Robert Taylor (1690–1742) was a leading English sculptor and mason of the early eighteenth century, active within the professional statuary and architectural tradition of the early Georgian period. Apprenticed to Richard Garbut, he is recorded as active from 1712, and went on to hold major institutional appointments that place him among the most important sculptors of his generation.

Taylor served as master mason to the Company of Barber-Surgeons and as mason to the Royal College of Physicians between 1725 and 1739. In addition to his sculptural output, he was responsible for a substantial portion of the building works at St Bartholomew’s ⓘ Hospital between 1728 and 1740, demonstrating a professional practice that combined architecture, masonry, and statuary at a high level.

His sculptural work includes church monuments, architectural sculpture, and extensive decorative and armorial carving, with surviving examples distributed widely across England. Taylor’s monuments are characterised by confident figure modelling, controlled theatricality, and a mature handling of drapery and pose, reflecting the late Baroque idiom adapted to early Georgian taste.

Taylor’s acknowledged masterpiece is the monument to Thomas Deacon, widely regarded as one of the finest English funerary sculptures of the period. The work exemplifies his ability to integrate expressive figurative sculpture within a rigorous architectural framework, balancing dynamism with dignity. Through both his monuments and his institutional building work, Taylor played a central role in shaping English statuary in the first half of the eighteenth century.