The Roubiliac type socle - some mor thoughts and images.

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.

https://photoarchive.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk/objects/485781/matthew-prior?ctx=7ab723ed495b182c7b4cea69558c10d1e1dc9464&idx=824

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 - Christopher 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 or variants of it the subject on which I have previously posted upon 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) which use this same basic form of socle.

The socle in this case has convex panels on the sides as well as the fronts.

For the Chapman Bird busts by Cybei see - https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025_08_01_archive.html

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

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2018/01/lead-bust-of-matthew-prior-by-john.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 Lead bust of Matthew Prior.

John Cheere.

Height: 53 cm Width: 33 cm.

Now in the Louvre.

This three quarter life size, lead bust on a turned wooden socle was sold by the Paris auction rooms Fraysse, Lot 193, on 6 June 2012 for 97,000 Euros - a somewhat surprising result - it was estimated at 4 - 8000 euros. 

It was catalogued as a bust of the painter Hyacinth Rigaud (1659 - 1743) and described as early 18th century, and probably derived from the famous painting in the Museum of Perpignan, "Self-portrait with a turban" produced in 1698.

Complete nonsense!

This bust is in fact a lead version of a bust of Matthew Prior which was also produced in plaster in the Hyde Park Corner workshop of John Cheere.

It has to be asked who was the previous owner - was there collusion between the agent for the Louvre and the auctioneers/

Was there even an underbidder - the whole affair of the purchase of this bust stinks of corruption?

    

 

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A Three quarter life size plaster bust of Matthew Prior described as probably from the workshop of John Cheere sold at Sotheby's, Bond Street, London 14 July 2010 - 44.5cm., 17½in tall.

 

There is another version of this bust at the York Museums Trust - The photograph on their website is a very poor, low resolution example (see below), but is still easily recognisable as the Cheere bust of Prior.

This bust was originally supplied in 1749 to Chomley Turner d. 1757 for Kirkleatham Hall in Yorkshire along with busts of John Dryden (after Peter Scheemakers), William Congreve, Joseph Addison,Sir Francis Bacon (after Roubiliac), Dr Samuel Clark, Dean Swift, Cicero and Horace, along with Statuettes of Rubens and van Dyck (after Rysbrack), Shakespeare (after Scheemakers), Homer, Spencer, Alexander Pope, Milton, Inigo Jones, Isaac Newton and John Locke.

 

Image courtesy of York Museums Trust :: http://yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk :: CC BY-SA 4.0

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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.

The Plaster bust of Hooper in the Wren Library at Trinity College, Cambridge.

There are obvious variations with the marble bust.

It uses the typical John Cheere Socle with the convex panel on the front..

Height approx 60 cms. without the socle.

 This bust is one of  the set of 26 plaster busts supplied and now consisting of 12 ancient and 11 modern authors all placed on top of the bookcases in the Wren Library.

Gifted to the Library by Dr Francis Hooper.

The Wren Library plasters were probably supplied by John Cheere some time after 1753 - they are noted in a guide of 1763. Unfortunately there is no record of their purchase.

It has been suggested that this bust was added to the collection later.

There are also two painted wooden busts of Anacreon and Ben Jonson on top of the bookcases - these are possibly from an earlier scheme and attributed to Grinling Gibbons