Tomb Of John Flaxman And Family In St Pancras Old Church Gardens

The tomb of John Flaxman and his family is located in St Pancras Old Church Gardens and dates from around 1840. It features two slabs made of Portland stone above vaults. The tomb is surrounded by a raised kerb with cast-iron railings that have enriched brackets on the standards. The stone vaults are covered by battered stone slabs that conceal the entrances. The inscription on the tomb is weathered and difficult to read, but it commemorates John Flaxman, a Royal Academician, who died on December 7, 1826, at the age of seventy-two.

John Flaxman, who lived from 1755 to 1826, was a prominent sculptor known for his funerary monuments. His work was influenced by the Italian Renaissance and 17th-century art. He had a distinguished career, culminating in his role as the first professor of sculpture at the Royal Academy in 1810. Despite his achievements, he passed away in debt and was buried at St Pancras rather than at St Paul's Cathedral, which was his wish. Flaxman is also remembered through representations on the façades of Burlington House from 1874 and the Victoria and Albert Museum around 1904, as well as on the nearby Burdett-Coutts Memorial Sundial.