Bath, Art and Architecture: Sculptured Portraits of the Duke of Cumberland

Sunday, 3 May 2015

Sculptured Portraits of the Duke of Cumberland

Duke of Cumberland, A Terracotta by Micheal Rysbrack.

Signed and dated on the back Mich: Rysbrack / 1754.

Acquired from Spink & Son, Ltd., London, 1936, "on behalf of the Rt. Hon. Lord Hatherton, Stafford"

At the Musee des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium.

A Model -‘The late Duke of Cumberland, after the Life 1754’,

Rysbrack sale 14 Feb 1767, lot 59; 18 April 1767, lot 39.

This terracotta, sold at Spinks, 1932, once with Sir Edward Littleton.

(info - NPG -http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/explore/by-publication/kerslake/early-georgian-portraits-catalogue-cumberland.php

A marble bust of the Duke of Cumberland by 'Rysbrach' is described in Londiniana by Edward Wedlake Brayley in the home of Henry Richard Vassel Fox at Holland House in 1828

The description of this marble bust of the Duke of Cumberland is again repeated as by Rysbrach 1754 is mentioned as being at Holland House, West London in The History and Antiquities of London and Westminster .... By Thomas Allen, 1837.

Described in Early Georgian Portraits, Kerslake 1977, as in the collection of Teresa Countess of Galway.

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Lead Bust of the Duke of Cumberland, bought from Henry Cheere, by Viscount Tyrconnel of Belton to celebrate the victory at the battle of Culluden of Cumberland over t Bonnie Prince Charlie.

650 mm x 510mm

Belton House, National Trust.

Fact not yet checked.

see - http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/435382

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Lead Bust of the Duke of Cumberland.

Height: 66 cm including socle.

Inscribed on the squat marble socle - 'REPUBLICA SERVATA MDCCXLVI'

Victoria and Albert Museum.

Previously at Lowther Castle, near Penrith, Cumberland from an unrecorded date until its purchase by Cooper & Adams, 41 James Street, London, from the Castle sale in 1947. Purchased by the Museum from Cooper & Adams in 1947 for £50.

The V and A again suggest the authorship of Henry Cheere.

Much has been written about the victor of Culloden, "Sweet William" or "Stinking Billie" depending on your politics, but I like the following assessment -

Lord Waldegrave had written in 1758, that he had ''strong parts, great military abilities, undoubted courage,'' but that his judgment was ''too much guided by his passions, which are often violent and ungovernable. His notions of honour and generosity are worthy of a prince.''

Mezzotint of the Duke of Cumberland.

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A Lead Statuette of Duke of Cumberland.

Probably by John Cheere, circa 1770.

National Army Museum.

Purchased with assistance from National Heritage Memorial Fund and the National Art Collections Fund. Provenance - Private collection ; Sotheby's 1990; Joanna Barnes Fine Art.

"This statuette was probably made for a friend or admirer of the Duke of Cumberland in the period following his victory at the Battle of Culloden (1746).

They also say that the sculptor was Henry Cheere, also designed a full size version of the statue, which was erected in Cavendish Square, London, 4 Nov 1770 (Gentleman's Mag). It was melted down in 1868 by the Duke of Portland.

The base was inscribed 'William Duke of Cumberland, born April 15, 1721; died 31st October 1766. This equestrian statue was erected by Lieutenant General William Strode, in gratitude for his private kindness, in honour to his public virtues, Nov. 5, Anno Domini 1770.

The Lady's Magazine or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex, Vol. 1 - 1770 page 187 - reported that it was made by John Cheere of Hyde Park Corner.

Another Lead Statuette of William Duke of Cumberland.

Royal Collection - Acquired by Queen Elizabeth II in 1969,

Presumed to be another version of the statuette shown above.

Size - 50.8 x 42.0 x 16.0 cm (whole object)

47.5 x 42.0 x 16.0 cm (excluding base/stand)

A view of a horses arse from Critical Observations of the Buildings and Improvements of London

by John Stewart, pub. Dodsley 1771.

A copy at the Warburg Institute see-

http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/pdf/cmh223b2212691.pdf

Showing the Equestrian Statue of the Duke of Cumberland erected in Cavendish Square, London.

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Portrait Medallion Of William Duke of Cumberland

by Richard Yeo, 1746.

51mm

Commemorating the Battle of Culloden

Hercules Trampling Discord whilst raising Britannia.

Sold Baldwin's Auctions lot 3064, 13 May 2013.

http://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=752&category=16734&lot=747914

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Engraving of William, Duke of Cumberland,

Bernard Baron after John Wooten 1747

58.3 x 43.0 cms

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3594200&partId=1&searchText=Frederick+Prince+of+Wales&page=5

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William, Duke of Cumberland.

A Wax Portrait by Isaac Gosset, circa 1752.

Size -10 x 7.8 cm. (3.9 x 3.1 in.)

Isaac Gosset (1715-1799) was the sixth and posthumous son of Jean Gosset, a Huguenot refugee from Normandy, who emigrated to Jersey with his father, also Jean, and married Susanne d'Allain.

As his father was buried in the Town Churchyard six weeks before Isaac was born, his birth on 2 May 1713 probably took place in St Helier, though later his mother lived at Grouville, where the boy was brought up.

His uncle, Matthew Gosset, had acquired some fame in London by modelling portraits in wax. Isaac joined him, and learnt this art, and soon excelled his uncle.

The Royal Family and many famous men of the time sat for him. The National Portrait Gallery contains medallions by him of General Conway, Governor of Jersey, and Charles Townshend, Chancellor of the Exchequer. Eight of his portraits hang in the library at Windsor Castle, and others are in the South Kensington Museum.

Part of his success was due to his discovery of a secret process, by which he tinted his wax to look like old ivory. In 1760 he was elected a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists. He died at Kensington on 28 November 1799, and was buried in the old Marylebone Cemetery. His portrait was painted by Gainsborough. The Gentleman's Magazine in its obituary rather quaintly described him as "one of those ingenious men rarely to be met with, who are at the same time equally amiable and inoffensive".

Isaac Gosset also made picture frames for artists such as Gainsborough, Allan Ramsay, and William Hoare; his clients, or those of his brothers, included Lord Digby of Sherborne Castle, Lord Egremont at Petworth, the 4^th Duke of Bedford, and the Royal family. He was appointed the King’s framemaker (under the title Joiner of the Privy Chamber) in 1774, at the age of 61, continuing unofficially in this post for three years after its abolition in 1782.

see - https://theframeblog.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/hogarths-framemaker/

He married in 1737 Francoise Buisset and had five children, Jeanne Madelain (1745- ), Elizabeth Ann (1744- ), Isaac (1745-1812), Abraham (1749- ) and Francoise (1749- ).

Miniature Ivory Relief of The Duke of Cumberland c. 1746.

Height 10.5 cms.

British Museum

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Engraving from the British Museum, A satire on the Duke of Cumberland by George Bickham (1706 -71). Dated December 1746.

Cumberland became known as the "Butcher" following the violent repression of the Scottish Highlands after the battle of Culloden in April 1746. According to W A Speck (ODNB, accessed 17 November 2012): "A newspaper printed before the end of May a report that when he returned to London he was to be made a freeman of the Butchers' Company. On 1 August Horace Walpole retailed a more celebrated version of the story in a letter, claiming that when 'it was lately proposed in the City to present him with the freedom of some company, one of the aldermen said aloud, "Then let it be of the Butchers"!' (Walpole, Corr., 19.288). Within weeks of the action at Culloden, Cumberland had been dubbed with the title by which he was for ever to be known, 'the Butcher'."

At this time George Bickham was at May's Buildings, a court off St Martins Lane, Westminster opposite Old Slaughters Coffee House and the entrance to Peter's Court, the home of the St Martins Lane Academy and studio of Roubiliac.

From British Museum Website

see - http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1655398&partId=1&searchText=Bickham&page=2

Another satire by George Bickham of 1749 - on the 9 June 1749 order from His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland to have the uniforms of three regiments of footguards shortened some three inches for sake of convenience on marches. The group of guards are shown protesting (most with speech bubbles above their heads) in an open space with the Banqueting House, Whitehall, and Holbein’s Gate, Westminster forming the perimeter. (Cumberland is the tubby character centre right).

https://lewiswalpole.wordpress.com/2011/11/

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