Lot 487: A Victorian plaster portrait relief roundel

After Alexander Munro Mounted in a William IV carved giltwood oval frame 301/2in. (77.5cm.) high NOTES Alexander Munro (1825-1871) was a portrait sculptor, working predominately in marble, bronze and aluminium. This example bears a close resemblance to John Everett Millais, the Pre-Raphaelite artist and prot‚g‚ of the Victorian critic, John Ruskin. Munro carved a marble portrait bust of Millais, circa 1855. Munro came to London in 1844, under the patronage of Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland, who recognised his artistic talent and introduced him to the leading architect, Charles Barry. By 1848 he had accquired sufficient skills to study sculpture in the Royal Academy Schools, training in the traditional methods, which incorporated the use of plaster casts. At this time he met Gabriel Rossetti, who naturally introduced him to friends and other members of the Pre-Raphaelite orbit. COMPARATIVE LITERATURE: Exhibition catalogue, Pre-Raphaelite Sculpture, Joanna Barnes Fine Arts Ltd, 1991, Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd.