(b Shotley, Northumb., 8 Jan 1798; d London, 8 April 1876). English sculptor. Apprenticed to a Northumberland stone mason, he worked as an ornamental sculptor in Newcastle upon Tyne and entered the Royal Academy Schools, London, in 1826. He became the prot?g? of the painter B. R. Haydon, and in 1827 he exhibited his first important work, a statue of Milo (bronze version, 1863; Blagdon, Northumb.), based on his studies of the Elgin marbles and the sculpture of Michelangelo. From 1834 to 1838 he worked in Rome, where his portrait style was influenced by Neo-classicism. On his return to Britain, he received commissions to execute statues of Queen Victoria (marble, 1845-6; untraced) and the Prince Consort (marble, 1845-6; London, V&A) for the Royal Exchange, London. His finest monuments are those to Robert Southey (marble, 1846), at St Kentigern, Crosthwaite, Cumbria, and to George Stephenson (bronze, 1863), near the High Level Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne; the latter has a group of supporting figures representing engineering workers. Lough produced many ideal works on classical, historical and literary themes, including a series of marble statues of Shakespearean subjects (1843-63; e.g. Blagdon, Northumb.) for his chief patron Matthew, 4th Baronet Ridley. His powerful, imaginative and eclectic works illustrate the development of Victorian classicism towards a romantic and picturesque style.
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