antique. In 1763 he first tried the sculpture of marble, without previously having seen it attempted ; and then he invented a useful in strument, since adopted by many others, for the pur pose of obtaining correct measurements and propor tions. The progress of this artist was so rapid, that, between the year 1763 and 1766, he obtained no less than nine different premiums from the Society for Encouragement of the Arts. The Royal Academy being instituted in 1768, Bacon attended it, and re ceived what may be called his first instructions in sculpture, having never before seen either it or mo delling regularly executed. In the following year, the gold medal, the first ever given for sculpture by the Academy, was decreed to him. He was soon afterwards elected a member of the Academy ; and his reputation was further established by a statue of Mars, which introduced him to the notice of the Archbishop of York. Bacon was now employed to model a bust of the king ; on which occasion, having answered his majesty's question, whether he had ever been out of the kingdom, in the negative, " I am glad of it," said the king, " You will be the greater ho nour to it." The king was so well satisfied with this performance, that he ordered Bacon to prepare another bust of him, intended as a present to the uni versity of Gottingen, and the queen ordered a third.
By this time the reputation of Bacon as a sculp tor and modeller was firmly established. In 1773, after executing two statues, of Mars and Venus, in plaster, he presented them to the Society for the En. couragement of Arts : they were received with much approbation, and the society voted him their gold medal, inscribed EMINENT MERIT. He was now
employed in many sculptures : He executed two groups for the top of Somerset House, in London, in 1780, and the monument of Lord Halifax in West minster Abbey. Next year he began the famous statue of Judge Blackstone, for All Souls College, Oxford, and soon afterwards that of Henry VI., for the Anti-Chapel at Eton. He then finished what has been considered his chef d'anivre, the monument of the Earl of Chatham in Westminster Abbey, which was commenced in 1778. His skill in the antique had been frequently called in question, but he modelled a head of Jupiter Tonans, which was in spected by several eminent connoisseurs, and mista ken for an antique ; some even inquired, " from what temple abroad he had obtained it ?" Numerous pieces of sculpture were produced from the chisel of Bacon. Lord Rodney's monument at Jamaica, Lord Heath field's at Buckland, near Plymouth, Mr Howard's and Dr Johnson's in St Paul's Cathedral. This art ist was attacked by a disease, which quickly terms. nated his existence, in 1799.
Bacon was certainly one of the most distinguished sculptors whom England has produced : There is an invention, a variety; and appropriate distribution of his characters, which proves that his conceptions were no less than his execution. It was consi dered surprising, that one who had never studied abroad should be able to produce what the best stile of sculpture has seldom excelled ; a fact which shews, that real genius, if duly fostered, will always soar paramount to mere imitation. In competitions with rival artists Bacon was remarkably successful : He failed only once in sixteen trials. Besides statuary, he is said to have turned his attention to poetical composition, and to have written on subjects con nected with the arts. He also afforded materials and observations for treatises on sculpture. Simplicity of manners in domestic life, and piety, eminently cha racterised him. Though he had sculptured many splendid monuments for others, he ordered his own grave to be covered only with a plain stone, inscri bed, What I was as an artist seemed to me of some importance while I lived; but what I really was as a believer in Christ Jesus is the only thing of import ance to one now. See Cecil's Life of Bacon. Gen tleman's Magazine 1799. Dallaway's Anecdotes of the Arts in England. (c)