Post in preparation.
A project like this is never completely finished and more evidence for and against the attribution will inevitably appear.
Comparing the
Anonymous Bust, here suggested as the Amateur Sculptor Anne Seymour Damer (1749 -
1828) by Joseph Nollekens (1737 – 1823) with known painted portraits of Mrs
Damer by Contemporary Artists.
I am tremendously grateful to Milo Dickinson for initiating this project and for providing the photographs of the bust in order to make the comparisons.
https://www.simondickinson.com/
I am obviously aware of the pitfalls - it is dangerous to make these comparisons - one can never be
100% sure, even with inscribed painted portraits and busts but in this instance I
intend to make the case, as best as I can, that this bust is most likely a bust of
Anne Seymour Damer by Joseph Nollekens sculpted in the late 1770’s or early
1780’s.
Portrait of Mrs Damer by Angelica Kaufmann.
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Comparing the bust with The Yale Centre for British Art portrait of Mrs Damer aged 24
by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
1773.
They say that this is probably the primary version – there is another “studio of portrait at the NPG in London.
"Ditto [a lady], half length" [1773, Royal Academy of Arts, London, exhibition catalogue]
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:1361
This might be wishful thinking on behalf of the Yale cataloguer.
.....................
Excerpts from A History of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds
Algernon Graves and William Vine Cronin pub 1909. Page 227 and 228.
https://archive.org/details/historyofworksof01grav/page/226/mode/2up?view=theater&q=Damer
“ At the Pantheon, concerts, as well as assemblies and
masquerades, were given. On the 30th April, 1772, Sir Joshua records an
engagement, and his name figures in the list of the company present. He went in
domino. Goldsmith was there with his friend, Mr. Cradock, in Old English
dresses. The fourteen rooms were blazing with light and decorations. The
suppers and wine on these occasions were in keeping with the rank of the best
part of the company. To people these rooms we have to call up many of the most
beautiful and best known of Sir Joshua’s sitters. On this particular occasion a
great many ladies, we are told, chose to adopt male dominoes, and ‘appeared as
masculine as many of the delicate macaroni things we see everywhere in the
“Billy Whiffles” of the present age.’ Among the distinguished of these ‘pretty
fellows’ were the Uuchess of Ancaster, Lady Melbourne, and Mrs. Darner.” —
Towft and Couiitry Magazine.
Standing ; in a white dress embroidered with gold, over
which is a pearl-coloured robe lined with pale blue ; hands together ; round
the neck a black ribbon, from a long loop of which hangs a small locket ; a
long plait of hair falls over each shoulder ; landscape background, with a
distant view of hills across a lake ; evening effect.
Sat in October, 1772.
Paid for June 17, 1771, Mrs. Demar, ;£"36 i5j-. So
entered in the second ledger, but in the first ledger it is Hon. Mrs. Darner,
but erased. Exhibited in the Royal Academy, 1773, No. 236.
Exhibited.
Dublin, 1872, No. 140, Grosvenor, 1884, No. 98,
the Earl of Portarlington.
The picture belonged in 1845 to Colonel Dawson Darner.
Sold at Christie’s, Price Collection, June 15, 1895, Lot 90,
for £2,110, to Agnew.
Engraved.
J. R. Smith, 1774, 131 X loA in.
S. W. Reynolds, 5^x4 in.
A First State by Smith sold at Christie’s, 1887, Buccleuch
Collection, for £16 i6s.
The YCBA Portrait by Joshua Reynolds.
........................
The National Portrait Gallery (London) version.
Head size, canvas 22 x 18 in.
Sketch of the head ; very little ornament in the hair ;
pendant from neck ; velvet much thinner than in the large picture.
info Graves
-------------------------
The Ceracchi Statue
1778.
British Museum.
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The Uffizi Gallery, Florence self-portrait marble bust of Mrs Anne Seymour Damer.
Presented to the Gallery by Mrs Damer in 1784 - not 1778 as often repeated.
In my opinion one of her more successful busts.
Here I present two different comparisons of the Uffizi bust with the Nollekens bust - both photographs are of the Uffizi bust taken in different circumstances and highlight how one views sculpture in different light.
Without being too critical there is a certain generalised sameness, and a lack of definition about her portrait busts which were excused as "an adherence to the Greek style" as recommended by Joshua Reynolds.
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The Bust compared with a Miniature Portrait of Anne Seymour Damer.
She is dressed in a fanciful Elizabethan Costume initialled R C – Richard Cosway.
Height 60 mm - National Portrait Gallery - they say 1785
without providing any evidence. I suspect slightly earlier.
........................................
The possible portrait of Mrs Damer by Joshua Reynolds.
Where is it now??
The Portrait illustrated below was used on the cover of Mrs D The Life of Anne Damer 1748 - 1828 by Richard Webb pub. Brewin Books 2013. An excellent place to start when researching Mrs Damer.
It should be read alongside Percy Nobles work of 1908 and the thesis by Benforado
Iit is described as Half length, canvas 29 x 24 in.
Full face ; cloak trimmed with ermine, and fastened with jewels at the sleeves ; low-necked dress ; pearls in hair.
........................
The Bust compared with a miniature portrait of Mrs Damer by John Smart
(1741 – 1811).
– undated.
Height 62 mm – 1770’s.
Image courtesy Messrs Christie's.
https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-603686
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Comparing the Bust with the Portrait of Mrs Damer by George Romney -
Mrs Damer sat to Romney six times in 1779, April 21, 24, May 24, 31, June 5, and 9th.
She was aged 30.
For me this and the Reynolds portraits are probably the most convincing visual evidence.
.......................
A Crop from the Waldegrave Portrait of Horace Walpole and Mrs Damer
by Nathaniel Dance Holland. C. 1775 – 1780.
Note the shape of the ear.
__________________
The Schiavonetti Stipple Engraving.
undated.
after Richard Cosway (1742 - 1821).
Proof before letters 1791.
I have been unable to
locate the original drawing but suspect it was probably completed some 10 years
earlier.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1875-0814-1243 for another later version see https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200251616
Richard Cosway.
He was baptised in Devon, November 5, 1742 and
died London, July 4, 1821.
From the 1760s through the 1770s he exhibited consistently at the Society of Arts, the Free Society of Artists, and the Royal Academy.
By 1785 he began to sign his works Primarius Pictor Serenissimi Walliae Principis ("Principal painter to his most serene Prince of Wales").
He also collected Old Master paintings, drawings, and decorative art objects, which were sold at his death by his wife, Maria, who was also an artist.
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Comparing the Bust with another undated Cosway sketch of Mrs Damer in the Huntington Library.
Pencil wash and Gouache
12.1 x 7.6cm
It should perhaps be pointed out that in my opinion Cosway uses the device of slightly enlarging the eyes in his female portraits in order to make them appear more appealing.
This sketch or a version of it was
probably that used to create the Schiavonetti stipple engraving (above).
_________________
Comparing the anonymous marble bust with the Packington Hall marble bust of Louisa Thynne (1760 -1832) wife of the 4th Earl of Aylesford.
In 1781 she married Heneage Finch, 4th Earl of Aylesford.
by Joseph
Nollekens.
Signed and Dated 1784 (this needs to be confirmed).
I am very grateful to Lady Guernsey of Packington Hall for providing me with these photographs.
The Biographical Dictionary of British Sculptors, Pub Yale.
2009 states the bust of Louisa was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1784.
A version of the Nollekens bust of the Lady Aylesford was offered for sale lot 23, 3 July 1823 at the Nollekens sale. The Catalogue does not make clear the material.
Currently the position of the bust, on top of a doorcase at
Packington make photography rather difficult – I have an invitation to visit
Packington in early 2025.
The Paul Mellon Photographic Archive Image of Louisa Thynne.
When searching for images of Nollekens busts using the eared support to the socle I came across this image which more or less confirmed the attribution of the (so far until then anonymous) bust to Nollekens.
Comparisons with how the socle and eared support joined the bust itself confirmed the attribution and comparisons with the hairstyle confirmed the rough dating.
............................
Louisa Thynne, Lady Aylesford.
Mezzotint Valentine Green.
After Joshua Reynolds.
1783.
