198 Josiah Wedgwood CHAP. 



an important commission, for a set of drawings 

 illustrative of Homer. These were executed to 

 Crutchely's satisfaction, and Flaxman's commissions 

 soon increased. Friends now foretold his future emin- 

 ence as a designer and sculptor. At eleven years old, 

 and again at thirteen, he won prizes from the Society 

 of Arts for his models of figures in clay. At fifteen he 

 exhibited models at the Koyal Academy, then in the 

 second year of its existence. In the same year, 1770, 

 he entered as an Academy student and won the silver 

 medal. Next year, he tried for the gold one, the 

 reward of the highest merit. 



All his fellow-students made sure that the assiduous 

 and enthusiastic Flaxman would win the prize. Perhaps 

 he himself was too cocksure of the result. But Sir 

 Joshua Eeynolds, the President, adjudged the gold 

 medal to another student called Engleheart, who was 

 never afterwards heard of. Flaxman, however, was not 

 discouraged : he knew he deserved the prize, and 

 the defeat, such as it was, merely roused his courage. 

 " Give me time," he said to his father, " and I will yet 

 produce works which the Academy will be proud to 

 acknowledge." 



Flaxman thought his defeat was due to the slight of 

 Sir Joshua. But perhaps he was too vain of his powers. 

 This would appear from a letter of Wedgwood's to 

 Bentley (14th January 1775) : " I am glad you have 

 met with a modeller, and that Flaxman is so valuable 

 an artist. It is but a few years since he was a most 



