Born in London, he was the youngest son of Scottish Sculptor
William Mossman I
, and the brother of
sculptors
John Mossman
and
George Mossman
.
He trained with his father and in the London studios of
Marochetti
,
William Behnes, and
John Thomas
, for whom he produced
carving on the Houses of Parliament, London.
He collaborated with his brother John on several important sculpture
schemes in Glasgow and worked independently as an architectural and
monumental sculptor in his own right.
He was frequently employed by the city's leading Gothic architect John Honeyman,
who's job books reveal Mossman's employment as a carver on several of his surviving ecclesiastical
buildings, such as:
Trinity Congregational Church, Berkley Street (1863, now Sir Henry Wood Hall), and
Lansdowne Church, Great Western Road, for which he carved the angel heads on the west front
more than a decade after the church was built (c. 1876).
Mossman worked with a number of assistants on his projects, including James Shanks, Alexander McGaw and William James Maxwell, with
whom he worked on, respectively: Lansdowne Church; Kelvinside Parish Church (now Oran Mor); and a church in Helensburgh for Honeyman.
It was after being impressed by Maxwell's work in the Helensburgh church that Mossman launched the career of the young
sculptor by sending him to London with a letter of introduction to the eminent sculptor, John Birnie Philip. Maxwell
eventually became a prolific, though forgotten, architectural sculptor in Glasgow, London and Australia.
Much of Mossman's secular work is concentrated in St. Vincent Place, where he was busy
on several projects for sculpture on commercial buildings throughout the 1870s.
These include the Atlantes, heraldic group and keystone heads on the former Bank of Scotland
(no. 2) (1869); the reliefs of Sowing and Reaping on
the Clydesdale Bank (nos. 30-40) (1871-4); and the reliefs and statues of
Justice, Truth and Amity on the former Scottish
Amicable Building (nos. 31-9) (1870-73, statues removed c. 1903).
Elsewhere in Glasgow, he executed the angel busts and carver work
on Eglinton Church, Eglinton Street (1863, dem. 2000); the roundels on
Partick Burgh Halls (1872); and the sculpture on the former New Club
(now James Sellars House), 146 West George Street (1877-9).
His largest recorded comission for architectural sculpture was for the Caryatids and Atlantes at the
former St. Andrew's Halls, Granville Street (1873-7, now Mitchell Theatre). The design
for the Atlantes and the doorcase they support at St. Andrew's Halls was
derived from Alexander 'Greek' Thomson's unsuccessful competition design for the South
Kensington Museum, London, of 1863, whilst the Caryatids were inspired by the figures
at the ancient Erechtheum in Athens.
Outwith Glasgow, Mossman executed the coat of arms and carver work on the Town Hall,
Campbeltown (1865-6).
He also taught modelling at GSA
, 1869-71, teaching
William Shirreffs
,
and exhibited portrait busts and wax medallions at the RGIFA
, 1862-84; the
latter including the architect John Honeyman and his wife (1877).
He was also busy as a monumental sculptor, working with his brothers
briefly as
J W & G Mossman
, 1853-6, when he left to set up on his own (his brothers
continued as
J & G Mossman
).
He later formed a partnership with the Aberdeen stonecutter and granite merchant,
James Wishart (fl. 1870-98) from 1880-84, at 67 Stirling Road, with Wishart overseeing
their branch workshops in Aberdeen, at 35 Charles Street and 127 Causwayend. Wishart had
previously formed short partnerships as Wishart & Dalgety, fl. 1870-1, and Milne & Wishart.
After Mossman's death in 1884, Wishart traded in Aberdeen with his son, as J. Wishart & Son,
at 1a Canal Street, and continued his Glasgow business as William Mossman & Co., until 1898.
The firm’s Necropolis work includes the Celtic Cross to John Brown (1869), and the
monuments to Archibald Walker (1880, signed Mossman & Wishart) and Robert Spiers (1896).
Mossman was buried in Sighthill Cemetery, beside his father and brother, George.
Sources:
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