John Francis Moore and Michael Rysbrack and the Rushout Monument in Blockley Parish Church. Part 1.

 

Michael Rysbrack John Francis Moore and the Five Marble Busts on the Rushout Monument.

St Peter and St Paul, Parish Church of Blockley, Gloucestershire.

Mural Monument at the East End of the North Aisle.

Erected c.1790.

The photographs here taken by the author in the fading afternoon light.

Sir John Rushout, (1685 - 1775), son of Sir James Rushout sometime Treasurer of the Navy, 

Lady Ann Rushout, ne Compton (1695 - 1766).

Elizabeth, Countess of Northampton (1683 - 1750) daughter of Sir James Rushout.

Lady Alice Rushout, ne Pitt, (1683 - 1750) wife of Sir James Rushout.

Sir James Rushout (1644 - 1698).

The Biog. Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain pub Yale 2009 states the busts of Sir John and Sir James Rushout  and the three female busts are earlier busts by Michael Rysbrack. The monument itself is signed by John Francis Moore (d. 1809).

It is currently unclear to me just which of these busts were sculpted by Rysbrack (if any) and which were carved by Moore - he and his workshop were capable of extremely fine work, and there is a bust by Moore of Sir John Rushout presented to Worcester Infirmary in 1769 which suggests that he was responsible for the bust of Sir John on the monument.

The techniques used in the carving of all the busts suggest to me that they were all carved in the same workshop.

Sir John was a major benefactor to Worcester Infirmary contributing £500 in 1767 and £5 annually afterwards.

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The Rushouts and Northwick Park, some very brief notes.

Northwick Park belonged to the Childe family from about 1320 to 1683. The estate was bought by Sir James Rushout, the son of a Flemish merchant who had made a fortune in London, in 1683, who remodelled the old house in 1686.

The next remodelling was completed by Sir John Rushout, 4th Baronet (1685 - 1785), in 1728-30 to a design by Lord Burlington complete with a Palladian east front and entrance hall in the 1730s.

The 5th Baronet, later 1st Baron Northwick, employed architect John Woolfe to carry out further improvements in the 1770s and William Eames to landscape the parkland. It passed down the family line, with a further remodelling in 1828-30, until George Rushout, 3rd Baron Northwick, whose widow, Augusta, left the estate to her grandson, Captain George-Spencer Churchill in 1912.

Subsequently after being occupied by American forces in World War II it had a chequered history before being converted into apartments.

For a good overall biography see - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_John_Rushout,_4th_Baronet

For Sir John Rushout and his parliamentary career see -

https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/rushout-sir-john-1685-1775

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To be continued in my next post ...................