Simon Verity

Verity was born in Amersham in 1945, the son of Terence Verity, an architect and art designer, and his wife Enid, née Hill, artist, designer and colour theorist.See Enid Verity, Colour, with foreword by John Piper, Frewin, 1967{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/01/arts/simon-verity-dies.html|title = Simon Verity, World-Renowned Stone Carver, Is Dead at 79|last = Sandomir|first = Richard|date = 1 September 2024|accessdate = 2 September 2024|newspaper = The New York Times|url-access = limited}} Following his education at Marlborough College, he received his training through an informal apprenticeship to his great-uncle, Oliver Hill, at Daneway House,'A young craftsman at Daneway House', Matrix, no. 35, Summer 2018, 1–8 and under the conservationist Professor Robert Baker's teaching at Wells Cathedral.

Verity's early work includes inscriptions and small printed editions of concrete poetry in collaboration with Sylvester Houédard, produced in his studio at Daneway.Rock Sand Tide, Daneway/Openings, 1964Alan Powers, ‘Simon Verity, Peculiar Printer’, Matrix: A Review for Printers & Bibliophiles, Number 10, winter 1990 Having established his own studio at Rodbourne, St Paul Malmesbury Without, he made notable contributions of figure sculpture and fountains to local Cotswold gardens, including Barnsley House, Kiftsgate Court and Batsford Arboretum.

A 1988 memorial by Verity for the writer Sophie Behrens was the catalyst for the creation of Memorials by Artists, an organization dedicated to the creation of unique memorials.{{cite web|url=http://danbellan.com/pdf/Winter2010_SIA.pdf|title=Memorials by Artists, Suffolk, UK|publisher=Dan Bellan|accessdate=5 July 2010}}Hilary Lees, Exploring English Churchyard Memorials, 2002, page 83

From the mid-1980s, Verity worked with a small team of colleagues, including Diana Reynell, Belinda Eade and his own family, on the restoration of a group of historic grottoes, including those at Marlborough Mound (1982–86), Painshill Park (1987–89), Goldney House (1984),County Life, vol. 180, 1957 Hampton Court House (1986–89) and Walton Hall Bath House (1987–91).Richard Barber, The Marlborough Mound: Prehistoric Mound, Medieval Castle, 2022, p. 125Dr Gerald Hull and Margaret Hull, Conchinilia Journey I; Conchinilia Journey II; and Half-Forgotten on shell houses and grottoes. He subsequently created new grottoes at Leeds Castle (1989),{{Cite news |last=Trucco |first=Terry |date=18 August 1988 |title=A Stone Carver Finds His Niche in Grottoes Old and New |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/18/garden/a-stone-carver-finds-his-niche-in-grottoes-old-and-new.html |access-date=21 February 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

and in the United States, England, Greece and Italy.

Verity acquired from the Nicholson family of gin distillers the Hartham Park or Pickwick underground quarry of Bath stone, at Box Hill, near Corsham, originally opened in the 1840s, which he sold in 1989.FORSTER, A., HOBBS, P.R.N., MONKHOUSE, R.A. and WYATT, R.J., Environmental Geology Study: Parts of West Wiltshire and South-east Avon (Keyworth: British Geology Survey, 1985), p. 133https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/510143/1/WAVG85008_incomplete.pdf

Settling in the United States about 1988, Verity worked as director on the carving of the west portal of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York (also known as the Portal of Paradise) from 1988 until 1997. At the start, Verity was assisted by six apprentices. In 1993, Jean-Claude Marchionni, a master stonecarver from France, joined Verity in the project.{{cite web|url=http://www.photoarts.com/journal/cooper/portalproject/intro.html|title=Portal Project Introduction|publisher=Photo Arts|accessdate=5 July 2010}} A procession of 32 matriarchs and patriarchs from the Old and New Testaments were carved from blocks of limestone already in place.{{cite web|url=http://www.stjohndivine.org/history_portal.html |title=The Portal of Paradise |publisher=Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York |accessdate=5 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620072208/http://stjohndivine.org/history_portal.html |archivedate=20 June 2010 }}

In 2004, Verity was commissioned to design and build a hand-carved map of the United Kingdom to form the paving for the British Memorial Garden in New York's Hanover Square. The Garden commemorates the 67 British victims of the 11 September 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. The map features all the counties of Great Britain, as well as the boroughs of London and British Islands and protectorates. The map is carved from grey flagstone from Caithness and sandstone from Moray, Scotland.

Verity participated in a programme of artist's residencies, lectures and demonstrations in the United States. In January 2015, he visited Duke University for a 10-day residency during which he recreated the Head of a virtue, a 1245 sculpture from Notre-Dame Cathedral that is now in the collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke.{{cite web |title=Simon Verity returning to Duke |url=http://www.dukewired.org/201501-simon-verity-2015-visit/ |website=Wired! Lab |publisher=Duke University |accessdate=3 September 2018}}

Verity's writings include memoirs of his apprenticeship with Oliver Hill'A young craftsman at Daneway House', Matrix, no. 35, Summer 2018, 1−8'Addendum: a patchwork...after 50 years', privately printed, n.d. and The Library of Libraries (2013), a satirical illustrated polemic inspired by the campaign to preserve the stacks in the main branch of the New York Public Library.The Library of Libraries, New York: Committee to Save the New York Public Library, 2013{{cite web | url=https://www.classicist.org/?attachment_id=6227 | title=Institute of Classical Architecture & Art }}{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=grPHoAEACAAJ | title=The Library of Libraries | isbn=978-0-615-98168-0 | last1=Verity | first1=Simon | date=2 February 2024 | publisher=Committee to Save the New York Public Library }}

In 1970, Verity married Judith Mills; they had three children and later divorced.{{Cite web|url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=jLkQDGQhRX0kNMBrOly7MA&scan=1|title=Index entry|accessdate=2 September 2024|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}} In 2013, he married Martha Becker Finney.

Verity died from Lewy body dementia at his home in Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, Wales, on 11 August 2024, at the age of 79.{{cite news |title=Simon Verity, master sculptor who added to Gothic cathedrals and revived the rococo art of grottoes – obituary |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2024/08/28/simon-verity-sculptor-stone-cathedral-grotto-tombstone/ |access-date=28 August 2024 |publisher=The Telegraph |date=28 August 2024|url-access = subscription}}

Other works include:

• Portland stone carved baptismal font at Clifton Cathedral, Bristol (1973){{National Heritage List for England|num=1271209|desc=Cathedral Church of SS Peter and Paul, City of Bristol|access-date=19 January 2023}}
• Figures in niches on the tower of St Mary's Church, Purton, Wiltshire (1973){{Cite book |last1=Orbach |first1=Julian |title=Wiltshire |last2=Pevsner |first2=Nikolaus |last3=Cherry |first3=Bridget |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-300-25120-3 |series=The Buildings Of England |location=New Haven, US and London |page=516 |oclc=1201298091 |author-link2=Nikolaus Pevsner |author-link3=Bridget Cherry}}
• A demi-angel with lute (south side) and (in the gable apex) a nude figure of St Peter with net and keys, both on the image screen at Exeter Cathedral (commissioned 1984){{cite web|url=http://www.blackdogofwells.com/shop9146_cat901_angel_with_lute_stone_cast_products.htm|title=Angel with Lute |publisher=Black Dog of Wells|accessdate=5 July 2010}}
• A seated king in niche 199 of the West Front at Wells Cathedral (1980/81)Jerry Sampson, Wells Cathedral West Front: Construction, Sculpture and Conservation, 1998, p. 228
• A seated nude and mother and child at Kiftsgate Court, Gloucestershire{{cite web|url=http://www.kiftsgate.co.uk/roseborder.shtml|title=Rose Border |publisher=Kiftsgate Court|accessdate=5 July 2010}}
• A fountain, lady in a hunting habit and other works at Barnsley House, Gloucestershire
• A grotto at Leeds Castle, Kent
• Lettering for the entrance to the Henry Cole Wing of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (1983)
• A plaque in The V&A Temple at The Laskett, Herefordshire, for Sir Roy Strong (1988){{cite web | url=https://www.thelaskett.org.uk/garden-gallery/the-va-temple/ | title=The V&A Temple | work=The Laskett Gardens }} and a medallion to celebrate Sir Roy’s retirement after 14 years as Director of the V&A Museum (1987).{{cite magazine |last1=Gill |first1=Brendan |title=Stone Carver |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1990/01/22/stone-carver |magazine=The New Yorker |accessdate=4 September 2018 |date=22 January 1990}}
• Tombstones and memorials for many distinguished personages, including Sir John Betjeman; Lady Diana Cooper; Edmund Blunden; Nancy Mitford; Henry Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort; Lynne Redgrave; Rachel Kempson; Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel; Allan Gwynne-Jones; Anne Parsons, Countess of Rosse, and her husband Michael Parsons, 6th Earl of Rosse; Sir Algar Henry Stafford Howard; Linetta de Castelvecchio Richardson; James Pope-Hennessy; Frank Russell Barry, Bishop of Southwell; Rosemary Verey; Susana, Lady Walton and George Wein.{{cite magazine |last1=Gill |first1=Brendan |title=Stone Carver |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1990/01/22/stone-carver |magazine=The New Yorker |accessdate=4 September 2018 |date=22 January 1990}}
• Retrospective memorials to famous historical figures, including a tablet to Bishop Lancelot Andrewes (1994/5) in the chancel of Winchester Cathedral{{cite web | url=https://literarywinchester.org.uk/authors/john-harmar/ | title=John Harmar (C1555–1613) – Literary Winchester }} and a floor inscription to mark the former position of the shrine of St Thomas Becket in the Trinity Chapel of Canterbury Cathedral.David S. Neal, Warwick Rodwell, Canterbury Cathedral, Trinity Chapel: The Archaeology of the Mosaic Pavement and Setting of the Shrine of St Thomas Becket, 2022, p. 368
• Four life-size classical figure statues of the seasons for the roof pediments at Henbury Hall, Cheshire (about 1986){{cite web|url=https://westcheshiremuseums.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Laubin.pdf|title=Carl Laubin HENBURY HALL, CHESHIRE, 2006|accessdate=26 September 2023}}
• Figure of Spring, terms and inscription at Llowes Court, Glasbury, Powys{{cite web | url=https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/300008772-llowes-court-glasbury | title=Llowes Court, Glasbury, Powys }}
• Figure of Aphrodite at Woodside, Old Windsor, Berkshire{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbzZYGvZeTg|title=Elton John's gardens with Rosemary Verey|website=YouTube |date=17 February 2011 |accessdate=10 December 2023}}
• La Bocca fountain, bas reliefs, statue of Aphrodite and garden features at La Mortella, Ischia{{cite web|url=https://www.lamortella.org/en/garden/hill-garden/temple-of-the-sun|title=Temple of the Sun|accessdate=26 September 2023}}Walton, Susana. La Mortella: An Italian Garden Paradise, New Holland Publishers (2002)
• A grotto at Woody House in East Hampton, New York{{cite web|url=http://www.ryangainey.com/projects/woody/default.htm|title=Woody House − East Hampton, New York|publisher=Ryan Gainey|accessdate=5 July 2010}}
• Grotto at estate in Fort Worth, Texas (1989)
• Grotto at Agnitsini, Corfu
• The Guardian, sculpture in memory of Princess Catherine Galitzine Campbell (died 1988) in the Chicago Botanic Garden (1992){{cite web|url=http://www.chicagobotanic.org/sculpture/index.php|title=Sculpture at the Garden|publisher=Chicago Botanic Garden|accessdate=5 July 2010|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100710002828/http://www.chicagobotanic.org/sculpture/index.php|archivedate=10 July 2010}}
• Fountains, sundial and inscriptions at the American Academy in Rome (1996){{cite web|url=http://www.gardendesign.com/articles/Rebuilding-Rome|title=Rebuilding the Gardens of the American Academy in Rome |publisher=Garden Design|accessdate=5 July 2010}}
• Orpheus fountain in memory of Jane Blaffer Owen (died 2010) at The Cathedral Labyrinth (a replica of the Chartres Cathedral labyrinth), New Harmony, Indiana{{cite web|url=http://www.blakleys.com/the-cathedral-labyrinth.cfm |title=The Cathedral Labyrinth at New Harmony, Indiana |publisher=Blakley's|accessdate=5 July 2010}}
• The Gorgeous Mosaic, a panel at Bellevue Hospital, NYC (1991){{cite web|url=http://home2.nyc.gov/html/hhc/html/art-collection/bellevue_simon.shtml |title=The Gorgeous Mosaic |publisher=New York City|accessdate=5 July 2010}}
• Labrum fountain, Leon Levy and Shelby White Court, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (opened 2007)'Redesigning the Met’s Home for Greek and Roman Art', New York Times, Robin Pogrebin, 18 April 2007
• Three replacement figure sculptures after the drawings of Ninian Comper for The Leslie Lindsey Memorial Chapel, Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Boston, USA (installed 2017){{cite web|url=https://www.emmanuelboston.org/mission/history/history-of-lindsey-chapel/altar-screen/restored-reredos |title=Lindsey Chapel altar screen restored|date=6 March 2021 |accessdate=6 October 2023}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.photoarts.com/journal/cooper/portalproject/ The Portal Project] Martha Cooper exhibit of the St John the Divine project.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110716085815/http://www.citylore.org/pdf/portal.pdf The Portal of Paradise] City Lore NYC article on Verity's work at St John The Divine (1998)
• [https://www.flickr.com/photos/ugardener/3841701763/ Simon Verity's "Seated Nude" at Kiftsgate Court, Cotswolds] photos
• [https://www.flickr.com/photos/ericinsf/2268579847/ Cathedral of St. John the Divine] photo of the Portal of Paradise.
• [http://www.dumdum.co.uk/sphericalvr/paving.htm QuickTime panoramic portrait of Simon Verity at work on the paving for the British Memorial Garden]. Photographed by Jonathan Greet
• [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1990/01/22/stone-carver Stone Carver] in the 22 January 1990 issue of The New Yorker. (paywall)

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Category:1945 births

Category:2024 deaths

Category:British letter cutters

Category:British male sculptors

Category:British sculptors

Category:Deaths from Lewy body dementia

Category:Deaths from dementia in Wales

Category:English landscape and garden designers

Category:Grottoes

Category:People educated at Marlborough College

Category:People from Amersham

Category:People from Llandeilo

Category:Neurological disease deaths in Wales