Sir Alfred Gilbert

John Howard, the Prison Philanthropist

c.1893–4

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Not on display

Artist: Sir Alfred Gilbert 1854–1934
Medium: Bronze
Dimensions: Object: 381 × 127 × 127 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Bequeathed by Mrs J. Margaret Hadley 1949
Reference: N05885

Catalogue entry

N05885 JOHN HOWARD, THE PRISON PHILANTHROPIST c. 1893–4

Not inscribed.
Bronze, 15×5×5 (38×12·5×12·5), including base, 2 1/2 (6).
Bequeathed by Mrs J. Margaret Hadley 1949.
Exh: Fine Art Society, March–April 1935 (10).
Lit: Cox, 1936, p.18; Bury, 1952, pp.72, 84.

A sketch for the centenary memorial statue at Bedford, unveiled in 1894 (repr. McAllister, 1929, p.153, and Bury, 1952, pl.12). A plaster model is in the Nottingham Museum and Art Gallery (repr. Cox, 1936, pl.8).

John Howard (1726–90) was imprisoned in France in 1756 and spent the latter part of his life endeavouring to improve prison conditions. He published The State of the Prisons in 1777 and died of camp fever while with the Russian Army in Kherson. His home was in Cardington near Bedford.

Published in:
Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, London 1964, I