James Cooper... who... Desired that under his EFFIGIE after his Name and Age to be Written this (or to this Purpose): I Believed // In one God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, // Also the Resurrection // And whilst I liv d, I Firmly put my trust // In his Divine protection. // But now interrr d, I m cover d or e [over] with Dust, // Reader prepare, for there unto you must.
George III.
Anonymous sculptor
Height 70 x W 49 x D 29 cm.
Paxton House, Berwick upon Tweed.
The turned socle would perhaps suggest a later 18th century cast.
Images here courtesy art uk website
The quality, size and detail of the embroidery on the coat suggest to me the workshop of John Cheere and a near contemporary to the bust by John van Nost III of 1767, (see below) or perhaps slightly later.
Unfortunately there no surviving printed lists of the works of John Cheere (if there ever was one) and so far no copies of his posthumous sale catalogue have appeared
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King George III,by John van Nost the Younger, 1767.
It is housed in the British Museum, London; lent by the
Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
see -
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O75361/george-iii-bust-nost-john-van/
Mid 18th Century Marble Bust.
What might be described as a very fine late Baroque marble portrait bust.
Probably Italian.
Exceptional quality.
The representation of the texture on the sleeve and the shirt collar are particularly notable,
but who does it represent? and who sculpted it?
Is it a bust by Giovanni Antonio Cybei (1706 - 1784)?
Sometimes there is a peculiar serendipity to my researches some years ago I had visited the Lady Lever Art Gallery at Port Sunlight in order to inspect and photograph an anonymous bust by Peter Scheemakers and a very poor bust of Oliver Cromwell supposedly sculpted by but definitely not Roubiliac.
Whilst revisiting the I alighted upon the photographs of the bust below this followed my reviewing photographs of the sculpture at the Fitzwilliam Cambridge and my rediscovery of the photographs of Edward Chapman Bird and his brother Christopher almost certainly carved by Giovanni Antonio Cybei (1706 - 1784).
see my previous post.
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/07/edward-chapman-bird-1715-92-marble.html
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Portrait of Peter Leopold of Habsburg-Lorraine, Grand Duke of Tuscany.
Giovanni Antonio Cybei (1706 - 1784).
Marble Bust.
1771.
National Museum of the Royal Palace, Pisa, Regional Directorate of Museums of Tuscany.
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Edward Chapman Bird.
by Giovanni Antonio Cybei (1706 - 1784).
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of tangential interest.
Some notes.
Post under construction.
I had photographed this excellent pair of busts in October 2017 when visiting the Fitzwilliam in order to obtain images of the terracotta busts of Pope, Milton, the bronze of bust of Isaac Newton and the marble reclining Hercules by Roubiliac by Michael Rysbrack, the bust of Princess Amelia by Roubiliac and anything else that took my eye.
It has taken me until now to actually take a closer look at my photographs of this truly excellent pair of busts and to make some sort of assessment of them.
This was prompted by researches into a marble bust of Laocoon prompted by Dino Tomasso of London and Leeds dealers Tomasso Brothers.
I think I must have dismissed the Fitzwilliam Chapman Bird marble busts at the time, considering them to be Continental, given the coloured marble socles and the sub Berniniesque Baroque swagger - particularly in the pose and clothing of the boy.
Recently I have been looking at mid 18th century busts with a view to identifying any further works by Louis Francois Roubiliac which have so far remained "under the radar".
This might be wishful thinking but having so far I think I have identified a group of 14 busts which use the type of socle or a slight variation - squatter version which appear on the pair of busts illustrated here and which are a signature feature of a substantial number of later busts by Roubiliac.
Roubiliac, uses the same socle on 14 different busts known to be from his workshop, the socles on the four unsigned marble busts of Laocoon (with Tomasso Brothers, Spring 2025), Milo of Croton (at Blenheim), the Anima Dannata (the Damned Soul after Bernini sold by Sotheby's) and a man depicted as the Good Roman Emperor Trajan at Goodwood House - these socles are a slightly squatter version of those used by
All these busts would have been carved in the 1750's. - Prior to that he mostly used the more conventional form of socle which was usually square in plan as seen on the busts in the Wren Library at Trinity College ,Cambridge etc etc.
The big question is where did Roubiliac find the original inspiration for these socles?
It is more than likely that he had seen the busts of the Chapman Birds, given the Edward Chapman Bird was a supplier of marble to London sculptors in the mid 18th century from his wharf/yard on the banks of the Thames at Millbank, Westminster.
Roubiliac travelled with a small group of artists to Rome, where he is said to have exclaimed that the sculpture of Bernini made his own look ‘meagre and starved, as if made of nothing but tobacco pipes’.
Is it possible that Roubiliac encountered busts by Cybei in Italy?
This pair of busts certainly illustrate a sort of Late Baroque sensibility and demonstrate the influence of Bernini and his school.
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/05/marble-bust-of-laocoon.html
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The Pair of Busts - suggested as Edward Chapman Bird and his son Christopher.
Edward Chapman Bird (1715 - 92) the son of the Catholic Sculptor Francis Bird (1667 - 1731) and his wife Hester nee Chapman.
Hester Chapman was the daughter of Edward Chapman (very successful Stonemason and contractor) of Red Lion Square).
The sister of Edward Chapman Bird was another Hester
Christopher Chapman Bird, born 1739, died 31 October 1810, aged 73.
Christopher Chapman Bird of Reigate, Surrey, married Anne Mary Webb (1748 - 1818).
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Edward was the sons of Sculptor Francis Bird.
For an excellent overview of the life and works of Francis Bird see -
https://stlukeslondonsculpture.wordpress.com/2013/09/21/francis-bird/
Francis Bird’s Collection of Sculpture: Vertue refers to several artefacts that suggest that Bird collected with discrimination. He owned a cast of Bernini’s lost bust of Charles I which had been at Whitehall Palace (Vertue II, 50); a Laocoon and an Apollo and Daphne by Nicholas Stone the Younger, modelled in Rome (perhaps the Daphne and Apollo offered in Bird’s sale on 30 April 1751, lot 4) (Vertue I, 90); a counterfeit gold medal of Oliver Cromwell (Vertue II, 50) and a Faun after the Antique, bought at the 1st Earl of Oxford’s sale (Vertue V, 7). Three works ‘by Bernini’, a Neptune and two reliefs of angels, were sold at the 1751 auction (lots 44, 52); ‘A large flying boy, by Algardi’ formed lot 47 and there were several works by Duquesnoy (‘Fiamingo’), including a head of Christ (lot 59) and a Flora, a Farnese Hercules and an Antinous (lots 59-61).
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From the Getty Provenance Index.
"A Catalogue Of Part of the valuable Stock in Trade of Mr. Edward Chapman Bird, Marble Merchant, of Millbank, Westminster, a Bankrupt. Consisting Of Six Elegant Chimney-Pieces, composed of beautiful Marble, elaborately finished in the present Taste.
Also Some fine Jasper, Brocatello, Sienna, and other curious Marble Slabs, Busts, Basso Relievo, &c. &c.
Which will be Sold by
Auction, By Mr. Christie, At his Great Room (late the Royal Academy) in
Pall-Mall, on Monday, March the 18th, 1771."
Getty Ref .Sales Catalog Br-A861, 18 March 1771.
Annoyingly the following short list is all that is available
Lot 3. A head of Venus, statuary marble.
Lot 4. A boy's head.
Lot 7. A figure of a fawn.
Lot 8. A crucifixion in basso relievo.
Lot 9. The death of Lucretia, ditto [in basso relievo]. A very interesting lot which might refer to a now lost work by Louis Francois Roubiliac.
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Edward Chapman Bird was in Millbank Street in The Universal British Directory of Trade, Commerce, and Manufacture, Volume 5, of 1797, along with .... Wallinger.
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Marble Merchants, Pietro del Medico from 1772 d. 1801. described as Marble Merchant, Abingdon Street (business next to - Wallinger)
John Wallinger, Channel Row, Westminster or next door to the Sun Butolph Lane. The Intelligencer: or, Merchants Assistant: Shewing, ... the Names and ... 1738.
Channel Row - Runs North of Bridge Street Parliament - runs parallel with Parliament St with access to the River at Manchester Wharf
Abingdon Street (formerly Dirty Lane).
Wallinger and Turner - Millbank Street (described as Stone Merchants see - Wakefield's Merchant and Tradesman's General Directory for London - 1794).
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Christopher Chapman Bird, Bankrupt of Abingdon Street, Westminster, still the same address in early 19th century.
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The Anonymous Marble Bust of Christopher Chapman Bird (1739 - 1810).
Almost certainly carved by Giovanni Antonio Cybei (1706 - 1784).
Christopher Chapman Bird is aged around 12 - 15 years old.
The bust was probably carved in about 1750.
A significant feature of these busts is that they do not appear to have been "got at" by restorers in the past and retain their original surface or polish.
Hopefully they will remain unmolested.
Archeologia Postmedievale, 19, 2015 - Gran Bretagna e Italia tra ... edited by Hugo Blake.
In 1668 the most important marble traders in Carrara formed a commercial company and obtained from the Duke of Massa the exclusive right to trade all worked and raw marble to the seventeen Provinces of the Low Countries. In this way they secured an unchallengeable channel to northern Europe
(ASMa, Archivio Ducale, Contracti Camerali, b. 18, 168-169, 17 novembre 1668).
The families, who constituted the oligarchy in the 18th century, were the Del Medico, Monzoni, Luciani, Micheli, Lazzoni and Orsolini. Even within this restricted group the Del Medico family maintained an undisputed political and economic supremacy. For example, from 1774-77 they exported to Livorno an average Of 1,130 tons of raw marble a year in comparison with the I,330 tons despatched by the other five families (ASMo, Archivio Cybo-Gonzaga, Commercio, BelleArti, Mani atture, b. 330, 'Dazio sui marmi greggi a favore dell'Accademia .
Peter Del Medico listed at Abingdon St in - The London Directory, of 1789;
He was representing the Del Medico family in England from 1772.
Peter Del Medico of Massa di Carrara Marble Merchant died 2 October 1805 aged 61 buried St Pancras
For an history of the Del Medico family of Marble Merchants see
https://journals.openedition.org/crcv/13627
The Marble Busts of Giovanni Antonio Cybei (February 3, 1706 – September 7,
1784).
It seems that Cybei spent most of his working life in Carrara working with the del Medico family who exported marble from the free port of Livorno (Leghorn).
“Giovanni Antonio Cybei (1706-1784) is as yet little known and little studied.
Born in Carrara to a Jewish textile merchant, orphaned at the age of four, he grew up in the workshop of Count Giovanni Baratta, becoming his favorite pupil. He learned to sculpt marble alternating rough and polished surfaces to create depth, luminosity, and depth.
In 1768, with Carlo Bianconi, he created the funerary monument for Francesco Algarotti (Pisa, Camposanto), In the summer of 1769, Cybei was commissioned to paint a life-size portrait of Alexei Orlov, commander of the Russian Imperial Fleet: it was the beginning of his rise, both socially and professionally.
He was soon appointed Chief Director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara . His fame grew thanks to a series of fine busts. His works are held in Russia, Estonia, Poland, Germany, England, France, and the United States.
The Cybei exhibition in Carrara in 2021.
It includes the exceptional bust of Maria Teresa D'Este Cybo Malaspina, Duchess of Massa and Princess of Carrara., founder of the Academy in 1769,
Her proud gaze, the lace, the curls, and the ermine fur of a marble
that has no veining, because it was personally selected among the most prized
of the Apuan Alps; and also the "Two Little Brothers" from England,
which according to the curators will be the most photographed busts, because
they have no history, no one knows who they are, they bear an unknown coat of
arms, pearls and roses in their hair. Also on display are the remains of the
immense equestrian monument of Duke Francesco III d'Este, commissioned from
Cybei in 1774 for a square in Modena.
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Portrait of Giovanni Bonaventura Neri, Ferrara, coll.
Cavallini Sgarbi.
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Model for the statue The Equestrian Monument of Francesco III d'Este- Giovanni Antonio Cybei.
1772
Height 85 cms - base cm. 53 x 27 cms.
The engraving is part of the book titled "Per la solenne dedicazione della Statua equestra…”
.. which, in addition to this plate featuring the equestrian monument to Francis III, larger than the others in the volume, also includes the frontispiece and another plate prefacing the dedication.
The statue, nearly 7 metres tall was originally located in the large Piazza di Sant'Agostino in Modena, was commissioned by Francis III in the second half of the 18th century and installed in 1774, the same year the square was created.
During the Napoleonic Revolution, in 1796, a bookseller Giovanni Battista Fornieri destroyed it with a hammer.
Preparatory stucco model by Giovanni Antonio Cybei,
Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara, Italy (inv. 0,900,254,635)
Engraving of the View of Piazza Sant’Agostino with the equestrian monument of Duke Francesco III, by Guglielmo Silvester, 1791 (Source: Modena, Civic Museum of Art).
Piazza Sant'Agostino. Modena
by Giuseppe Maria Soli (1747 - 1822).
c. 1780.
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution
3.0 Unported license.
