John Birnie Philip

Statue of Robert Hall, by Philip, off New Walk, Leicester

.

John Birnie Philip (23 November 1824 - 2 March 1875) was a notable English sculptor of the 19th century.

He studied at the Government School of Design at Somerset House in London under John Rogers Herbert, and then at Herbert's own newly opened school in Maddox Street. He worked in Pugin's wood carving workshop at the Palace of Westminster before setting up his own studio. He often carried out ornamental stone carving for Sir George Gilbert Scott.

In 1863-4 Scott commissioned him, along with Henry Hugh Armstead (1828–1905), to make the podium frieze (known as the Frieze of Parnassus) on the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens. Philip carved the images of architects (including Scott himself) on the west side of the monument, and those of the sculptors on the north. As well as his work on the frieze, he modelled the bronze allegorical statues of Geometry, Philosophy, Geology and Physiology for niches on the western side of the canopy, and the gilt metal angels on the spire. At the time of the commission, Philip and Armstead were little known compared to the other sculptors working on the memorial.

Elsewhere in London, he also produced allegorical figures ( of Art, Law, Commerce, etc.) for the front of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Whitehall, eight figures of monarchs for the Royal Gallery in the Palace of Westminster (1868–1869), the 'young woman in classical drapery floating forward on a small cloud' atop a drinking fountain in West Smithfield Square (1870) and decorations – depicting plants and birds – on the Portland stone capitals of the piers of Blackfriars Bridge.

His works in churches and cathedrals can be found in

• the reredos for Lichfield Cathedral
• decorative work at Wakefield Cathedral
• the tomb of Dean Lyall in Canterbury Cathedral
• the tomb of Lt Col Willoughby Moore in York Minster

At St Michael, Cornhill, in the City of London, Philip carved the decorations for the porch built by George Gilbert Scott as part of his Gothic embellishment of Wren's church. They included an elaborate tympanum sculpture depicting St Michael disputing with Satan. He did further carvings in the interior of the building.

St Michael disputing with Satan(1858) at St Michael Cornhill

As part of Scott's restoration of St Mary's chapel at Sudeley Castle, Philip made a font and reredos, and a white marble effigy for the canopied tomb of Catherine Parr.

Often commissioned to produce commemorative municipal works, Philip produced a statue of humanitarian Richard Oastler, now situated in Northgate, Bradford, and one of the Reverend Robert Hall in De Montfort Square, Leicester.

He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1858 almost up to his death of bronchitis In March 1875. The year before Philip had been paid £312 for carving "the Relievos etc." on the entrance porch at the Academy's Burlington House). With his wife Frances (née Black), whom he married in 1853, he had ten children, including a daughter Beatrix who in 1888 married artist James Whistler. Another daughter, Constance, also married an artist, Cecil Gordon Lawson.

Whistler connections

Several of Philip's family retained close links with Whistler. Youngest daughter Rosalind acted as his companion, model, secretary and house-keeper after Beatrix's death, and was appointed Whistler's executrix at his death. Son Ronald accompanied him on a trip to Gibraltar, Algiers, Tangiers, Marseilles and Corsica. Beatrix, Ronald and Rosalind all acted as models at different times for Whistler, as did their mother Frances.