Nollekens is generally considered to be the finest British sculptors of the late 18th century. He was born in London on 11th August 1737, the son of a Flemish painter, Josef Frans Nollekens (1702–1748), who had moved from Antwerp to London in 1733. In 1750, he was apprenticed to the sculptor Peter Scheemakers (1691 - 1781), another Flemish immigrant in London.

In 1760, he moved to Rome, where he continued studying, as well as working as an antiques dealer, restorer and copier. Sculptures he made in Rome included a marble of ‘Timocles Conducted before Alexander’, for which he was awarded fifty guineas by the Society of Arts, and busts of David Garrick and Laurence Sterne , who were visiting the city.

Nollekens returned to London in 1770. His reputation preceded him and, once he had set up his studio in Mortimer Street, he received many commissions from fashionable society and built up a large practice. In Rupert Gunnis’s words ‘he soon became to contemporary sculpture what Reynolds was to painting’ (Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660 – 1851, London 1951). Although he preferred working on mythological subjects, it was through his portrait busts that he became famous, as one of the most fashionable portrait sculptors in Britain.

He enjoyed the patronage of King George III and went on to sculpt many leading figures, including William Pitt the Younger , Charles James Fox , the Duke of Bedford and the Marquess of Rockingham. He also made busts of figures from the arts such as Benjamin West . Most of his subjects were represented in classical costume.

Nollekens became an associate of the Royal Academy in 1771 and a full Academician the following year. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy from 1771 – 1816. He died in 1823, leaving a fortune of £200,000.