William Pink (1809 - 1857)

RA Collection: People and Organisations

William Pink (1809–1857) was a maker of plaster figures who first exhibited busts at the Royal Academy in 1828. In 1830 Pink was imprisoned for debt, and also worked for a short time as a coal dealer and greengrocer to support himself.

Around 1834 Pink made a new cast of the famous écorché Smugglerius (originally cast in the 18th century), and it was on the strength of a recommendation from the RA that in 1839 Pink was hired by the British Museum as formatore (the Italian term used by the museum to distinguish their craftsmen from jobbing plaster figure makers). Pink remained in this post until his death in 1857, when he was succeeded by Domenico Brucciani.

Pink’s later work included repairs to works by John Flaxman in preparation for the opening of the Flaxman Gallery at University College London in 1850.