Wednesday 16 August 2017

Soane Museum 6 - The Busts of Palladio by and After Michael Rysbrack.




Andrea Palladio.

The Plaster Bust in the Soane Museum.

After Michael Rysbrack.

Some notes - on this and other versions.


Date of Acquisition by Soane unknown - probably early 19th Century.

The bust of Palladio was frequently paired with a bust of Inigo Jones.

see the Chatsworth Marbles by Rysbrack.

See my previous blog entries.

This entry was updated with the inclusion of the West Wycombe plaster bust 24 February 2018
.
and again 12 Sept 2024 with the addition of the photographs of the Birmingham Museums plaster bust and the V and A Wedgwood Collection Busts.










The Paul Foudrinier Engraving of 1730.`




Where did Rysbrack find the source of his bust of Palladio?

The two engravings above are later than the original Chiswick statues and Chatsworth busts.

This suggests that the artist was familiar with the Rysbrack bust.

 In my experience Rysbrack always used engraved portraits as his starting point in his historicising busts.

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The Soane Museum Plaster Bust of Palladio.

The eared socle much used by Shout and Co suggests a late 18th early 19th Century dating.



























Andrea Palladio.

after Michael Rysbrack. 

Plaster Bust.

Life size.

Soane Museum.


The Soane Museum L:ead Bust of Palladio.

The Soane Museum also has a life size lead bust of Palladio, possibly by John Cheere in business at Hyde Park Corner by 1737 (image below).

Rysbrack appears to have had a working relationship with a sculptor producing reproductions of his busts and figures at yard at Hyde Park Corner - a subject and area that requires further investigation.


Infuriatingly the websites do not give the sizes of either bust..




The lead bust below has a sash or cloak over his right hand proper shoulder as does the Birmingham plaster bust illustrated below - the material and difference to the Rysbrack model suggests that it was adapted and cast in the workshop/yard of John Cheere after the establishment of his business at Hyde Park Corner in 1737 although it is possible that it was originally cast by John van Nost whose yard was taken over by Cheere 







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The Chatsworth Marble Bust of Palladio.

paired with a bust of Inigo Jones








Very poor low resolution above of the Chatsworth Marble bust of Palladio.







This image scanned from the English Heritage Review (now defunct) no longer in print).

Article by Richard Hewlings.

see my post for the full article which discusses at length the busts and those of Palladio and Inigo Jones now missing. - https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2017/08/soane-museum-5-bust-of-inigo-jones.html



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Palladio.

The Lead bust paired with a Chatsworth type bust of Inigo Jones

height approx. 50 cms.

Formerly the Collection of Sir Albert Richardson PRA.

Later wooden bases designed by Richardson, an error of judgement I think! it would be much improved  by replacement with a marble or wooden socle of square section.


Bought for £100 in October 1953 probably from Dove Brothers Ltd, Harvey Street, Islington.




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Palladio.

Plaster Bust.

after Michael Rysbrack.

Life Size.

Missing the fourth button as seen on the Chatsworth and lead versions (above).

This is a very fine bust.

West Wycombe Park.

Photographs taken by the author.






























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Andrea Palladio.

after Rysbrack.

Life Size.

It lacks the finer detail of the West Wycombe version (above).

Plaster Bust.

This bust when photographed was paired with a matching bust of Inigo Jones.

The form of the base between the bust and the socle suggests to me that it is a later cast - perhaps late 18th or Early 19th Century by Shout of Holburn or by the later Sarti who also used the eared socle see the busts at the Athenaeum.

see my post on Sarti at Wimpole Hall -


 http://www.victorianweb.org/sculpture/athenaeum/catalogue.html

 

This website provides an excellent potted history by John Kenworthy Brown of the 14 busts supplied by Sarti in or just after 1830 to the Athenaeum



Photographs by the Author.

Private Collection August 2017.

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The Birmingham Museum Plaster Bust of Palladio.


Another version of the Palladio Plaster bust after the Rysbrack model.

The Marble is at Chatsworth usually paired with Inigo Jones (see photographs above).

This version perhaps by John Cheere.


It has a different, longer trunk and drapery than the Chatsworth model.

The Socle is perhaps indicative of the busts of Cheere.

The longer torso also suggests Cheere as on the plaster busts in the Wren Library at Trinity College. Cambridge.

Birmingham Museums.




















































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The Wedgwood Bust of Palladio.

and the Wedgwood and Bentley Catalogue of 1777.

Benjamin Grant and James Hoskins supplied busts of Palladio and Inigo Jones to Wedgwood and Bentley in 1774.

see Biog Dictionary and Meteyard (extracts from correspondence below).
















Image result for Palladio bust Wedgwood


Andrea Palladio.

Wedgwood.

57 x 43 x 25 cms.

c 1774.

Albertina, Vienna.

The original Plaster supplied by Hoskins and Grant.

Wedgwood Invoiced, 17 March 1774.

See my previous blog entry on the bust of Inigo Jones by Wedgwood.



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The V and A basalt Wedgwood Bust of Palladio.
Labelled 378















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Plaster bust of Palladio labelled 379.






























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William Kent (1685 - 1748).

William Aikman.

c 1724.

National Portrait Gallery.

The bust of Palladio by Rysbrack seems to have no engraved or painted precedent.

 Is there a resemblance here or is it just me?

Certainly Kent had no shortage of ego. - he certainly saw himself as a sort of new Palladio.





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William Kent.

Bartholomew Dandridge.

c. 1736.

Oil on canvas.

889 x 718 mm.

National Portrait Gallery.







William Kent.


Bartholomew Dandridge.

c. 1736.

Oil on canvas.

889 x 718 mm.

National Portrait Gallery.

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William Kent.

William Aikman.

oil on canvas.

123 x 99.5 cms.

c.1710 -20.

Government Art Collection - Downing Street.



William Kent.

William Aikman.

oil on canvas.

123 x 99.5 cms.

c.1710 -20.

Government Art Collection - Downing Street.


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William Kent.

Benedetto Luti.

c. 1719.

Devonshire Collection 

Trustees of the Chatsworth Estate.






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The RIBA lead bust of Palladio.











Bust of Palladio.

Lead.

Possibly by John Cheere.

Royal Institute of British Architects.

Why do they post such awful photographs?


No other cast of this bust has so far been identified. The RIBA Archives contains the letter of 28th November, 1873 (LC/12/1/20) in which R.H. Shout presented this sculpture to the RIBA, describing the bust as of pewter and as having been in his family for more than fifty years. 

This indicates that this bust had previously belonged to his father, the sculptor Charles Lutwyche Shout and his grandfather, Robert Shout of Holburn, a monumental mason and plaster caster.



 Below is a copy of the Shout Catalogue of c. 1815.

very kindly supplied by Jacob Simon of the National Portrait Gallery.










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Mahogany Bookcase with carved Relief.





Royal Collection.



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The Bust of  Palladio.

Andrea Palladio's First Book of Architecture.

Revised etc by Colen Campbell.

Pub. 1728

Frontispiece.

Published by Samuel Harding.

at the Bible and Anchor on the Pavement on St Martin's Lane.

This bust bears no relation to the Rysbrack Busts.

Frontispiece to Campbell's edition of Palladio's 'First Book of Architecture'; an architectural faƧade with a portrait of Palladio in the manner of a classical statue, head turned to left, in the top centre of a segmented pedestal supported by corinthian pillars with winged trumpeters on the pedestal, a lettered plaque below the bust and female figures holding dividers, staff, set-square and protractor at either side in the centre, flanking an oval showing an anchor and book in a frame decorated with female torsos carrying a swag between them; the base containing bas-reliefs of a woman with a bull and Father Time holding a balance, with a lettered plaque in the centre.  1728  Etching and engraving


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Engraved Frontispiece from an Edition of 'Architecture de Palladio' Engraved by Bernard Picart,

 after Giacomo Leoni and translated by Nicholas du Bois 1716.

353 x 243 mm.





Architectural setting, with Fame sitting on the ground and looking at Minerva, appearing on clouds on the right; beside Minerva, two winged putti carrying a coat of arms and above her, another putto lighting a sculpted bust unveiled by Time; finsihed state of frontispiece to an unidentified edition of  'Architecture de Palladio', revised by Giacomo Leoni and translated by Nicholas du Bois.  1716  Etching and engraving








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Andrea Palladio.

After Sebastiano Ricci.

Frontispiece from an Edition of 'Architecture de Palladio' 

along with the above allegorical engraving by Bernard Picart.

Engraving.

1716.

32 x 22.7 cms.

British Museum.


another portrait which bears no relation to the Rysbrack bust





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Palladio.

George Vertue after William Kent.

Engraving.

From Lord Burlington's Edition of Palladio's Fabbriche Antiche Designate da Andrea Palladio

 Pub 1730.

Vertue states pub. 1737.

228 x 85 mm.

British Museum.















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From Isaac Ware First Book of Palladio 1742.






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