We visited Louth museum last week, which is a very interesting place with a lot of things to look at, from Roman pottery to a Victorian wedding dress. While there, we made the acquaintance of a very talented woodcarver, Thomas Wilkinson Wallis (1821-1903), who lived and worked in Louth itself (and, judging from the photograph above, possessed a fine Victorian beard too). Although an initial internet search didn't seem to reveal much (and I think that may be because I didn't spell his name correctly - oops!), Chris has found that actually, there seems to be quite a lot out there, such as the
Louth Museum website and his
autobiography as well as a
carving in the V & A . His work continues the tradition of woodcarving using limewood and he is the natural successor to
Grinling Gibbons, albeit a century or so later. (Apologies in advance for the blurriness and general poor quality of the photos - the lights in the museum made it very difficult to get a clear picture and my hands obviously weren't quite as steady as they needed to be! However, I hope the photos give you a reasonable idea of some of the work).
This amazing piece of work was created in 1871, using just two pieces of wood.
Here's a close up of the carving on the left, showing a detail of the wood, carved into with added knots, so that it looks more rustic, as though it is from an old gate or fence.
He signed the piece at the base.
Here's the information the museum had about him (if you click on the photo, it should enlarge).
This photo shows a piece he created for the Great Exhibition of 1851, called 'Trophy of Spring' which was three feet high and the largest he ever carved. According to the details, it is in a collection in the USA. He won a medal at the Great Exhibition for this piece.
Replicas of the medals he received are displayed too.
Although I'm not that keen on the idea of dead birds, they do demonstrate his skill. The birds are hanging from a piece of string tied to a nail and it is difficult to believe it is all wood. I am so pleased we went to the museum, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to share some of his incredible work with you. Lovely to have met you, Mr Wilkinson Wallis.
