A MARBLE PORTRAIT BUST BY JOHN MOSSMAN (SCOTTISH 1817–1890)
REV. DR. CHARLES ADAMSON SALMOND (SCOTTISH 1853–1932), AGED 31
Auction: Day 1: Wednesday 20 August - Lots 1 - 296
Description
signed and dated ‘J. MOSSMAN, SC.1884’ to the edge of the back, on a socle base
Dimensions
76cm high, 52cm wide, 31cm deep
Provenance
Rev. Dr. Charles Adamson Salmond, thence by descent to his great niece
Footnote
Charles Adamson Salmond (1853–1932) was a Scottish minister of the Free Church of Scotland and ecclesiastical author. He was born in Arbroath, later studying divinity at the University of Edinburgh, then trained as a Free Church minister at New College, Edinburgh. He was translated to St Matthew's Free church in Glasgow in 1881. It was during his tenure as minister there that this bust was likely carved. In 1890 he settled at the newly built South Morningside Free Church on Braid Road in Edinburgh.
John Mossman (1817-1890) was born in London, the son of the Scottish sculptor William Mossman I, who was working for Sir Francis Chantrey at the time. He was the older brother of the sculptors George and William Mossman II, and his son also became a sculptor. He started his studies with his father and Chantrey, later working under Sir William Allan at the RSA in Edinburgh in 1838, and then with Carlo Marochetti in London around 1842. After beginning his career at his father's firm of monumental masons, when he returned to Glasgow he was joined by his brother George and they then ran the firm together, renamed J & G Mossman in 1857, which became a dominant force in Glasgow sculpture during the mid-19th century.