Cornelius Cure

Who was Cornelius Cure?

Cornelius Cure was an English-born sculptor of Dutch parentage, being the son of the sculptor, William Cure I.

Cure lived and worked in Southwark in Surrey. He held the office of Master Mason to both Queen Elizabeth I and King James I, originally jointly with his father. He was a popular sculptor of church monuments, such as those to Sirs Philip and Thomas Hoby, Thomas' widow, Elizabeth, Lady Russell, at Bisham in Berkshire, and Sir William Cordell at Long Melford in Suffolk.

In 1606, he was commissioned to produce the great monument to Mary, Queen of Scots, in Westminster Abbey, which remained incomplete at his death, but was finished by his son, William. The queen was interred in September 1612, under the Cures' sculpture, for which they received £825.