The sculptor Thomas Campbell was initially apprenticed to a marble cutter in Edinburgh, the city where he was born, before his work caught the attention of Gilbert Innes of Stow, Depute-Governor of the Bank of Scotland, who became his patron. Innes's support enabled Campbell to study at the Royal Academy Schools in London and then move to Rome in 1818, where he remained until 1830.

Campbell set up a studio in Rome, where he produced portrait busts for many eminent visitors and became the 'doyen of Scottish expatriate sculptors'. He became associated with the neoclassical sculptors Antonio Canova (1757-1822) and Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770-1844) and in 1826 George IV commissioned Campbell to make copies of Thorvaldsen's busts of Pope Pius VII and Cardinal Ercole Consalvi (1757-1824). These were delivered to Windsor Castle in 1829, shortly before Campbell's return to London. Campbell continued to produce portrait busts, but also undertook a number of commissions for monuments, including a bronze of the 4th Earl of Hopetoun in St Andrew's Square, Edinburgh, and a statue of Wellington for the 5th Duke of Buccleuch at Dalkeith House.

George Gordon, 5th Duke of Gordon, was a soldier, politician, and the Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland. He was Governor of Edinburgh Castle from 1827-36; Campbell executed a bronze of the Duke of York for the Castle esplanade (1830-39).