Thursday 25 February 2016

The Roubiliac Statue of William Shakespeare for David Garrick

The Marble Statue of William Shakespeare
Made for David Garrick's Villa at Hampton
and its modellos
 
By Louis Francois Roubiliac.
 Terracotta statuette of William Shakespeare.
The Model for David Garrick's Temple at Hampton. 
Louis Francois Roubiliac.
Inscribed on top left side of the desk LF Roubiliac in.t et Fec. 1757.
Height 55.9cms.
The Folger Shakespeare Library. Washington DC.
 Provenance. -
The collection of the portrait painter Thomas Hudson,
his sale, Lot 36, Christie's 25 -26 February, 1785.
This Statuette was not  included in the Roubiliac posthumous sale of 1762.
Bought Jean Baptiste Le Brun, Paris.
Eduard Chappey, Paris.
see - Roubiliac's Statue of Shakespeare.  HC Andrews Architectural Review,XXXIX, 234, May 1916

This is most likely the sketch model exhibited at the Society of Artists exhibition at Spring Gardens in 1761.
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Roubiliac with the Model for Garrick's Shakespeare.
by Adrien Carpentier, active in England from 1739, died 1778.
1257 mm x 1003 mm
Signed Adrien Carpentiers p: 1762.
Currently at Beningborough Hall

National Portrait Gallery.
 
If the date was added later, this may be the 'half length of Mr Roubiliac' ex­hibited by Carpentiers at the Society of Artists 1761. Roubiliac died 11th January 1762, and the quality of this portrait suggests that is unlikely to be a copy. This portrait shows the terracotta dated 1757, now in the Folger Shakespeare Library (above). Another terracotta of this statue of Shakespeare
commissioned by Garrick, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (see below), is dated 1757; the marble passed on the death of Mrs Garrick to the British Museum.
 'A version of this portrait without a date or signature, was owned in 1931 by Kenneth Sanderson, and is apparently the source of the mezzotint by D. Martin engraved 1765 (see below) when in the possession of R. Alexander of Edinburgh. Both show a large pair of callipers on the stand in addition to the two small tools shown in the above portrait. A number of scholars have taken this to be a repetition.' text lifted from NPG website  Where is it now?
 
 

 Terracotta Statuette
Signed on the base LF Roubiliac, 1757.
Height 422 mm.
A slightly earlier sketch version of the Folger statuette and the finished marble.

The waistcoat is shown slightly differently revealing less of a paunch, The plinth of the desk has no drapery and the index finger is in a different position..
Victoria and Albert Museum.
This terracotta was not included in the Roubiliac posthumous sale of 1762.
At the sale of the property of Edward Stevens (architect), held on 7 February 1776, lot 38 is described as 'A terracotta figure of Mr Roubiliac's Shakespeare'.
Noted on departmental records at the V and A, as having been purchased by Mr. A. Myers from the Henry Farrer Esq, F.S.A. sale (held at Christie's between 12 and 18 June 1866). Sold on the second day's sale, 13 June 1866, as lot 218, described as 'Shakespeare, by Corbett: a copy of the statue by Roubillac [sic]'.
The annotated sale catalogue is held in the National Art Library and records that it was purchased by Myers' for £2. Lots 221 and 222 in the same sale, described as models for a tomb in Westminster Abbey, were also purchased by Myers for 10s each.
The Shakespeare statuette was purchased by the Museum from Mr Myers in 1867, lot  for £4 4s. A terracotta model by Rysbrack for the Locke monument was also purchased from Myers at this time.
 

 
Roubiliac and the Modello of Garrick's Shakespeare
after Carpentier.
Note the pair of callipers on the stand not shown in the NPG version of this portrait. 
Mezzotint 
David Martin
1765.
British Museum.
 
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 The Life Size Marble Statue of William Shakespeare
1758.
Commissioned by David Garrick's and Carved for his Garden Temple at  his villa at Hampton, Middlesex.
Height 172 cms x Max Width 130 cms depth 70 cms.
Pedestal Height 130 cms x width 130 cms x 116 cms.
by Louis Francois Roubiliac.
signed on the left of the stand on the drapery LF Roubiliac inv.t et sc.t / MDCCCLLVIII.
 
Painted in gold on the pedestal - MARBLE STATUE OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE / By LF ROUBILIAC, SIGNED AND DATED 1758 / Formerly in the temple of Shakespeare / in the Garden of Garrick's Villa at Hampton / Bequeathed by David Garrick 1779 and installed at the British Museum after the death of his wife in 1822. It had finally been erected on its pedestal by 30th September 1823. There appears to have been some wrangling over the pedestal.
 
Transferred to the British Library in 2005.
From the British Museum.

The statue is made from several pieces of marble the head appears to be attached just above the collar, the left hand is let into the arm. the extended left forefinger is separately attached to the hand - this may be a restoration.

There were various lots in the Roubiliac sale of 1762 which may relate to the statue.
 
Little is known about the commissioning of this sculpture - there is a copy of memorandum of 3 July 1757 in Hereford Museum (original which was sent to the BM has now been lost) between Roubiliac and Garrick signed by the sculptor and witnessed by John Peele where the sculptor agrees to make the sculpture according to the 'settled model'.
 
A cash payment in the sculptors ledger of the 17 Fen 1759 for £300, probably refers to payment for the statue and pedestal - Roubiliac's bank account with Drummond's Bank, now in the archive of the Royal Bank of Scotland DR/ 427/39 f.423.
 
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There is a description by Mrs Hampden Pye in A Short Account of Principal seats and Gardens in and about Twickenham was published in 1760.
'..... the garden is laid out in the modern taste with a passage like my Lord Radnors cut under the road to a lawn, where close by the waterside, stands the Temple of Shakespeare. This is a brick building in the form of a dome, with a handsome porch supported by four pillars, Opposite to the entrance in a large nich stands a statue of the poet large as life at his desk in an attitude of thought. The figure is bold & striking, the drapery finished in a most delicate manner. The sculptor has displayed as many nice and masterly strokes in the statue of Shakespeare as the possessor has, in that poets most favourite characters'.

The French travel writer PJ Grosley wrote in Londres, 1770, pp 346 - 8, translated in a rather florid English version by Thomas Nugent in 1772.

'One of the most remarkable monuments of this kind is that, which the celebrated Mr Garrick lately erected to the memory of Shakespeare, at Hampton. Upon a small eminence formed by art, which commands a prospect of the banks of the Thames, and is separated from the garden by a long row of Laurels and ever greens,  rises a little temple built with as much solidity as taste, of Portland stone. It is of a round form , terminated by a cupola, the diameter twenty one feet: the door is adorned with a front, which juts out , and is supported in the antique manner, by two pillars. The temple is decorated with a statue of Shakespeare, as large as the life executed by Roubilliac (sic) in fine Carrara marble. The father of English tragedy is represented with a pen in his hand, seeming to have just conceived one of those sublime ideas, to which he owes his reputation. This statue which is in itself very fine, and rendered still more so by the intention of him who caused it to be erected, is the only ornament within the temple, the place where Mr Garrick and his select friends assemble. The furniture consists only of a dozen chairs, made after the English fashion, one of which, higher and more adorned than the rest, is intended for the president.
 
Mr Garrick does the honours of this monument in a manner which inhances (sic) his merit in erecting it 'I owe everything says he to Shakespeare: si vivo et valio, suum est: this is but a weak testimony of gratitude which knows no bounds.
 
This celebrated person is said to have been appointed by an English nobleman guardian to his only son, By this choice and this monument of his gratitude to Shakespeare, Mr Garrick may vie with, those players of ancient Greece, who were not excluded by their profession, from places that required the greatest abilities and the strictest probity'.
 
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JT Smith suggests in A Book for a Rainy Day that a cast of the statue by George Garrard ARA  had replaced the marble when he visited in 1829, and Mrs Esdaile states that it was there until 1902.
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A watercolour of 1845 by George Scharf of the Statues of Shakespeare and Joseph Banks by Chantrey and the Bust of Madame Boccage by Defernex in the entrance hall of Montagu House, the Old British Museum is shown below.
 
 



Another view of the entrance hall to Montagu House, the Old British Museum.
attrib. George Scharf  (1788 - 1860).
 
I wholeheartedly recommend the British Museum website and its collection of drawings and watercolours by George Scharf to anyone interested in the topography of London just before the advent of photography. The majority of these drawings have not yet been digitalised.
In my opinion the finest recorder of the streets of London and its inhabitants.
He worked in England from 1816 until his death. He lived in St Martin's Lane, Charing Cross and after its demolition in Francis St, Bloomsbury.
 
 
see also the Scharf drawings in the British Library at their website.
 


View of the Entrance Hall at Montagu House by WH Prior of 1843.
 
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Low res photograph of The Roubiliac Statue of Shakespeare in the British Library.
 
 
 

For a very good account of the British Museum / Library statue of Shakespeare by Roubiliac see -
Portrait Sculpture, A Catalogue of the British Museum Collection c 1675 - 1975, by Aileen Dawson, 1999.

I have used the chapter on the Roubiliac Shakespeare as the basis for this blog entry.
 
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William Shakespeare
attrib. to Louis Francois Roubiliac.
Size Unknown.
This was apparently given to the anonymous owners grandfather by Warren Hastings.

This information, and the scanned photograph - 
from Louis Francois Roubiliac, Katherine A. Esdaile, Oxford, 1928.
This marble is very close to the first terracotta model of the Garrick Shakespeare now in the V and A.
Showing the open waistcoat but with an undraped plinth.
Location currently unknown.
 
_______________________________
 
 
 

 
 

 
The Temple was linked to the villa by a tunnel under the road.

 
Garrick's Villa and Temple
Engraving after Joseph Farrington
1793.
From a History of the River Thames.
250 x 358mm plate mark.
British Museum.
 
____________________________________________________________
 
 
 
David Garrick and his wife on the steps of the temple at Hampton by Johan Zoffany.
Garrick Club.
 
 
 
 
David Garrick at Hampton and the Temple by Zoffany.
Garrick Club.
 
Both of these pictures were originally in the Adelphi town house of Garrick.
Garrick Papers, Inventory of the town House, Hereford Museum and Art Gallery.
_____________________________________________________________
 
 



 

Monday 15 February 2016

The Lead Statue of Shakespeare and its settings at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Covent Garden.

 
 
A Life Size Lead Statue of William Shakespeare
In the Foyer of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Covent Garden.
by John Cheere.
 
A mirror image of the statue on the monument by Scheemakers in Westminster Abbey.
 
 
Some authors suggest that it was commissioned for the Theatre Royal by David Garrick - but given the nature of lead sculpture this would seem unlikely, unless it had been moved prior to the fire in 1809. British History Online states that it was presented to the Theatre by the brewer Samuel Whitbread (1764 - 1815) in 1809 and placed on the portico some time after 1820 which seems much more plausible, Whitbread purchased 20 statues from the second sale of the works of Cheere for his garden at Southill Park in Bedfordshire for £975. 15 shillings.
 
This version appears to be a later cast of that commissioned for the Shakespeare Jubilee at Stratford upon Avon in 1769 by David Garrick and now in the façade of the town hall (see previous post).


 
 

Shakespeare Stratford upon Avon Town Hall
 
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The Theatre Royal Lead Statue of Shakespeare.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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 The Theatre Royal Drury Lane (illustrations).
 
Anyone familiar with this blog will recognise that one of its primary purposes is to provide visual information on its subject which is loosely that of 18th century portrait sculpture and its setting. the development of the internet allows someone like me to access all sorts of information, which in the past would require visits to many libraries and archives to obtain this information and then to obtain permissions to publish the results of my researches.
 
I am posting these pictures here in order to give some idea of the history and setting of the lead sculpture of William Shakespeare by John Cheere. 

There are is a very good website set up by Arthur Lloyd - http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/DruryLane.htm 
which I recommend to anyone interested in the theatre


Both of which are very good in their own ways but as neither give a visual overview of the history of the Theatre Royal and as no one else has done it I am attempting to rectify this.
 
It doesn't pretend to be comprehensive and has been done purely for my own interest and pleasure.
 
 
Preparatory Sketch by Benjamin Dean Wyatt (1755 - 1852).
For the engraving below.
Pen Pencil Sepia Ink and Water Colour.
19.3 x 29.8
Victoria and Albert Museum.
 
 
 
Section through the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
 
Above - Section through the Grand Staircases and Rotunda of the Fourth Theatre Royal Drury Lane by Benjamin Wyatt (Architect) - From 'Illustrations of the public buildings of London, Volume 1' by J. Britton and A. Pugin,1825. Key:- a. a. Principal Flights of Steps. b. b. Entrances to Dress Circle. c. c. Ditto, First Circle. d. d. Ditto, Second Circle. e. Rotunda, lower story. f. Ditto, upper story. g. Stone Gallery-floor. h. Iron cradling supporting the upper flights.
This engraving shows the statue of Shakespeare as the Scheemakers monument and not as the mirror image lead version currently in the foyer and illustrated here!
 
 
The Theatre Royal Front before the addition of the portico from the same publication.
 
These images lifted from the truly excellent website of Arthur Lloyd.
For an in overview of the developments at this Theatre and many others.
 
 
For a really in depth study of the history and architecture of this theatre see -
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cross section of the Rotunda and Main Staircase.
Showing the Statue of Shakespeare in its original position.
Drawing after 1812.
233 x 325.
Winston Collection.

Victoria and Albert Museum.
 
 
 
 
Section Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Clearly showing the statue of Shakespeare
undated pen and wash drawing attributed to Benjamin Wyatt
193 x 298 mm
Winston Collection
Victoria and Albert Museum
 
 
 
This Plan Lifted from -
 
 
 
 
Ground Plan of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane 1820's.
Attributed to James Winston.
364 x 490 mm.

Although Mr. Samuel Beazley Jr. was the architect for the proposed alterations to the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in the 1820's, this collection indicates that Mr James Winston (born c.1773) played an active role in the proposal alterations. It is unclear in certain items if he actually drew them himself or copied from original ones and added some notes. Appointed as Acting Manager of Drury Lane in 1819 Winston continued to be involved with the theatre until c.1827 and kept unpublished diaries of his time there.
Winston Collection
 
This Image from the Victoria and Albert Museum.
 
 
Winston's Plan derived from Wyatts Model of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
Paper Watermarked, 1817.
515 x 385 mm.
Winston Collection.
Victoria and Albert Museum.
 
 
Theatre Royal Drury Lane Henry Holland -
Showing Russell Street Frontage.
Unfinished Drawing.
213 x 276 mm.
From the Winston Collection
Victoria and Albert Museum.
 
 
 
 
Theatre Royal Drury Lane  -
Showing Bridges Street Frontage.
c. 1820.
388 x 523 mm.
From the Winston Collection.
Victoria and Albert Museum.
 
 
Theatre Royal Drury Lane
showing the phases of building from 1748
From the Winston Collection
watermarked 1829
 
Victoria and Albert Museum.
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Engraving of the Bridges Street Front of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, 1812.
Frederick Wilton Lichfield Stockdale.
175 x 242 mm
British Museum
 
 
Front of the Bridges Street Front of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane,
Whittle and Laurie,1812.

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Bridges Street Front of The Theatre Royal Drury Lane in 1814.
published with the interior of 1792
Engravings Capon above, Whichlo below.
320 x 248 mm.
British Museum.
 
 
Bridges Street Front of the New Drury Lane Theatre. Engraving by Busby after Whichelo, 1 September 1813 for The Beauties of England and Wales.
 
 
 
 
 Aquatint of The Bridges Street Front of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. 
from Brayley's Theatre of London, 1826.
140 x 188mm.
British Museum.
 
 
Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd.
3.5 x 5.75 inches.

Published as an engraving -engraved by Thomas Dale and published in James Elmes Metropolitan Improvements, 1827 - 31.
 
This appears to show the statue of Shakespeare (mirror image of the Scheemakers Monument) on the portico.
 
Another engraving of a similar view from Leigh's New Picture of London of 1828
again showing the mirror image lead statue on the portico.
 
There have been four Theatres built on the site of the present Theatre Royal Drury Lane. The first was built by the dramatist Thomas Killigrew under charter from Charles II, and opened with a production of 'The Humorous Lieutenant' on the 7th of May 1663. This first Theatre was very successful but was destroyed by fire in 1672. The second Theatre, built on the site of the first, is thought to have been built by the architect Sir Christopher Wren and opened in 1674. This is the Theatre which David Garrick ran with great success for 30 years from 1747. Garrick was followed by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, with such notable Thespians as Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble taking the stage. This second Theatre was demolished in 1791. The Third Theatre Royal, Drury Lane,  was constructed between 1791 and 1794 by Henry Holland and was billed as a "Fireproof Theatre," but  burnt down only 16 years later in 1809. The Forth and present Theatre was designed by Benjamin Wyatt and built largely under the influence (pun intended) of Samuel Whitbread the Brewer and opened with a production of Hamlet on 10 October 1812.
 
The Portico was added in 1820 and the Russell Street Colonnade on the North side was built in 1831.
 
 
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The Second Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Bridges Street Front added by Robert Adam for David Garrick in 1773
 
 


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The Third Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
 
 
 
Plan of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, 1800.
Engraving by W. Thomas after F. Trecourt.
351 x 248 mm.
British Museum.
 
 
View from the South East, 1809.
_________________
 
 
Engraving of Holland's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
Russell Street Front
Prior to the fire of 1809.
 
 

 
Theatre Royal from the North East prior to its destruction by fire 24 February, 1809.
Drawn by W Capon.
Engraved William Wise.
Published 1811.
333 x 259 mm.
Victoria and Albert Museum.
 


 
 
Theatre Royal from the North East prior to its destruction by fire 24 February, 1809.
Original Drawing by W Capon.
Published 1811.
148 x 233 mm.
Victoria and Albert Museum.
 
 
 
 
Auditorium, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, 1813.
Published by La Belle Assemblee.
Lithograph.
228 x268 mm.
Victoria and Albert Museum.
 
 
 View of the corner of Drury Lane and Russell St, 1813.
Showing the North Elevation of the Theatre Royal and shops and tenements.
237 x 333 mm.
From the Winston Collection.
Victoria and Albert Museum.
 
 
View of the corner of Drury Lane and Russell St, 1813.
Showing the North Elevation of the Theatre Royal and shops and tenements.
237 x 333 mm.
by William Capon.
From the Winston Collection.
Victoria and Albert Museum.

 
 
 
Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Plan of 1816.
Paper watermarked 1817.
442 x 344 mm.
From the Winston Collection.
Victoria and Albert Museum.
 
 
 
Plan of Theatre Royal Drury Lane, 1778.
Lifted from -
 
 
 
Plan of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, 1748.
again lifted from -
 
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The destruction by Fire of the Third Theatre Royal Drury Lane in 1809.
View of the East end after the fire
Engraving by Wise after Whichelo. Published - 7 August 1811.


 
View of the 1809 Fire of the Theatre Royal from Westminster Bridge.
Anonymous.
Museum of London.
 
 
Drawing of the Ruins of Holland's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
showing the aftermath of the fire of 1809.
197 x 248 mm.
From the Winston Collection.
 
 Victoria and Albert Museum.
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 Just to muddy the water - from the Gentleman's Magazine, October 1812.
 
Gentleman's Magazine October, 1812. This article mentions a cast of Roubiliac's Statue of Shakespeare in the Garden Temple at David Garrick's villa at Hampton.
 
I believe the reporter was in error here and hadn't checked his facts - there had been a cast of Roubiliac's Shakespeare at the Theatre Royal but it was probably destroyed in the disastrous fire of 1809. The statue referred to is that illustrated in the Wyatt drawing and engraving illustrated above which was the lead cast presented to the Theatre by Samuel Whitbread in late 1809.
 
 
Minding the cart outside Drury Lane:
 
 
 
This early photograph shows the statue of Shakespeare on the portico.
 
 
  Drury Lane Theatre, late 19th-early 20th century. : News Photo
 
Another 20th century photograph clearly showing the statue of Shakespeare on the portico of the Theatre Royal. 
Rose Marie debuted at the Theatre Royal 20 March 1925.
 
Photo Harry Bedford Lemere.
 
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Cast of the Roubiliac / Garrick statue of Shakespeare.
by Domenico Brucciani.

To the best of my knowledge the next mention of a cast of the Roubiliac Shakespeare is in 1853,
when a cast was purchased for the Crystal Palace from Brucciani.
 
 
 
Undated photograph of the Brucciani Shakespeare.
Crystal Palace Sydenham.
 
 
Photograph of the Brucciani cast of the statue of Shakespeare by Roubiliac
in the South East Transept of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham.
Albumen Print by Phillip Henry Delamotte c.1859.
Victoria and Albert Museum.


 
 
 
Page from the 1853 inventory of purchases of casts for the Crystal Palace
by Owen Jones and Digby Wyatt showing the statue of Shakespeare after Roubiliac, a bust of Shakespeare after Roubiliac, a bust of Pope and a small statuette of Shakespeare after the Scheemakers monument in Westminster Abbey.
 
For an excellent in depth article on the Crystal Palace Plaster Casts see Sculpture Journal Vol 15.2 page 173 - Plaster Casts of the Crystal Palace Sydenham by John Kenworthy Browne.


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 Theatre Ticket for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane with a portrait of William Shakespeare.
After George Vertue.
Silver
Size 1.68 inches?
1730
British Museum.

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William Shakespeare by Scheemakers
Stone
Wilton House.

see -


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It perhaps should be mentioned that there was a massive stature of Apollo on the roof of Henry Holland's Theatre.



"The outside of the Building, which surrounds the Theatre, is faced with Portland stone, and will be finished with a ballustrade. The Theatre which rises above is intended to be faced with stone, or a cement equal to it, and is also finished with a balustrade. Through the Roof rises a Turret, including a large Ventilator and a Staircase leading on to the Roof. The Turret takes something of the form of the Octagon Tower of Andronicus Cyrrhestes [i.e., Tower of the Winds] at Athens, and is nearly as large, and on the summit is placed a figure of Apollo, about 10 feet high. From the Terrace on the Roof is by far the finest bird's eye view of London and the River Thames that can be seen from any other place".


Rupert Gunnis suggests Ann eymour Dameras the sculptor.