William Woodington ARA (1806 - 1893)

RA Collection: People and Organisations

British sculptor and painter, born at Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire. He moved to London in 1815, and about 1820 was apprenticed to Robert William Sievier (1794- 1865), who was at that time practising engraving but who shortly afterwards turned to sculpture, as did Woodington.

Early in his career he worked for William Croggon, the successor to the firm which manufactured the artificial Coade stone, invented by Eleanor Coade (1733-1821).

Woodington exhibited frequently at the Royal Academy between 1825-1882, including portrait busts, and figures and reliefs of biblical, mythological, and poetical subjects and also oil paintings. He also exhibited at the Society of British Artists (1825, 1828) and the British Institution (1827, 1830, 1832).

In 1850 Woodington executed the work for which he is best known, the bronze relief of the Battle of the Nile on the plinth of Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square. The following year he was appointed curator of the Royal Academy School of Sculpture. In 1856 he made a colossal bust of Sir Joseph Paxton, architect of the Crystal Palace, for the Crystal Palace building, which was then situated at Sydenham, Kent. He was awarded second prize in 1857 in the competition for the Wellington monument in St Paul’s Cathedral. Later, in 1861, he executed two of the reliefs on the walls of the consistory chapel in which the winning monument, the work of Alfred Stevens, was temporarily placed.

Commissions for architectural sculpture include Plato, Archimedes, and Justinian for the façade of 6 Burlington Gardens, London, now part of the Royal Academy of Arts. Images of these sculptures, along with several others by the artist are available via the Art UK website.

Wooding was elected an ARA in 1876.

He married Mary Wise (1805/6–1845) in 1831. They had two sons and three daughters. His eldest son, also William Frederick Woodington (1831-1922), also became a sculptor. William Woodington Jnr’s son, Harold Arthur Woodington (1866-1916), studied sculpture at the Royal Academy Schools from 11 July 1889.

Further information about William Woodington can be found in the Mapping the Practice & Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951 database.