page_title: Joseph Edwards (sculptor)
section_title: Sculpture
hierarchical_section_title: Joseph Edwards (sculptor) / Sculpture
caption_attribution_description: English: Bust of Welsh historian, literary critic and social reformer Thomas Stephens (1821–1875) by Joseph Edwards (1814–1882), from The Literature of the Kymry (Stephens, 1876, 2nd ed.)
context_page_description: Joseph Edwards was a Welsh sculptor. His work appears in many churches and cemeteries in England and Wales, in Westminster Abbey, and in the old town hall of Merthyr Tydfil. Seventy of his works were exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts between 1838 and 1878.
context_section_description: In 1837, Edwards became a student at the Royal Academy of Arts where he won several prizes for his work. His early works include a memorial to Sir John Bernard Bosanquet. Another memorial monument, entitled "Religion", was shown at an international exhibition in 1862. A version of this monument appears on the grave of Eliza Vaughan in Highgate (Western) Cemetery, London. Edward's work can be seen in churches throughout England and Wales. He made busts of many contemporary figures including Taliesin ap Iolo, Thomas Stephens (c. 1871), G. T. Clark, William Williams (M.P. for Coventry), Edith Wynne, and George Virtue, and members of the Beaufort, Guest, Raglan, and Crawshay families. 
  Commenting on Edwards' bust of Thomas Stephens, The Art Journal said, "[The Welsh] may well be proud of their countryman, Joseph Edwards. There are artists who will make as good busts, but there is no living sculptor who can produce monumental work so pure, so refined, so essentially holy."
  In 1881, sponsored by George Frederic Watts, Edwards was awarded a pension under the Turner Bequest, but he died shortly after receiving it.
caption: Bust of Welsh historian, literary critic and social reformer Thomas Stephens (1821–1875), c. 1871 by Joseph Edwards; presented to Stephens as a testimonial after 25 years as honorary secretary of the Merthyr Library[4]:xlvi
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