The Codrington Library Plaster Busts by John Cheere.
All Souls College, Oxford University .
Part 4. Dr George Clarke (1661 - 1736).
Fellow of All Souls College. M.P. for the University of Oxford, Architect.
A Fellow of All Souls from 1680 until his death, George
Clarke had a political career as MP, Judge-Advocate of the Army, Secretary at
War and in the Admiralty. He then became the University’s leading authority on
aesthetic matters, designed Oxford Almanacks, and was involved in all major
building projects.
He inherited books and papers from his father Sir William
Clarke (Secretary at War to the Commonwealth and Charles II), collected books,
manuscripts, prints, drawings, and paintings, and acquired most of Inigo
Jones’s library.
Disgusted by quarrels at All Souls, he left the bulk of his
estate to the newly founded Worcester College, whose buildings he designed.
Curiously I could not locate any engraved portraits of Dr George Clarke - very surprising given his collecting habits and his interest in the visual arts. This suggests that John Cheere will probably have visited All Souls or Worcester College, Oxford to inspect the portraits in order to create his bust of Clarke.
The Godfrey Kneller (1646 - 1723), type portraits.
Inscribed on two old labels, verso: This belongs to Lord
Hyde, and: In Mary Shaw's legacy / to Lord Cornbury.
oil on canvas.
75.5 by 62.5 cm.; 29 3/4 by 24 3/4 in.
Sotheby's 9 December 2010 lot 252
Lady T. Lewis, Lives of the Friends and Contemporaries of Lord
Chancellor Clarendon, London 1852, Vol. III, no. 114, pp. 257, 429 and 430;
R. L. Poole, Catalogue of Portraits in Oxford, 1925, no.
114, Vol. II, pp. 189-190, and Vol. III, pp. 261-162;
R. Gibson, Catalogue of Portraits in the Collection of the
Earl of Clarendon, Wallop 1977, no. 50, pp. 46-47
sitter was the the son of Sir William Clarke, Secretary of
War for the King during the Civil War. A Fellow of All Souls, and M.P. for
Oxford University in 1685 (and later from 1717 to 1736), Clarke was himself
Secretary of War from 1692 to 1704, Secretary to Prince George of Denmark when
Lord High Admiral, and Lord of the Admiralty from 1712 to 1714. A prominent
figure at court from a noted Royalist family, Clarke appears to have been a
close friend of Henry Hyde, Lord Cornbury, later 2nd Earl of Clarendon, who inherited this
painting from his father's secretary. It relates to two portraits at Worcester
College, Oxford,(below) one of which is inscribed with the sitter's name.
Information above from Sotheby's see -
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2010/old-master-british-paintings-day-sale-l10037/lot.252.html
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George Clarke
after Kneller
Oil on Canvas
74.2 x 64.2 cms
Worcester College, Oxford
Image courtesy Art UK
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/george-clarke-16611736-benefactor-of-worcester-college-mp-for-the-university-of-oxford-fellow-of-all-souls-college-16801736-224128
Portrait miniature of George Clarke (1661–1736)
Worcester College, Oxford.
This miniature, after the oil portrait (school of Sir
Godfrey Kneller) in Worcester College, has a gilt frame with Clarke’s monogram
on the reverse.
It was bequeathed by Clarke to John Michel, 1736.
George Clarke
Circle of Godfrey Kneller
Oil on Canvas
73.6 x 60.9 cms
Photo Courtesy Worcester College University of Oxford
Dr George Clarke
Anon. Circle of Godfrey Kneller
74.3 x 61.4cms
All Souls College
Bequeathed to All Souls by Dr Clarke in 1736.
Image courtesy Art UK.
Dr George Clarke
Circle of Godfrey Kneller.
Oil on Canvas
124.8 x 100.7 cms
Worcester College, Oxford.
Image Art UK
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/george-clarke-16611736-benefactor-of-worcester-college-mp-for-the-university-of-oxford-fellow-of-all-souls-college-16801736-224127
Prince George of Denmark husband of Queen Ann and Dr George Clarke.
Godfrey Kneller.
Oil on Canvas.
144.7 x 164.6 cms.
Bequeathed by the sitter Dr George Clarke.
All Souls College, University of Oxford.
Image courtesy Art UK
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/prince-george-of-denmark-and-george-clarke-221506
________________________________
For the Print Collection of George Clarke at Worcester College, Oxford.
see - http://prints.worc.ox.ac.uk/history.html
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