Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/200

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Marochetti
194
Marras

the prince consort and another of Lady Constance Gower, and was a frequent and popular exhibitor in succeeding years. At the Great Exhibition of 1851 be attracted universal attention by the model of his great equestrian statue of Ricbard Cœur de Lion; this fine but unequal work was afterwarda executed in bronze by public subscription and erected, in a very unsuitable position, outside the House of Lords at Westminster. Marochetti received numerous important commissions, which he executed with varying degree of success. Among them were the equestrian statues of the queen and of the Duke of Wellington at Glasgow and of the latter at Strathfieldsaye, the statues of Lord Clive at Shrewsbury, the Duke of Wellington at Leeds, Lord Herbert at Salisbury, Lord Clyde in Waterloo Place, London, and the seated statue of Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy at Bombay. Among his monumental sculptures may be noticed the monument to British soldiers at Scutari, the Inkerman monument in St. Paul's Cathedral, that the Lord Melbourne in the same place, that to Princess Elizabeth Stuart, erected by the queen, in St. Thomas's Church, Newport, Isle of Wight, and that with full-length recumbent figure to John Cust, earl Brownlow, in Belton Church, Lincolnshire. His busts were very numerous, but he was more successful in those of ladies than those of men; among the latter may be noticed W. M. Thackeray in Westminster Abbey, and Sir Edwin Landseer, the latter being his diploma contribution to the Royal Academy. He also executed a good relief medallion portrait of Lord Macaulay. Marochetti was elected an associatn of the Royal Academy in 1861, and an academician in 1866. He received the Italian order of S. Maurizio e S. Lazzaro in 1861. Marochetti's handsome figure and engaging manners rendered him popular with his fashionable patrons in England and on the continent. As a sculptor he introduced a great deal of vitality into the somewhat stiff and constrained manner then prevalent in England. His equestrian statues command attention, even if they invite criticism, and are—especially at Turin—a conspicuous ornament to the place in which they are erected. He was a strong advocate of polychrome in sculpture, and executed in this manner a statuette of the queen as 'The Queen of Peace and Commerce' (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, xvi. 660). Marochetti died suddenly at Passy, near Paris, on 29 Dec. 1867. His son entered the diplomatic service of the Italian kingdom.

[Times. 4 Jan. 1868; Illustrated London News, 11 Jan. 186S; Athenæum, 11 Jan. 1863; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Seubert's Allgemeine's Künstler-Lexikon; Sandby's Hist. of the Royal Academy.]

L. C.

MARRABLE, FREDERICK (1810–1883), architect, born in 1818, was son of Sir Thomas Marrable, secretary of the board of green cloth to George IV and William IV. He was articled to Edward Blore [q. v.], the architect, and on the expiration of his time studied abroad. On his return he obtained a good deal of private practice. In 1856. on the establishment of the metropolitan board of works, Marrable was appointed superintending architect to the board. This difficult office he filled with great credit, and gained the esteem of his profession. He designed and built the offices of the board in Spring Gardens. He resigned his post in 1862. Among important buildings designed by Marrable may be noticed the Garrick Club, Archbishop Tenison's School in Leicester Square, the church of St. Peter at Deptford, and that of St. Mary Magdalen at St. Leonards-on-Sea. Marrable resided in the Avenue Road, Regent's Park, and on 22 June 1872 went to Witley in Surrey to inspect the buildings of the Bethlehem Hospital for Convalescents. While thus engaged he was taken ill, and died almost immediatelv. He occasionally exhibited his designs at the Royal Academy.

[Builder. 29 June 1872; Athenæum, 8 July 1872; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists.]

L. C.

MARRAS, GIACINTO (1810–1883), singer and musical composer, born at Naples 6 July 1810, was son of Il Cavaliere Giovanni Marras and his wife Maria Biliotti, a famous Florentine beauty. The father, a distinguished artist, was court painter to the Grand Duke of Tuscany and the sultan of Turkey (cf. Le Courrier de Smyrne, 29 May 1831), and was a son of the Roman poetess, Angelica Mosca. In 1820 Giacinto entered the preparatory school of the Real Collegio di Musica at Naples, but shortly afterwards, probably on account of his success in the soprano part of Bellini's first opera, ‘Adelson e Salvini,’ performed in the college theatre, for which he was chosen by the composer because of the beauty of his voice (cf. Grove, Dict. of Musicians, i. 212, sub ‘Bellini’), Marras was elected to a free scholarship at the college, where his masters for composition and singing were Zingarelli and Crescentini, Bellini and Michael Costa being maestrini or sub-professors. During his pupilage he frequently sang in the Neapolitan churches, and wrote much music for them.

On leaving the college Marras made a professional tour through Italy, and in 1835