Martin Brothers

The Martin Brothers and their Grotesque Gothic Revival art pottery :

The Martin Brothers pottery was founded by the eldest of the group, Robert Wallace Martin (1843 to 1923).

Robert Martin trained in sculpture at Lambeth School of Art and later at the Royal Academy of Art. He set up the first Martin Brothers pottery in the 1860s, where he made terracotta sculpture.

In 1873, he set up a new pottery with his brothers, Charles, Walter and Edwin Martin in Fulham, London.

In 1877 they moved to Southall, where they made salt-glazed stoneware with Gothic Revival influences, now known as Martinware.

The Gothic Revival was an 18th century architectural style that used the architecture of the Middle Ages as its model.

European pottery was also influenced, incorporating neo-gothic elements into design and decoration.

The Martin Brothers became famous for their eccentric, grotesquely modeled Wally Birds and their wheel-thrown and sculpted face jugs and gothic stoneware vases.

They also produced other items reminiscent of art and architecture from the Middle Ages

In the early 1900's the company suffered various difficulties, including a serious fire in 1910 and also deaths in the family

The Martin Brothers Pottery company closed in 1915.