The sculptor Joseph Nollekens (1737 1823) was famed for his portrait busts of leading figures of his day. While working in Italy in the 1760s, he established contacts among a group of aristocratic British patrons, going on to become London's most fashionable sculptor upon his return to England in 1771. The draughtsman and antiquary John Thomas Smith (1766 1833) had been at one time a pupil of Nollekens. It is believed that this anecdotal two-volume biography, first published in 1828, was written as an act of revenge. Having been promised a considerable legacy in the sculptor's will, Smith was...