The Plaster Bust of the Poet Paul Whitehead at West Wycombe Park.

 

Post currently under construction.

Louis Francois Roubiliac (1703 - 62).

For the busts of Sir Francis Dashwood at West Wycombe here suggested as by Roubiliac given the evidence of the socle type used on two of these busts.

see my last post

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/08/three-busts-of-francis-dashwood-at-west.html

The Plaster Busts of the Poet / Satirist Paul Whitehead (1710 - 74).

Two versions of the Paul Whitehead bust were put up for sale in the sculptor's posthumous sale, 12-15 May, 1762, being lot 14 of the first day - a plaster bust and Lot 15 of the third day again in plaster.

A mould for these busts was also sold Lot 63, Day 2.

Paul Whitehead, Sir Francis Dashwood and John Wilkes (elected 1754) and William Hogarth were all members of the Sublime Society of Beefsteaks. (Membership limited to 24) -

All had their busts modelled by Roubiliac.

Paul Whitehead wrote the epitaph on the 1749 monument to the Duke of Argyle (d. 1743) in Westminster Abbey by Roubiliac.

The socle of this bust is the variation of the fairly standard square plan tapering version used in England throughout the mid 18th Century, but with the circular Dassier type medallion on the front as seen in the Roubiliac busts of Sir Andrew Fountaine of 1747 (Wilton House and Narford Church, Norfolk), the marble bust of the Countess of Pembroke of c. 1750 (Wilton House), the marble bust of Henry 9th Earl of Pembroke (Wilton House), the bust of Martin Folkes (Wilton House) the Marble bust of Lady Grissel Baillie inscribed 1746 (at Mellerstain House) and the marble bust of Lady Murray 1747 (also at Mellerstain) and the drawing of the bust of Lord Ligonier by Nollekens at the Harris Museum and art Gallery.

These round panels also appear on the reverse side of several medallions by the Swiss Jaques Antoine Dassier (1715 - 59).

 Jaques Antoine Dassier had come to England in 1741 where he had assumed the position of third engraver to the Royal Mint (April 1741). He had issues a prospectus reported in the press both in England and abroad for 13 medals (only 12 were produced) in 1741.

 

It has been suggested by Eisler (in The Medals of the Dassiers of Geneva / Les médailles des Dassier de Genève pub 2010) that the medallions were modelled in wax in England and struck in Geneva. This might suggest a link between the Gossets and the Dassiers.

For an in depth look at the Dassier Medallions see -

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2015/10/jacques-antoine-dassier-16-medallions.html

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I have in previous posts looked in some depth the types of socles used by Roubiliac - see my previous post on the busts of Sir Francis Dashwood at West Wycombe Park.

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/08/three-busts-of-francis-dashwood-at-west.html

and a brief look at the Roubiliac Socles on the Wilton House busts with detailed photographs see.

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2024/09/the-socles-on-busts-by-roubiliac-at.html

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The Nollekens Drawing of the bust of Lord Ligonier probably at the posthumous sale of Roubiliac in May 1762at the Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, Lancs. Illustrating the use of the Dassier type medallion on the socle.

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For my first post on the 18th Century Portrait Busts at West Wycombe see - 

I think I've improved since this early post!

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2015/07/frederick-louis-of-wales-1707-51.html

I am very grateful to Sir Edward Dashwood of West Wycombe for allowing me the opportunity to visit West Wycombe in July 2015 and to photograph the sculpture.

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The Plaster Bust of Paul Whitehead- sold Christie's, London, Lot 142, 4 July 1989.

with the more typical socle of the mid 18th Century.

The image below courtesy the Paul Mellon Photographic Archive.

https://photoarchive.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk/objects/406662/paul-whitehead

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The Secrets of the Convent

Engraving by Matthias Darly. 1765.

Image courtesy British Museum.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0808-4373

A satire on Francis Dashwood's patronage of Paul Whitehead, and on the "Monks of Medmenham". Both men shown dressed as monks. 

Dashwood offers a chalice to a version of the statue of  the Capitoline Venus Pudica, "Mater Omnium Sanctorum" while Whitehead approaches holding his book "Manners", an anti-Walpole satire published in 1739, and "The History of St Hubert"; on the floor, at right, lies an open book letterd "By Ovid mongst many more wonders / Hymns / A Soldie[r] & A Sail[or] / A Tink[er] / & a Taylo"; the verse below refers to Whithead's appointment as deputy wardrobe keeper to the king, and to Lord Bute's influence.

Whitehouse was secretary and steward of the "Order of St Francis"; in 1761 Dashwood had procured for him the post of Secretary to the Treasurer of the Chamber, said to have been worth £800 a year. 

Stephens quotes an advertisement for the print in the Public Advertiser, 22 January 1763; the price is 6d. and publication details are given as "Matt. Darly at the Acorn in Ryder's Court, near Leicester Fields". 

According to Patrick Woodland (ODNB) this print was the first to expose the libidinous activities of Dashwood's "Monks of Medmenham".

Note - Versions of the Venus Pudica had been available in England since the 17th century includina full size bronze by Hubert le Sueur.

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The Marble Bust of Martin Folkes at Wilton House showing the Dassier type medallion on the socle.

with the date of 1759.

For more on the busts at Wilton House and their variants see -

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2024/09/the-socles-on-busts-by-roubiliac-at.html

The Plaster Bust of  Henry Herbert, Earl of Pembroke in the Library at Wilton House

It again utilises the Socle with Dassier type Medallion as used on the marble at Wilton House.

The same type socle is used on the marble bust in the Cloister at Wilton - I was unable to photograph it on my visit to Wilton as the side of the Socle with the Dassier type medallion has been turned to face the wall.

I am very grateful to Malcolm Baker for supplying me with this image.

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The Mellerstain House Marble Busts of Lady Grissel Baillie (1745 - 47

and Lady Murray which utilize the socle with the Dassier Medallion.

The terracottas of these two busts at Tyninghame have the plain square section waisted socle.

They are niches in the Library designed by Robert Adam (1770 - 75)

Lady Grissel Baillie.

Daughter of 1st Earl of Marchmont and Grandmother of Grizel, Countess Stanhope. 1745.

Lady Murray.

Louis Francois Roubiliac.

The Marble Bust.

Inscribed 1746.

Image courtesy Art UK website.

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Of tangential interest ....

The plaster bust of  Lady Murray at Mellerstain.

Presumably cast from the terracotta at Tyninghame House illustrated with very old photographs below.

I have tried several times to locate the pair of terracottas but have so far been unsuccessful.

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The Tyningham, Terracotta Busts.

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For the wax portrait reliefs by Isaac Gossett (1713 -99) see -

My first post on the subject -

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2016/06/group-of-wax-portrait-reliefs-of.html

and a much more in depth look at my return to the subject

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/02/wax-portraits-by-isaac-gosset-missing.html

Three busts of Francis Dashwood (1708 - 81) at West Wycombe.

 

Some Notes - Post in Preparation.

There is a missing bust of Dashwood by Thomas Scheemakers 1740 - 1808)  (son of Peter Scheemakers) noted in the Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors .... Ref Gunnis 1968 p 344.

The Busts of Sir Francis Dashwood by Thomas Scheemakers. 

Le Despencer employed Scheemakers at both Mereworth and West Wycombe in 1779 - 80 and the sculptor’s bust of his patron is said to have been exhibited in 1779 (presumably Free Society of Artists, London, 1779, no.147, ‘a nobleman’; cf. National Trust Guide, West Wycombe, 2001, p 12). 

A plaster cast or casts of a bust of le Despencer appeared in the Scheemakers sale, Christie’s, 21 May 1805 (R. Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculpture, 1968 ed., p 344).

For  a Biography Thomas Scheemakers see - 

https://gunnis.henry-moore.org/henrymoore/sculptor/browserecord.php?-action=browse&-recid=2371

Both the Gunnis Henry Moore and the Biographical Dictionary of British Sculptors ... Yale 2009 state that Thomas Scheemakers was the son of Peter Scheemakers.

But in the Wikipedia entry the author makes the very forceful argument that he was the son of Henry Scheemakers (d.1748 in Paris  and brother of Peter) and that he was was born in Paris in 1740.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Scheemakers

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This is another post prompted by the investigation into the use of  Roubiliac's "late type" socle on a bust by what has been until now anonymous sculptor - as far as I can tell the type of socle appears to have only been used in the 1750's almost uniquely by Roubiliac and is probably based on the precedent of the socle used by the Carrara sculptor Giovanni Antonio Cybei (1706 - 84).

The Scheemakers bust of Francis Dashwood is the exception to the rule.

 The Cybei socle is more elongated but can be seen clearly on the two busts of the Marble Merchants  the Chapman Bird brothers of Millbank, Westminster, currently on loan to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

see my previous post on the Chapman Bird brothers busts.

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/07/edward-chapman-bird-1715-92-marble.html

Once again a big thank you to Dino Tomasso of Tomasso Brothers for initiating this study, prompted by researches into the origin of a very fine marble bust of  Laocoon ,which led to researches into the specific type of socle seen on the first two busts illustrated here and the identification of  the sculptor of  several previously unattributed mid 18th century busts

https://www.tomasso.art/

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/05/marble-bust-of-laocoon.html

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The Three Busts of Sir Francis Dashwood at West Wycombe Park.

This has been a very unusual opportunity to examine three contemporary 18th century plaster busts of the same sitter. 

The portrait of Sir Francis Dashwood, aged 68 by Nathaniel Dance at the NPG.

https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp02670/francis-dashwood-11th-baron-le-despencer

The resemblance of this portrait to the three West Wycombe Busts is obvious.

It is worth mentioning that there also three busts of John Fayne, the Earl of Westmorland by Adye at West Wycombe (the marble is in the V and A).

Two other members of Sir Francis Dashwood's so called Hell Fire Club were sculpted by Louis Francois Roubiliac. see my posts - John Wilkes and Paul Whitehead.

For the bust of Wilkes see -

https://english18thcenturyportraitsculpture.blogspot.com/2019/02/bust-of-john-wilkes-by-roubiliac.html

For the bust of Paul Whitehead see my next post-

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-plaster-bust-of-poet-paul-whitehead.html

Within the South Portico in front of the Hall is a series of plaster busts most of which appear to have suffered from some weathering and have been painted, very badly (the paint has been applied directly on to the uncleaned surface perhaps with at least twice to resemble a sort of bronze, but this paint is thick and flaky and it is impossible to tell the quality of what remains of the original surface underneath.

All three busts of Sir Francis Dashwood are plaster casts although the bust in the Entrance Hall has  been painted to resemble terracotta.

This bust has a substantial wooden peg or dowel visible from beneath the back suggesting that it might have been damaged in the past and the head reattached and the surface restored.

The bust of Francis Dashwood in the South Portico has been painted to resemble bronze and is in the worst condition of the three.

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No.1 the Plaster Bust of Francis Dashwood in the Entrance Hall on the South side of the House.

Photographed by the author with permission from the Dashwood estate office - I am very grateful to have been allowed this opportunity once again.

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No 2. The Plaster Bust of Sir Francis Dashwood in the "Stewards Room".

The bust itself is in by by far the best condition and gives a good impression of what the sculptor intended.

The Socle has been broken and glued back together and painted black

Painted in the traditional Stone Colour.

I will need to return to West Wycombe to determine whether this is the original finish and how many coats of paint have been applied.

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The Third Bust of Sir Francis Dashwood, now in the Portico at West Wycombe.

This bust has the swept back base typical of many Roubiliac busts - this suggests to me that it might be one of the first casts taken from the original terracotta. and that the bases of the two busts illustrated above have been adapted so that they sit comfortably on the (Roubiliac Late Type) socles.

It would be useful to know when this bust and the series of classical plaster busts which all have the same finish as this bust (except for the bust of Nero) in the Portico were painted. and what with?

and to know when they entered the collection at West Wycombe.

It would be a very interesting exercise to have this overpainting removed and to be able to investigate what might be left of the original surface.

For a brief, measured and unsensationalised biography of Dashwood see -

https://www.digitens.org/en/notices/francis-dashwood.html

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For a very useful article by Clare Hornsby on the architecture of West Wycombe see -

 https://www.artandthecountryhouse.com/essays/essays-index/the-house-and-the-drawings-collection-at-west-wycombe-park-dashwoods-educated-taste

Clare Hornsby, "The House and the Drawings Collection at West Wycombe Park: Dashwood's Educated Taste", Art and the Country House, https://doi.org/10.17658/ACH/WWE518

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The Roubiliac Later Type Socle. 

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/03/louis-francois-roubiliac-joseph-wilton.html

Mary Okeover.

 Marble Bust - Height 58.4 cms.

 c. 1745.

 I have contacted Okeover but both the busts of the Okeovers (the marble bust of Leake Okover by Joseph Wilton) appear to have disappeared.

   This bust was perhaps carved by the Danish Sculptor Charles Stanley but I now consider that it is much more likely to have come from the workshop of Roubiliac. 

My argument here again rests on the use of a form of socle unique to Roubiliac and the repetition of the drapery.

  https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2021/02/marble-bust-by-charles-stanley-of-mary.html

 

The socle on an unsigned marble bust of the young Marcus Aurelius now at Seaton Delaval and previously at Melton Constable Hall, Norfolk follows the same pattern.

 Another pointer to the Roubiliac authorship is the use of the same drapery on another bust on the Maynard Monument see below. - Another feature that appears only on Roubiliac's busts.

A slightly better photograph of the missing bust of Mary Okeover.

Photograph courtesy Conway Library.

The Life Size Bust of  Elizabeth Lady Maynard on the Maynard Monument at Little Easton, Essex.

Showing the use of the same dress as that on Mary Okeford, but utilising the fairly standard square plan waisted socle of the mid 18th century.

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The Anima Dannata after Bernini.

Roubiliac.

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The Goodwood Bust.

This bust is adapted from an antique bust of the Emperor Trajan.

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Sir Peter Warren.

The Marble Bust.

Roubiliac.

 Huntington Library. San Marino, California.

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A Plaster Bust possibly of Apollo - an Ideal Head.

 Perhaps Aphrodite.

 Life Size.

 at Saltram House. Devon

 Photographed by the Author.

 The loose hair on the shoulders is similar to that of the Cesi Venus or the Venus d'Arles but the topknot is quite different and resembles that on to Capitoline Venus, in  Rome.

 https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2021/02/marble-bust-by-charles-stanley-of-mary.html

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The Monument to John Bamber (c.1754).

 St Margaret of Antioch Church. Barking, Essex.

 Here again Roubiliac utilises the same drapery as that found on the various versions of the busts of Andrew Fountaine and on the bust of Thomas Winnington on the monument at Stanford on Teme Worcs.

c.1754.

A Plaster Bust possibly of Apollo - an Ideal Head.

 Perhaps Aphrodite.

 Life Size.

 at Saltram House, Devon.

 Photographed by the Author.

 The loose hair on the shoulders is similar to that of the Cesi Venus or the Venus d'Arles but the topknot is quite different and resembles that on to Capitoline Venus, in  Rome.

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The Seaton Delaval Plaster Bust of Commodus / the young Marcus Aurelius

Again attributed to Roubiliac given the evidence of the socle.