Is this a bust of Matthew Prior by Michael Rysbrack?
I discovered the photograph of the so called bust of Prior illustrated below during a recent trawl through the on line photograph archive at the Paul Mellon Centre
Photograph here from - Paul Mellon - Sculpture Photographic Archive.
The description on the Mellon file states -
Bought 1721 for Lord Edward Harley 2nd Earl of Oxford; his sale Cocks 8 - 12 March 1741 - fourth day lot 28 - Bought James West moved 1772 to Alscot Park, Warwickshire.
note Cocks - auctioneer the Piazza Covent Garden.
I have to say that at this juncture I fail to be convinced that this is Prior - given that Rysbrack was responsible for the carving of the monument to Prior in Westminster Abbey he must have been familiar with the bust by Coysevox.
It is difficult to for me see any resemblance between the two busts!
The use of this type of socle which I have previously posted on is peculiar to the later busts of Roubiliac - it is my contention that Roubiliac will have seen the busts of the Chapman Bird brothers marble importers at their premises on Millbank Westminster by Giovanni Antonio Cybie (currently on loan to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge)
For the 18th century busts of Prior see my posts -
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2014/11/a-lead-of-matthew-prior-by-john-cheere.html
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The bust of Matthew Prior by Coysevox on the monument in Westminster Abbey.
The monument designed by James Gibbs and carved in the workshop of Michael Rysbrack.
The bust had been presented to Prior in his lifetime by the
King of France.
Matthew Prior died 1721.
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The Hooper Monument at Trinity College, Cambridge.
Francis Hooper d. May 1763.
The Bust by Louis Francois Roubiliac (d. 1762).
The Monument finished by his assistant and former apprentice Nicholas Read.
the images provided here to illustrate the use of the Roubiliac type socle.
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