Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rossi, John Charles Felix
ROSSI, JOHN CHARLES FELIX (1762–1839), sculptor, was born at Nottingham on 8 March 1762. His father, a native of Siena, was a medical practitioner at Nottingham, and afterwards at Mountsorrell, Leicestershire, though not a qualified member of the profession. Young Rossi was sent to the studio of Giovanni Battista Locatelli, an Italian sculptor in London. On completing his apprenticeship he remained with his master for wages of eighteen shillings a week, till he found more lucrative employment with Messrs. Coade & Seeley at Lambeth. He entered the schools of the Royal Academy in 1781, and gained the silver medal in November of that year In 1784 he gained the gold medal for a group, ‘Venus conducting Helen to Paris.’ In 1785 he won the travelling studentship, and went to Rome for three years. During that time he executed a ‘Mercury’ in marble, and a recumbent figure of ‘Eve.’ On his return to London in 1788 he obtained ample employment on monumental work, succeeding to much of the practice of John Bacon, R.A. He became an associate of the Royal Academy in 1798, and a member in 1802. His chief works are the monuments of military and naval heroes in St. Paul's Cathedral, including those of Marquis Cornwallis, Lord Rodney, Lord Heathfield, General Le Marchant, and Captain Faulkner. The Earl of Egremont commissioned Rossi to execute several works for Petworth; among others, ‘Celadon and Amelia’ and ‘The Boxer.’ He executed a colossal ‘Britannia’ for the Exchange at Liverpool, and a statue of the poet Thomson for Sir Robert Peel. The bust of Lord Thurlow at Burlington House and a bronze bust of James Wyatt in the National Portrait Gallery are by Rossi. The prince regent appointed Rossi his sculptor, and employed him in the decoration of Buckingham Palace, where one of the pediments and the frieze of ‘The Seasons’ beneath it are his work. He was also sculptor in ordinary to William IV. His works were in the classical style, as the taste of that time conceived it. The monuments in St. Paul's are overloaded with mythological details, inappropriate to their surroundings. Rossi was uninfluenced by the examples of Banks and Flaxman, who introduced a purer Hellenic style. His employment of Italian carvers took much of the individuality out of his work. In the later years of his life he suffered from ill-health and straitened means. He did not exhibit at the academy after 1834, and in 1835 the works which remained at his studio in Lisson Grove were exhibited prior to their sale by auction. He retired from the Royal Academy with a pension shortly before his death, which took place at St. John's Wood on 21 Feb. 1839. He was twice married, and had eight children by each wife.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Gent. Mag. 1839, i. 547; Sandby's Hist. of Royal Academy, i. 377–9; Brown's Nottinghamshire Worthies; English Cyclopædia; Royal Academy Catalogues; Smith's Nollekens and his Times, ed. Gosse, pp. 19,246, 399.]