The Artist's Studio, ca. 1932

Arthur George Walker RA (1861 - 1939)

RA Collection: Art

This painting depicts two assistants working in Walker’s Chelsea studio on the plaster model for an equestrian statue of John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church. This model was probably the one exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1933. The finished bronze was erected in Broadmead Courtyard, Bristol in 1932. The other statues and reliefs in the studio have been protected from plaster dust by hanging sheets.

Walker was born in Hackney, East London and entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1883. Walker’s output as a sculptor was extensive – he executed many public memorials such as statues of Florence Nightingale at Waterloo Place, London and Emmeline Pankhurst in Victoria Park Gardens – but his career is not well documented.