Sculptor born 10 January 1870 in London, the younger brother of painter Mary Sargant Florence (1857–1954). He was educated at Rugby and New College, Oxford, and then studied art at the Slade School of Fine Art, London, 1895–96, and at Florence and Munich, 1899–1903, with the sculptor Adolf von Hildebrand. In 1904 he won a gold medal for a work exhibited at Munich. Whilst retaining an address in London, Sargant spent most of his life in Italy, living and working in Florence, 1899–1914 and 1918–37. Principal commissions include a Memorial to Frances Nightingale, 1913, for the church of Santa Croce, Florence, and the west front reliefs for the Oakham School War Memorial Chapel, Rutland, 1924–27. On 1 January 1920, Sargant was awarded an OBE ‘for services in connection with the [First World] War’ in his capacity as Commandant of the British Red Cross Unit No. 2, Italy. Later the same year the Italian authorities appointed him Cavaliere Corona d’Italia. He was a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors, 1911–20, and showed at the Royal Academy, London, 1919–59. He died at Cambridge 11 January 1960. His work was strongly influenced by the sculpture of the Italian Renaissance and though most of it was in stone or marble, Sargant was dismissive of the claims of the direct carving faction, fervently believing that better results could be obtained through the traditional method of using a pointing machine to copy from a preliminary clay or plaster model. Examples of his work are at the Tate and in the Leeds Sculpture Collections.
Bibliography: D. Buckman, Artists in Britain since 1945 (2 vols: A–L, M–Z), Bristol, 2006; T. Cavanagh, Public Sculpture of Leicestershire and Rutland, Liverpool, 2000, pp. 293–96, 384; T. Cavanagh, Public Sculpture of South London, Liverpool, 2007, pp. 393, 460; P. Curtis et al, Sculpture in 20th-century Britain, Vol. II: A guide to sculptors in the Leeds Collections (Henry Moore Institute), Leeds, 2003, pp. 313–15; Mapping Sculpture; Monumental Journal, February 1960, p. 57 (obituary); The Times, 13 January 1960, p. 15 (obituary); G.M. Waters, Dictionary of British Artists Working 1900–1950, Eastbourne, 1975.
Terry Cavanagh, August 2024