“ In 1793, at the age of eighteen, he went to Rome and became a pupil of Canova, then at the height of his fame. Under the prevailing influences of Italy at that time, Westmacott devoted all his energies to the study of classical sculpture, and throughout his life his real sympathies were with pagan rather than with Christian art. Within a year of his arrival in Rome he won the first prize for sculpture offered by the Florentine academy of arts, and in the following year (1795) he gained the papal gold medal awarded by the Roman Academy of St Luke with his bas-relief of Joseph and his brethren. ”

“ WESTMACOTT, SIR RICHARD (1775–1856) , British sculptor, was born in London, and while yet a boy learned the rudiments of the plastic art in the studio of his father, who was then a sculptor of some reputation. ”