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The son and grandson of masons and statuaries in Glasgow, he was
apprenticed to the mason building Hamilton Palace (built 1822-6,
dem.), and carved the coat of arms above the north entrance.
He studied with Thorvaldsen in Rome, 1831-3, returning to Scotland
as a sculptor, and was employed on carving at Murthly House
(built 1831-8).
Despite criticism of his models for the Nelson Monument, London
(1839), Modesty Unveiled (1846), and indifference to his William
Wallace, for Edinburgh (1850), he became a successful and prolific
portraitist in marble producing busts of artists, literary figures,
politicians and the nobility, including Charles Dickens (1842),
Horatio McCulloch (1849), and Napoleon III (1854, V&A).
Park's undated marble bust of David Hamilton is in GMAG
(reg no. S-42).
He also executed statues of Charles Tennant, for the Necropolis (1838)
and Michael Sadler for Leeds Parish Church (1841), and was commissioned
to carve twenty figures for the Scott Monument, Edinburgh (built 1840-6), but
these were never received.
He moved to Manchester in 1852, and died after bursting a blood
vessel while helping a porter at Warrington station.
He exhibited at RA
from 1836, RSA
from 1839, and at the BI, 1837-54.
Elected ARSA
, 1849, RSA
, 1851.
Sources:
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