Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660–1851
The Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660–1851 is a biographical dictionary of sculptors active in Britain in the period between the Restoration of Charles II and the Great Exhibition of 1851. It has appeared in three editions, published in 1953, 1968, and 2009 respectively: the 2009 edition adopts the amended title A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain 1660–1851. The first two editions were researched and written by Rupert Forbes Gunnis, and were often known simply as Gunnis. The third edition was edited by Ingrid Roscoe. The book is a major scholarly work, which rapidly established itself as a standard authority on British sculptors and sculpture. First edition The Dictionary was conceived and written by Rupert Forbes Gunnis (1899–1965), a civil servant in the British colonial Government of Cyprus, and later curator of Tunbridge Wells Museum. He originally hoped to write "a complete dictionary of British sculpture from the earliest times until the close of the last [the 19th] century", but realised that he needed to confine himself to a more manageable period. The finished volume nonetheless contained over 1,700 biographies, with lists of the artists' works. In addition to a considerable amount of archival research, Gunnis personally visited over 6,000