John Deare (1759–1798) has long been considered by critics to be one of the greatest 18th-century British sculptors. Yet his innovative art is little-known by the public: He died at the young age of 38 and few of his works survive. In recent years, new scholarship has chiseled insight into his career, and in 2011, a Deare marble entered a British public collection for this first time. This was the V&A Museum’s acquisition of his large 1796 rectangular relief “Caesar Invading Britain.”
Born in Liverpool, England into a family of jewelers, Deare was a child prodigy at carving. Beginning in 1777, he studied at the Royal Academy schools. He was the youngest artist to win the Academy’s gold medal. In 1784, he was awarded an Academy stipend to spend three years studying in Rome. He arrived there in 1785, married an Italian woman, and spent the rest of his life in his adopted city.
