Eighteenth Century. 287 Thomas Banks (1735 — 1805), was the first Englishman who succeeded with ideal or poetic sculpture. He was far in advance of his age, and had he lived later, would perhaps have taken rank amongst the master spirits of Europe. His models exhibited on the foundation of the Royal Academy, attracted the notice of Sir Joshua Reynolds. One of his first groups, a bas-relief of Carac- tacus and his Family in the Presence of Claudius, is very grand. In this, and in his Psyche seizing the Golden Flame, and Love catching a Butterfly, all alike remark- able for symmetry of form and correctness of outline, Banks displayed intimate knowledge of the antique, and appreciation of the true excellence of Greek statuary ; but he met with no encouragement in England, and accepted an invitation to Russia, where he remained for two years. On his return home he produced his cele- brated group of Achilles bewailing the loss of Briseis, considered one of the finest heroic statues of modern times, which established his fame and brought him full employment. Unfortunately, his commissions were con- fined to sepulchral monuments, in which he did not escape the prevailing error of his time — striving to combine allegory and portraiture, and to introduce a greater variety of subject than is admissible in statuary. Joseph Nollekens (1737 — 1823), a contemporary of Banks, although inferior to him in every other respect, excelled him in portrait-statues and busts, for which there was an extraordinary demand. John Bacon (1740 — 1799), was an industrious and successful sculptor of the same time, who supplied the Court with the porcelain shepherds and shepherdesses so much admired in his day, and executed several fine
