Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Steell, John
STEELL, Sir JOHN (1804–1891), sculptor, son of John Steell, a carver and gilder, by his wife, Margaret Gourlay of Dundee, and elder brother of Gourlay Steell [q. v.], was born at Aberdeen on 18 Sept. 1804. When he was about a year old his father removed to Edinburgh, and he was in due course apprenticed to him as a wood-carver, and placed also under the tuition of John Graham in the Trustees' Academy. On the expiration of his apprenticeship he adopted the profession of sculpture, studying at Rome for several years. On his return to Edinburgh in 1833 he modelled the group of ‘Alexander taming Bucephalus,’ which has since been cast in bronze and placed in St. Andrew Square. This work, which was often reproduced, brought him at once into notice, and he received from the board of manufactures a special reward of 50l. Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey [q. v.] urged the rising artist to remove his studio to London, but his desire to devote himself to the improvement of art in his native country led him to decline the prospects of fame and fortune offered to him. His success, however, led to a commission for the colossal statue of the queen which surmounts the Royal Institution, and this was followed by the competition for the statue of Sir Walter Scott which adorns Kemp's Gothic monument in Prince's Street, in which Steell won the first place. This seated figure of Sir Walter Scott is stated to have been the first marble statue commissioned in Scotland from a native artist, although that by Steell of Professor Blaikie at Aberdeen was the first finished. It has frequently been reproduced in various sizes and materials. Among other commissions which followed was that for the colossal equestrian statue in bronze of the Duke of Wellington which stands in front of the General Register House in Edinburgh.
Steell's principal work, however, is the Scottish memorial to the prince consort erected in Charlotte Square, which was inaugurated by the queen in August 1876, when the sculptor was knighted.
Other notable statues by him are those of Lord De Saumarez for Greenwich Hospital, Lord Jeffrey, Lord Melville, Lord-president Boyle, Allan Ramsay, George Kinloch of Dundee, Dr. Chalmers, the Earl of Shrewsbury, and that in bronze of Professor Wilson (‘Christopher North’) in Prince's Street Gardens, Edinburgh. He also executed statues of Lord Dalhousie and of James Wilson for Calcutta, of the Countess of Elgin for Jamaica, and a colossal statue of Burns for New York, for which city he made also a replica of that of Sir Walter Scott. Many of his busts are distinguished by great dignity and refinement, and among them may be especially named those of the queen, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, Sir Robert Peel, Thomas De Quincey, Florence Nightingale, Professor Edward Forbes, Lord Cockburn, Lord Fullerton, Lord Colonsay, David Scott, R.S.A., and a bust in bronze of Dr. Guthrie. He executed likewise several regimental and other monuments, as well as the figures illustrating the parable of the ten virgins which decorate the Standard Assurance office; these he repeated and enlarged for the office in Dublin. He prepared for the bank at Montreal figures descriptive of the history of commerce.
In 1829 Steell became a Royal Scottish academician, and in 1838 he was appointed sculptor to the queen for Scotland. He first introduced artistic bronze casting into Scotland, and built at his own expense a foundry in which not only his own works but also those of other artists could be reproduced in metal.
Steell, who on account of ill-health had lived for several years in complete retirement, died at 24 Greenhill Gardens, Edinburgh, on 15 Sept. 1891, and was interred in the Old Calton burying-ground. On 30 Nov. 1826 he married Elizabeth, daughter of John Graham, a merchant of Edinburgh. She died in 1885. Latterly he was in receipt of a civil list pension of 100l. Busts by him of David Scott, R.S.A., James Wilson, the Duke of Wellington, and others, are in the National Gallery of Scotland. A plaster bust of Thomas De Quincey is in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
[Scotsman, 16 Sept. 1891; Academy, 1891, ii. 270; Annual Report of the Royal Scottish Academy, 1891; Exhibition Catalogues of the Royal Scottish Academy, 1830–89; Royal Academy Exhibition Catalogues, 1837–76; Men and Women of the Time, 1891.]