Bath, Art and Architecture

Tuesday, 10 September 2024

Portrait Sculpture at Wilton House, Part 8. The Statuette of Inigo Jones.

Post under construction.

The Plaster Statuette by/after Michael Rysbrack on the Chimneypiece in the Ante Room at Wilton House.

It appears to be unique - I have as yet not discovered any further examples.

Photographs of the statuette taken by the author.

I am very grateful to the 18th Earl and Countess of Pembroke for allowing me to visit Wilton House with my camera and for giving me free access to the sculptures at the house outside visiting hours.

I am also very grateful to the staff at Wilton House, Charlotte Spender, Sandie Buxcie, and in particular the House Manager Nigel Bailey and all at Wilton who made me feel most welcome.

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The first mention of a portrait in three dimensions of Inigo Jones is that of a bust by James Marshall (1598 - 1675).

Marshall whose address was Fetter Lane, according to John Aubrey made the bust for the monument to Inigo Jones in St Benets Church, Pauls Wharf. City of London which was severely damaged in the Great Fire of London and rescued by James Marshall - it has since disappeared.

St Benets was rebuilt and reopened in 1683 by Christopher Wren. There is an excellent mural monument to Baronet Sir Robert Wyseman d.1684 believed to have been carved by Grinling Gibbons with a very good portrait relief by Arnold Quellin.

see - http://www.speel.me.uk/chlondon/stbenetspaulswharf.htm

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The Plaster Statuette of Inigo Jones.

This figure follows very closely the statue by Michael Rysbrack at Chiswick House.

This very fine statuette has long been given to John Cheere but there is evidence of an earlier statuette of Inigo Jones from 1728.

In 1727 Rysbrack sold Henry Hoare of Stourhead a bust and statuettes of Inigo Jones and Palladio now disappeared.

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To confuse matter there is another statuette of Inigo Jones of which I have a modern cast.

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2017/08/soane-museum-5-continued-bust-of-inigo.html

This statuette is a cast of a plaster cast believed to have been taken from the terracotta statuette in the RIBA collection.

This statuette was cast from a plaster cast of the original terracotta by Mark Latrobe of Plasterworks in Cross Street in Islington, for the late Ben Weinreb in about 1995.

The story told to him was that the RIBA terracotta was damaged in the Blitz of WWII and had been restored and cast by staff at the British Museum although Charles Hind of the RIBA casts doubt on this.

The original is at the RIBA and an edition of 4 or 5 of these 1990's plaster casts are to my knowledge the only versions of this statuette extant.

In 1727 Rysbrack sold Henry Hoare of Stourhead a bust and statuettes of Inigo Jones and Palladio now disappeared.

Agreement between Rysbrack and Henry Hoare 10 October 1727 'a bustow of Inigo Jones in Statuary marble' £35 0 0d, a pedestal £2 10s and two figures of Inigo Jones and Palladio in plaster £ 1 10s.

Katherine Esdaile published on the statuette in the RIBA Journal, Vol 38 of 7 Feb 1931.

I'm afraid that very little of what Mrs Esdaile wrote can be entirely relied upon. She states the RIBA statuette is of plaster when I am reliably informed by Charles Hind that it is of terracotta.

She also states that the figure of Inigo Jones on the Walpole Cabinet is the same as this statuette when it is clearly a version of the Chiswick Inigo Jones.

Photograph from the RIBA Journal Vol 38. 7th Feb. 1931.

In a letter to Sir Edward Littleton in 1758 Rysbrack stated that the casting in plaster was "a thing entirely out of my way".

For the project by Joseph van Haken to launch plaster editions of the Rysbrack's statuettes of van Dyke, Rubens and du Quesnoy mentioned in the Daily Advertiser 19 December 1743.

see - https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-rysbrack-statuettes-of-rubens-van_7.html

George Vertue wrote in 1743 - 'Mr Van acken – whose draperys silks satins Velvets, gold & embroideryes which he dos paint for several of them painters extreamly well- and is a great addition to their works and indeed puts them so much on a Level that its very difficult to know one hand from another'

From the above news clipping it is clear that van Aken had a business relationship with Michael Rysbrack. Whilst the terracotta statuettes were clearly in his possession, the plaster reproductions were being sold from Rysbrack's business premises at Vere Street, Oxford Market.

It is unclear who cast these statuettes but it is unlikely that they were made by Peter Vanina, who was first recorded working for Rysbrack after 1753. In 1758 when Sir Edward Littleton approached Michael Rysbrack for plaster copies of his own portrait bust, Rysbrack replied that making multiples was ‘a thing Entirely out of my way’, going on to say that he had consulted ‘Mr Vannini, the Caster in Plaster of Paris. (Whom I Employ when I want). Peter Vanina owned a pair of the statuettes of Rubens and van Dyck which were disposed of from his house in Dover Street in his 2nd sale of 3 July 1770 on the occasion of 'his going abroad', (Rupert Gunnis 1951).

The crisp tool marks particularly on the back of the column illustrate that it had been cast from a piece mould taken directly from the terracotta.

Cheere did not establish his business at Hyde Park Corner until 1738.

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The Statuettes of Palladio and Inigo Jones for Henry Hoare of Stourhead

In 1727 Rysbrack sold Henry Hoare of Stourhead a bust and statuettes of Inigo Jones and Palladio, both bust and statuettes have now disappeared.

An Agreement between Rysbrack and Henry Hoare 10 October 1727 states 'a bustow of Inigo Jones in Statuary marble' £35 0 0d, a pedestal £2 10s and two figures of Inigo Jones and Palladio in plaster £ 1 10s.

In Langford's sale of 1766 for Rysbrack, p.4 First day lot 69. Two figures of Palladio and Inigo Jones the original models for the figures of Lord Burlington at Chiswick House.

Info here from Roman Splendour ..... Jervis and Dodd, pub. 2014.

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The Preliminary Drawings by William Kent.

for the Statues of Palladio and Inigo Jones for Burlington House.

Victoria and Albert Museum.

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The Rysbrack Statue of Inigo Jones and Palladio at Chiswick House.

c. 1720/23.

Life Size - Portland Stone.

The Statue of Inigo Jones Paired with a statue of Palladio.

They were installed initially on the main façade of Burlington House, Piccadilly designed by Colen Campbell and completed in 1720 shortly after the return of Burlington from his Italian Grand Tour .

They are described by Cambell in his third volume of Vitrivius Britanicus of 1725 standing in "two niches in flank fronting each other where the noble patron has prepar'd the statues of Palladio and Jones in honour to an art of which he is the Support and Ornament".

They were shortly after moved to Chiswick House. In 1728 and were recorded by a French visitor as standing in one of the pavilions "in one of those buildings two rather good figures of Inigo Jones and of Palladio".

A pair of marble busts by Guelfi were also supplied to Burlington in 1729 - it has been suggested in the past that these are the busts at Chatsworth but I find this difficult to believe given the quality of his known busts. If these busts are not copies of the top sections of the Rysbrack figures by Guelfi -then they are missing.

See the article by Richard Hewlings the Architectural Historian Formerly with English Heritage.

The English Heritage Historical Review, Vol II. 2007. Publication of this journal has sadly ceased.

For nearly everything one needs to know about Kent see the excellent William Kent Designing Georgian Britain Edited by Susan Weber, pub. Yale 2014. Expensive but worth the price of entrance.

For more and the complete article The Statues of Inigo Jones and Palladio at Chiswick House by Richard Hewlings in The English Heritage Historical Review, Vol II. 2007.

see my post.

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2017/08/soane-museum-5-bust-of-inigo-jones.html

I am extremely grateful to Richard Hewlings and his wife for their warm welcome and generosity on my visit to their home and for providing me with this article.

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The Royal Institute of British Architects Statuette of Inigo Jones.

This Statuette is entirely different from the Wilton House version.

with the figure here supported by a round column.

Photograph from the RIBA Journal Vol 38. 7th Feb. 1931.

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The reproduction of the RIBA plaster cast of the Statuette of Inigo Jones.

This statuette is a cast of a plaster cast believed to have been taken from the terracotta statuette in the RIBA collection.

This statuette was cast from a plaster cast of the original terracotta by Mark Latrobe of Plasterworks in Cross Street in Islington, for the late Ben Weinreb in about 1995.

The original at the RIBA and a 4 or 5 of these 1990's plaster casts are to my knowledge the only versions of this statuette extant.

Katherine Esdaile published on the statuette in the RIBA Journal Vol 38 of 7 Feb 1931.

I'm afraid that very little of what Mrs Esdaile wrote can be entirely relied upon. She states the RIBA statuette is of plaster when I am reliably informed by Charles Hind that it is of terracotta. She also states that the figure of Inigo Jones on the Walpole Cabinet is the same as this statuette (see below).

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The Lead Statue at Holker Hall.

From the English Fireplace by L.A.Shuffrey. pub. Batsford. 1912.

M. Webb in Michael Rysbrack pub 1954 notes that this statuette was gilded.

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The Kirkleatham Plaster Statuette of Inigo Jones.

Supplied in 1749 by John Cheere to Chumley Turner of Kirkleatham Hall.

One of a series of 19 Bronzed Plaster Casts - 10 statuettes and 9 busts

each statuette approx. 40 - 46 cms tall.

The Art UK website whilst it has some excellent multi views of these objects it does not have this statuette of Inigo Jones but shows a statuette of Spencer.

Illustrated below is a very low resolution image of the York Museums, Kirkleatham figure supplied by John Cheere.

Milton inscribed Cheere Ft 1749.

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Catalogue of the Effects etc belonging to Francis Cotes by Langford and Sons, on the premises South side of Cavendish Square 21 February 1771 and the following three days.

Page 13, on Saturday the third day of the sale in the Pupils Room continued from page 10.

Lot 35. Three fine casts from Rysbrack of Fiamingo, Inigo Jones and Palladio.

The Fiamingo presumably the cast first available from Rysbrack and van der Haken along with Rubens and van Dyck which were advertised in the Daily Advertiser 19 December 1743.

The Inigo Jones could be one of the two versions, but I am so far unaware of the survival of any statuettes of Palladio (another was supplied to Henry Hoare at Stourhead along with a plaster statuette of Inigo Jones and a marble bust of Inigo Jones all three pieces have gone missing.

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A Statuette of Inigo Jones is listed in the 1777 Plaster Sculpture Catalogue of Charles Harris of the Strand.

Size 1' 10".

They also sold busts of Inigo Jones 'Large as Life' and 24" which could be paired with busts of Palladio.

see - http://english18thcenturyportraitsculpture.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/charles-harris-catalogue.html

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There is no mention of plaster casts of either the figure or the busts of Inigo Jones in the Catalogue of Robert Shout of c. 1815.

This does not mean that Shout and Co did not produce earlier versions, the company was in existence by 1785.

see my blog entry for the Shout printed Catalogue and the bust of Palladio at the Soane Museum and its earlier variants.

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/702151177689238318/6621006501656627815

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The Rysbrack Busts at Stowe and Chatsworth Compared.

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of Tangential Interest.

The Bust of Inigo Jones at Carpenters Hall. City of London.

c. 1780. Ref. Dictionary, Rupert Gunnis.

A bust of Inigo Jones was provided to the Carpenters Hall, City of London

by John Bacon the Elder (d.1799).

There is an extremely fine terracotta bust of Inigo Jones at the Royal Institute for British Architects.

It is attributed to Matthew Noble (1817 - 76) on the Art UK website.

I suggest that this bust of Inigo Jones is in fact by John Bacon the Elder (1740 - 99).

Images of it are available online -

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/inigo-jones-15731652-275409

and the RIBA website - https://www.ribapix.com/Inigo-Jones_RIBA138811

which describes the bust as 18th Century.

They say acquired from James Noble (1794 -.1875) in 1873.

It has an almost illegible painted inscription - Noble 1873.

H 45 x W 20 x D 25 cm

James Noble Fellow of the RIBA was the principal assistant to CR Cockrell.

Nobles address in 1843 was 45, Half Moon Street, Piccadilly

As far as I can tell the two Nobles were not close relatives.

I would suggest that this inscription refers to when it was presented to the RIBA and not the sculptor and that this very fine bust was modelled by John Bacon the Elder (1740 - 1799).

Another pointer to Bacon is the use of a buff coloured clay - Bacon was long associated with the Coade Manufactory in Lambeth and the clay used here has the appearance of the Coade type buff terracotta.

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Again of Tangential interest -

The Bust of Inigo Jones by John Bacon I on a Keystone above the Entrance Gateway to Carpenters Hall.

William Jupp the elder (d. 1788), architect, exhibited two designs for gentlemen's seats at the Society of Artists in 1763 and 1764. He rebuilt the London Tavern, Bishopsgate Street Within, after the fire in 1765.

In 1780 he designed the new entrance hall and staircase of Carpenters' Hall, London Wall, for which the stucco decorations were executed by Bacon.

It is richly decorated in basso-relievo with emblematic figures and implements used in Carpentry, curiously and prettily grouped, and with heads of Vitruvius, Palladio, Inigo Jones, and Wren, designed by Bacon.

https://www.ribapix.com/design-for-the-entrance-to-carpenters-hall-london-wall-and-throgmorton-street-city-of-london_riba36894

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Historical Account of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters …… by Edward Basil Jupp 1848

https://ia601907.us.archive.org/30/items/historicalaccoun00jupp/historicalaccoun00jupp.pdf

For a very useful overview see

https://www.londonlives.org/static/CarpentersCompany.jsp

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The Wedgwood Collection bust of Inigo Jones.

no size on the website.

The eared socle suggests a late 18th or 19th Century version by Shout or Sarti.

Presumably approx. 22 inches.

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1388810/bust/

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For much more on the portrait Busts and statues of Inigo Jones see -

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2017/08/soane-museum-5-bust-of-inigo-jones.html

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2017/08/soane-museum-5-continued-bust-of-inigo.html

For a list of my posts on 18th century portrait sculpture see -

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2019/02/chronological-list-of-roubiliac.html

Monday, 9 September 2024

The Sculpture at Wilton House, Part 8 - The socles on the busts by Roubiliac at Wilton House. Some further notes on Roubiliac's Socles.

Post under construction.

some notes -

To my knowledge no one has looked closely at the form of the socles used by Roubiliac on his portrait busts.

Malcolm Baker has written about the backs of mid 18th century portrait sculpture, with particular reference to the busts in the Library at Trinity College, Dublin but little has been said about the socles.

The fourteen ancient and modern worthies in the Long Room of the Library at Trinity Dublin form a distinct set. In 1743 a sum of £500 was bequeathed by Dr Claudius Gilbert, the Vice-Provost, 'for the purchase of busts of men eminent for learning to adorn the library'.

Some at least of these must have been in place by March 1749, when it was reported that Roubiliac's bust of Swift, which was not acquired out of the Gilbert funds, was 'to be placed in the College Library, among the heads of other men eminent for genius and learning'.

The Shakespeare bust is fully signed 'Peter Scheemakers', and seven others - Usher, Homer, Demosthenes, Cicero, Milton, Locke, and Pembroke - are signed 'P.S.Ft.

Perhaps I'm being unkind but I have a little trouble with the Trinity Dublin busts some of which have long been attributed to Roubiliac - certainly they are extremely competent works but except for the bust of Jonathan Swift, they lack the flare of Roubiliac's major works -

I suspect that although probably subcontracted to Roubiliac by Scheemakers they are the product of his workshop - my suspicion falls on John van Nost III (c. 1713 - 1780). (who had been apprenticed to Henry Scheemakers in 1726.

John van Nost was working in Dublin from at least 1749 - I believe they are too early for the Irish sculptor Patrick Cunningham (fl. 1758 - 1774).

More work needs to be done on van Nost and his early career and his relationship with Roubiliac prior to his emigrating to Dublin.

see - https://staging.burlington.org.uk/media/_file/generic/886825.pdf

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The Socles on the Busts by Roubiliac at Wilton House.

with the rondels on the front.

Martin Folkes.

Wilton House.

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Sir Andrew Fountaine

Wilton House.

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The socle with the rondel on this bust had unfortunately been turned to face the wall making it rather difficult to get a good photograph

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Paul Whitehead (1710 - 74).

Marble Bust.

West Wycombe Park.

attributed to Roubiliac by Mrs Esdaile.

A portrait by Gainsborough was engraved by Collyer in 1777 and by Rolls in 1821, when in the possession of a Mrs Morris. John Michael Williams exhibited a painting of Whitehead at the Free Society of Artists in 1762 (1), but its whereabouts is also unknown.

The sitter was sculpted by Roubiliac; two versions were in the sculptor's posthumous sale, 12-15 May, 1742, being lots 14 of the first day and 15 of the third day

A mould for these busts was also sold Lot 63 Day 2. to my knowledge no plaster bust of Paul Whitehead has yet been discovered.

An engraving by an unknown artist depicts Whitehead in profile and reproduces the memorial verses on the urn containing his heart at West Wycombe Church.

Mrs Esdaile attributed a bust at West Wycombe to him which on the evidence of the socle alone this would appear to be fair.

Paul Whitehead?

Plaster Bust.

Possibly Roubiliac.

Anonymous Sale Christie's Lot 142 4 July 1989

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

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Lord Ligonier.

Drawing by Joseph Nollekens.

One of seven drawings of the Roubiliac Busts.

This is probably of a plaster - the marble in the Royal Collection which now has a turned socle would have originally had an unusual carved socle as seen in the Aquatint of the staircase well at Carlton House showing the two busts with their original socles in Pyne's Royal Residences, 1819. Engraved by Thomas Sutherland after Charles Wild. Published by: W. H. Pyne, 36 Upper Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square.

Harris Museum, Preston.

For the Harris Museum Drawings of the Roubiliac Busts by Nollekens see

For a fairly thorough look at the busts depicted in these drawings -

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-harris-museum-preston-drawings-of.html

These drawings are fairly safely attributed to sculptor Joseph Nollekens (1737 - 1823).

It has been generally believed that they had been drawn at the studio of Roubiliac in St Martin's Lane sometime around the time of the sale on 12 May 1762 and the following three days.

This would have been just before he departed for Italy. On 21 May 1762 he had received the last and greatest of his 5 prizes from the Society of Arts and having won in all £123 18 shillings.

Hayward noted his arrival in Rome with Jiacomo Freys son on 11 August - a droll account of his journey survives in a copy of a letter written to sculptor Thomas Banks (1735 - 1805), see Whitley 1821 - 37.

The original Socle of the bust of George III in the Royal Collection which was paired with the bust of Lord Ligonier as seen in the Pyne Aquatint.

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The socle appears on the busts of Sir Andrew Fountaine at Wilton House, and on the Fountaine monument in Narford Church, Norfolk (below).

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The Socles on the Busts in the Long Room at Trinity College, Dublin.

All these busts use the same type of socle.

This would imply that the socles all came from the same workshop.

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Jonathan Swift.

Louis Francois Roubiliac.

Without measuring the base of each bust and their socles it is impossible determine whether they were made individually for each bust in the workshops of Scheemakers or Roubiliac (or a subcontractor to him) and then inscribed with the name of the subject or whether they were made in a workshop Dublin.

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Plato.

Workshop of Roubiliac perhaps with the assistance of John van Nost III.

van Nost was certainly working in Ireland from 1749.

In the past this bust has been attributed to both Scheemakers and Roubiliac.

This bust has the same drapery as that used on the Barber Institute Terracotta of Alexander Pope

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2016/12/bust-of-plato-in-long-room-trinity.html

The repetition of dress on portrait busts appears to be unique to Roubiliac and so I can fairly confidently ascribe this bust to the workshop of Roubiliac.

The repetition of the socles on these busts suggests to me that all of these socles were made in the same workshop and possibly in Dublin but it is repeated in the socle of the marble bust of Isaac Newton in the Wren Library at Trinity College, Cambridge

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The Roubiliac Bust of Newton in the Wren Library.

Gift from Daniel Lock(1686 - 1754).

The socle of bust is inscribed on a rectangular piece of marble which ha been added.

NEWTON / ISAAC NEWTON FELLOW / 1642–1727. Roubilliac [sic.]

This is a duplicate of the bust of Newton in the Royal Society but with a different socle.

This bust and the bust of Francis Bacon were gifts to Trinity of Daniel Lock.

Both busts are signed and dated 1751.

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The Socle also appears on the Monument to Daniel Lock by Roubiliac at the Wren Library.

Daniel Lock, 1686-1754. Architect and artist.

Lock had accompanied William Kent and John Talman to Italy in 1709.

The designer of the Foundling Hospital in London; in this portrait Lock is seen holding a plan for the Hospital.

Lock was the donor of the bust of Bacon in the College Library, and a close friend of Roger Cotes. He was a member of the Free Society of Artists, which is where he might have met William Hogarth, who painted this portrait; Hogarth was also a founding Governor of the Foundling Hospital.

Roubiliac's bust shows Lock surrounded by emblems of architecture, painting.

of Tangential interest.

Portrait of Lock by William Hogarth.

Saturday, 24 August 2024

The Portrait Sculpture at Wilton House, Part 7. The Stone Statue of William Shakespeare.

Post under construction.

The Portrait Sculpture at Wilton House, Part 7.

The Portland Stone Statue of William Shakespeare in van Dyke costume.

Originally put up in the Holbein Porch

In the Front Hall at Wilton House which had been redesigned by James Wyatt (1746 - 1813) some time after 1801.

by Peter Scheemakers 1(1691 - 1781).

In 1705, following a fire, the 8th Earl rebuilt some of the oldest parts the house, making rooms to display his newly acquired Arundel marbles, which form the basis for the sculpture collection at Wilton today.

Following this Wilton remained relatively undisturbed for nearly a century, until the remodelling by James Wyatt.

For a ground plan at Wiltshire Records Office before the Wyatt demolitions and alterations see -

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/76cb423b-c8f7-4e05-9d8d-f35716852542

I believe that the Westminster Abbey Shakespeare Monument should be considered as Scheemakers masterpiece.

It was certainly the piece that made his name and was perhaps the most influential piece of portrait statuary of the 18th Century.

I am very grateful to the 18th Earl and Countess of Pembroke for allowing me to visit Wilton House with my camera and for giving me free access to the sculptures outside of visiting hours.

I am also very grateful to all the staff at Wilton, Charlotte Spender, Sandie Buxcie, and in particular the House Manager Nigel Bailey and all at Wilton who made me feel most welcome.

Perhaps the best portrait sculpture of Shakespeare from the 18th Century and one of the most influential is that by Peter Scheemakers dated 1740 on the Monument in Poets Corner in Westminster Abbey.

Shakespeare was sculpted by many sculptors in the 18th Century including Rysbrack, Roubiliac, and Scheemakers in several versions.

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William Kent (1685 - 1748).

By Aikman (1682 - 1731).

undated probably c. 1723/25.

National Portrait Gallery.

Ref NPG 6063.

https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw07563/William-Kent

Something of a self publicist Kent is here represented in a not dissimilar pose to the Rysbrack statue of Inigo Jones carved by Michael Rysbrack which has been at Chiswick House since 1729, but the way he is depicted resembles more closely the features of the statue of Palladio which has always been paired with that of Inigo Jones thus conflating images of himself as both the new Inigo Jones and Andrea Palladio.

The Rysbrack busts of Palladio perhaps continuing this fiction.

This is just my opinion!

The pose of him leaning on the column is repeated in the Scheemakers statues of Shakespeare particularly that at Wilton House

Painted as the over mantel for the Great Hall at Wanstead in Essex, Lord Castlemaine's magnificent Palladian house, since demolished. The hall ceiling, representing the Times of Day, was Kent's work.

The pose was first used by the Italian sculptor Giovanni Battista Guelphi, who had been brought to England by Lord Burlington in 1720, on the figure of Craggs on his monument of c. 1724/7 in Westminster Abbey, which was designed by James Gibbs (see images below).

For Guelfi see my blog post - http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/notes-on-giovanni-battista-guelfi-16912.html

images here from art uk website

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/inigo-jones-15731652-278077/search/venue:chiswick-house-6938/page/1/view_as/grid

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The Craggs Monument of c. 1724/27 by Giovanni Batista Guelfi in Westminster Abbey and its Influence.

Some examples.

The pose of the statue on the Craggs Monument in Westminster Abbey by Giovanni Guelfi (1690 -? )(fl 1714 - 1734) was very influential on future monuments and portraits - the Westminster Abbey monument to Shakespeare by Scheemakers of 1740 being the prime example, a short and not exhaustive list of further examples of this pose -

This pose was used on the monument of 1746 to William and Elizabeth Powlett at St George's Church West Grinstead by Michael Rysbrack.

The 1748 Monument to Peregrine Bertie 2nd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven. at St Michael and All Angels, Edenham, Lincolnshire by the Workshop of Henry Cheere.

see - https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2016/11/monuments-in-church-at-edenham-part-3.html

Monument to Sir John Dutton (d.1743) by Michael Rysbrack- 1749) at Sherborne, Gloucestershire.

The statue of George Cooke of about 1749 formerly in the gardens of Belhamonds House, Middlesex and now in the Ashmolean.

A lead statuette of Alexander Pope (V andA) height 47 cms. c1749 by John Cheere and another in bronzed plaster at York Museum (ex Kirkleatham) of 1749, height 46.5 cms.

Charles Seymour Duke of Somerset (1662 - 1748) Chancellor of the University 1689 - 1748

A rare example of a statue dressed in the van Dyck style by Michael Rysbrack 1756, Senate House, Cambridge.

The 1757 monument to Charles Polhill, St Bartholemew, Otford, Kent by Henry Cheere,

The 1761 monument to Cholmley Turner, at St Cuthberts, Kirkleatham, Cleveland, also by Henry Cheere. A design by Scheemakers is in the Soane Museum.

Arthur Devis (1712 - 87) frequently used the pose in his painted portraits -

One of the most famous uses in portraiture is the full length David Garrick with the bust of Shakespeare by Gainsborough of 1766 purposely echoing the pose of the Shakespeare statues.

This is a 19th Century Copy of the painting destroyed in a fire at the Town Hall, Stratford on Avon

With the Palladian Bridge at Prior Park, Widcombe, Bath in the background.

After Thomas Gainsborough.

National Trust - Charlecote Park, Warwickshire

Oil on Canvas.

1137 x 756 mm.

The bust of Shakespeare looks to be a version of the Rysbrack terracotta now at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Another version of this painting is in the Folger Shakespeare Library.

The Original by Gainsborough was exhibited at the Society of Artists of Great Britain at Spring Gardens Charing Cross in 1766.

see - https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2016_01_08_archive.html

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The Terracotta for the Craggs Monument. Westminster Abbey.

The first use in England of the crossed leg pose, leaning on a pedestal.

By Giovanni Battista Guelfi.

Illustrated below is the model for the Craggs monument now in the Soane Museum, Lincolns Inn Fields - The figure was purchased by Soane at the Richard Cosway sale, held by Mr Stanley from 22nd to 24nd May 1821, as lot 47: 'A figure resting on an urn, in terracotta' for £1.1s.

The face has been replaced in wax.

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A Design for the monument to Craggs attributed to James Gibbs.

no date.

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O715383/drawing-gibbs-james/

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The pose originated from ancient statues but perhaps the source for Guelfi's statue of Craggs from a design by James Gibbs, was from an Engraving of Autumn by Jacobus Sarazin an Engraving by P Davet of 1642.

Anther statue adapting the pose is the statue of Hercules by Rysbrack which was based on the Farnese Hercules (Uffizi) is in the Pantheon at Stourhead.

Illustrated here is the terracotta model for the statue at Stourhead by Michael Rysbrack dated 1744. The Statue at Stourhead was put up in 1747.

Numerous 18th Century painted portraits later adapted the same pose.

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The First Sculpture of Shakespeare by Peter Scheemakers.

The Marble bust of c. 1735.

One of the four busts on top of a bookcase in the Library at Hagley Hall, Worcester.

Photographed by the Author.

The busts of Shakespeare, Spenser, Dryden and Milton by Peter Scheemakers in the broken pediments of the bookcases in the Library at Hagley Hall were given to Alexander Pope by Frederick, Prince of Wales; they were subsequently bequeathed by Pope, who died in 1743 to Lord Lyttelton.

They were in the Library in the new house at Hagley in 1747/48.

Some time after buying Carlton House in 1732, Prince Frederick had commissioned two sets? of marble library busts from Peter Scheemakers, one set for himself - which seems to have disappeared and the second set as a gift to Alexander Pope. I suspect that there was only one set and there has been subsequent confusion.

A bill for £107 4s was examined by William Kent as overseer and paid 22 November 1735, included the set of busts charged at £10 each (Duchy of Cornwall Household Accounts) it is unclear whether they were for the library at Carlton House or for Kents magnificent saloon in the Rotunda in the garden, built in 1735 - (adorned with paintings and sculpture - Grub Street Journal, 2 September 1735).

Prince Frederick, William Kent and the Garden Building at Carlton House have already been touched on in my blog entry of 12 August 2015, see -

http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/frederick-prince-of-wales-and-busts-in.html

A voucher in the Royal Household accounts, dated 8th November 1735, details 'for four small marble Busto's delivered to Mr Pope at £10-10 each 42-0-0' The bill was examined by William Kent on 22 November 1735 and paid without deduction. A receipt in the sculptors hand was added one week later (Duchy of Cornwall, Household Accounts of Frederick Prince of Wales, Vouchers October 1736 - June 1737, vol. VI, part 1, pp 307-08.

Ingrid Roscoe (Walpole Society Journal ,1999) suggest that the gift to Pope was probably prompted by George Lyttleton, who was the secretary to Prince Frederick, an active member of the Whig opposition, and who fostered the friendship of Pope and Prince Frederick in the hope that Pope might have a democratising influence on the Prince.

The busts prompted a letter to Dean Swift dated 17 May 1739 'the Pr. shews me a distinction beyond any Merit or Pretence on my part & I have received a Present from him of some marble heads of Poets for my library and some Urnes for my garden' - (Correspondence of Alexander Pope ed. Sherwin 1956).

Ingrid Roscoe says - that the busts are ' weakly characterised frontal portraits' which I think is being rather unkind to them. I suspect that she hadn't inspected them closely - compared with the portrait of Shakespeare in the Royal collection attributed to John Cheere these busts exhibit a much higher degree of subtlety.

Much of this information has been culled from Peter Scheemakers by Ingrid Roscoe, Walpole Society Journal, vol 61, 1999.

I am very grateful to Viscount Cobham for allowing me the opportunity to visit Hagley and to take these photographs. I would also like to thank to Joyce Purnell of Hagley Hall who facilitated the visit for me, showed me around and made my visit so enjoyable.

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The Wilton House Portland Stone Statue of William Shakespeare.

1743 - 44.

Height 173 cms.

Originally put up in the Holbein Porch and removed to the Hall in 1803, with the Wyatt improvements.

The porch was put up after 1548 and before 1563. It is now a garden pavilion.

Originally the entrance to the house from north of courtyard. Said to have been designed by Hans Holbein (died 1543).

Inscribed on the front of the plinth P. Scheemakers Ext.

The pedestal is of a round section rather than rectangular as on the Westminster Monument.

The head of Henry V appears again on the pedestal, but the head of Elizabeth I is replaced by that of Puck.

On the 1 August 1743 Scheemakers received £25 "in part of seventy pounds when he shall deliver a statue of Shakespeare in fine freestone with its little pedestal and ornaments" The total sum of £75 18s 4 1/2d was recorded on the 29 April 1744 (Wilton House Book, 1733 - 49, Wilton House A.5/1)

Info from Scheemakers by Ingrid Roscoe, Walpole Society Journal, 1999 Cat No. 120 (page 256).

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The Inscription on the Wilton House Shakespeare Scroll.

(from Macbeth 5.5.24-6).

LIFE’s but a walking SHADOW

a poor PLAYER

that struts and frets his hour

upon the STAGE,

And then is heard no more!

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The Inscription on the Westminster Abbey Shakespeare Monument Scroll.

(modifed from Prospero's Speech from the Tempest, Act 4. Scene1)

Thee Cloud cupt Tow’rs,

The Gorgeous Palaces

The Solemn Temples,

The Great Globe itself

Yea all which it Inherit,

Shall Dissolue;

And like the baseless Fabrick of a Vision

Leave not a wreck behind.

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The Wilton House Guides.

The statue of Shakespeare in the Black Marble Table Room in -Kennedys Guide, 1769, Page 111.

Size of the Marble Table 11' 9" x 4' 2".

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011618077

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The statue is still in the Black Marble Table Room - The 1786 Guide. Page 111.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=gri.ark:/13960/t2n597k3b&seq=7

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Two drawings of the Shakespeare Statue at Wilton

These (early 19th Century) drawings possibly relate to a planned relocation of the statue in the remodelling of Wilton House.

Sir Richard Westmacott, James Wyatt, Jeffrey Wyatt, and Benjamin Wyatt.

Ref. 2057/H3/18 pt 2

Plans for Shakespeare Niche, which were a part of the larger plans, sketches, and watercolour drawings by Sir Richard Westmacott and by James, Jeffrey, and Benjamin Wyatt, showing detailed architectural features, furnishings, decorations, arrangement of sculpture and paintings, and so on, for alterations to Wilton House.

https://countryhousehistories.omeka.net/items/show/31

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The Westminster Abbey Shakespeare Monument.

The first full length statue of Shakespeare.

Peter Scheemakers.

The monument designed by William Kent.

1740.

The Pedestal with the heads of Queen Elizabeth I and Kings Henry V and Richard III.

Photographs taken by the Author under difficult circumstances.

At least the powers that be at Westminster Abbey have ceased to police the taking of photographs in the Abbey.

Much less public and well known is the statue of Shakespeare in Portland Stone at Wilton House.

The Wilton Houses statue is a slightly later variant - the details of the pedestal on which he leans are quite different. The pedestal is round and has attributes to comedy (the mask) and tragedy (the dagger).

The scroll was left bare and only later completed with the lines from The Tempest. The Dean of Westminster was accused in some London journals of being afraid to incur the wrath of the Prime Minister. The implication was that Shakespeare was also now the victim of censorship. Realising he had to defuse a delicate situation, the Dean ordered the blank scroll to be filled with some bland misquoted lines from The Tempest instead. This hasty, botched piece of work apparently infuriated Pope, who in his notes to the 1743 revision of the Dunciad calls it ‘that Specimen of an Edition ... which indeed Shakespeare has great reason to point at’.

see the article by Susannah Fleming in - https://www.thelondongardener.org.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2021/03/Volume08_05_SusannahFleming.pdf

George Vertue wrote in praise of the sculptures in 1743, Rysbrack had 'lately since made three models in clay, being the representation of 3 most excellent artists (about 2 foot hi each figure) Rubens van Dyke and Fiamingo Quenoy all three his countrymen These three models for the invention being standing the gracefulness of the Actions the dispositions of their habit, attitudes, and natural likeness, is most excellent. Q[uestion] if any other Artist living could do better and more masterly execute them.’

George Vertue in his notebooks, goes on to say that Rysbrack's popularity had been eclipsed by that of Peter Scheemakers, after the completion in 1740 of the latters monument to Shakespeare in Westminster Abbey and that he was feeling 'the effects in the line of Busines' there is no suggestion that there was any financial motive rather that he had time on his hands and that 'these (statuettes) are the effect of leisure and study'.

Vertue continues - Rysbrack had found himself 'somewhat at leisure' owing to 'the great and unproportioned exhultation of that statue of Shakespeare erected in Westminster Abbey - done by Scheemakers'

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The Contemporary Engravings of the Westminster Abbey Shakespeare Monument.

Mezzotint of the Shakespeare Monument.

Charles Delafontaine

Engraved Andrew Miller,

Dated 1741.

Inscribed on the plinth.

'Mr: Fleetwood, & Mr: RIch Masters of ye two Theatres, | having Generously given a Benefit Play each, | towards erecting a Monument to the Memory of | that Inimitable Poet, Shakspear, which is now | set up in Westminster Abby, by the Direction of | The Rt Honble the Earl of Burlington, | Dr: Mead, Mr: Pope, and Mr: Martin. This Plate, is most Humbly Dedicated to them, | by their most Obedient Humble Servt: | Andrew Miller. | Ch. Delaffontaine del. Andrew Miller fec.t. 1741.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1886-0617-72

British Museum.

another version in the Royal collection.

https://www.rct.uk/collection/661462/shakespeares-monument-in-westminster-abbey

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Engraving by J Maurer.

Dated 1742.

13 5/8 x 8 3/4 inches

Folger Shakespeare Library.

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The Hubert Gravelot Engravings.

Benjamin Cole after Gravelot.

1754.

Image courtesy the Folger Shakespeare Library.

https://digitalcollections.folger.edu/img28899

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Mr Garrick delivering his Ode, at the Jubilee Celebrations at Stratford.

Anonymous Engraving.

c.1769.

On dedicating a building and erecting a statue, to Shakespeare.

NB The Statue is a version of the Westminster Abbey Monument suggesting the author was probably not an eye witness.

105 x 170 mm. (cut to the image edges)

British Museum.

........................

Engraving by John Lodge, 1769.

Mr Garrick delivering his Ode, at Drury Lane Theatre,

On dedicating a building and erecting a statue, to Shakespeare.

228 x 163 mm.

British Museum.

The illustration of the statue perhaps suggests that a plaster version of the Westminster monument was available at the time.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_Ee-3-163

This does not refer to the lead statue by John Cheere now at the Theatre Royal.

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Henry Giffard attempted the last theatrical season at The Dukes Theatre in Lincolns Inn Fields in 1742-43.

Lincoln's Inn Fields was built in 1714 and vacated in 1732 when the manager, John Rich, moved to his new theatre in Covent Garden.

There were occasional performances for 12 years, including the 1742-1743 theatrical season under the management of Henry Giffard. Although flush from his success with David Garrick’s debut the previous season at Goodman’s Fields he could no longer compete without his star actor and the season at Lincoln’s Inn ended prematurely, the theatre going dark forever.

Giffard used a full size plaster? statue of Shakespeare by Scheemakers as a pantomime stage prop at his previous theatre - at Goodman's Fields, when he first put on Garrick in Harlequin Student (1741), in which Garrick took the role of Harlequin when Richard Yates fell ill, ends with the arrival of Jupiter announcing that

“Immortal Shakespear’s matchless Wit revives, / And now the Bard in speaking Marble lives”,

after which “The Scene draws and discovers the monument of Shakespear, exactly represented, as lately erected in Westminster Abbey” from Michael Dobson, The Making of the National Poet, Oxford, The Clarendon Press, 1992,

......................

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A Temple of Shakespeare was erected in the garden at Wimborne St Giles in Dorset, the seat of the 4th Earl of Shaftesbury. Unfortunately, we have no illustration of this structure, but it was described as a round thatched building positioned in a mound containing glass bookcases for Shakespeare’s works and a small Statue of the Bard” - somewhat in the manner of Queen Caroline’s emblematic Merlin's Cave at Richmond.

see - https://www.thelondongardener.org.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2021/03/Volume08_05_SusannahFleming.pdf

The Sotheby's New York Marble Statue of Shakespeare.

20 October 2022, Lot 372.

Unsigned.

They say 19th Century - I say - when in doubt say it is 19th Century - I speak from experience!

I see no reason why it shouldn't be a Scheemakers workshop copy.

Height: 24 1/4 in.; 61.6 cm width: 16 1/2 in.; 41.9 cm.

https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/19th-century-works-of-art/marble-figure-of-shakespeare-leaning-on

Ingid Roscoe in the Walpole Journal, 1999 says in her list of Scheemaker's works:

Under the heading - Statue: Historical subject known only from Documentary Source.

Cat no. 121. William Shakespeare - she says marble, Auctioned 11 March, 1756 - £43 1s

but it is under the heading in the catalogue Marbles, Etc.

This would seem a very high price for the Sotheby's reduced marble version (below). The quality is very fine and the sculptor would have had to have had access to a terracotta bozetto or to a full size version of the original which could be reproduced by the use of a pointing machine.

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The Bonham's Plaster Statue of Shakespeare.

Maximum dimensions including plinth approximately 117cm wide, 56cm deep, 264cm high (46in wide, 22in deep, 103.5in high)

Sold 4 August 2009. Lot 63.

Provenance: This lot was removed from the Foreign Press Association, Carlton House Terrace, London where it stood in the entrance hall for some years. It was reputedly acquired from the Criterion Theatre at Piccadilly Circus.

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/16827/lot/63/

Currently I can not substantiate this provenance.

A communication in 2015 from Marcus Risdell former curator/ keeper of the Collection at the Garrick Club.

The Roubiliac terracotta bust at the Garrick Club became known through association of the theatre as the Davenant Bust, but as we now suspect was sited at the theatre by Henry Giffard who attempted the last theatrical season there in 1742-43 (Incidentally Giffard also used a full size Scheemakers statue as a pantomime stage prop at his previous theatre Goodman's Fields where he first put on Garrick. This I covered in the catalogue: The Face & Figure of Shakespeare at Orleans House Gallery.

The Garrick Club, London believed two replicas of the Roubiliac terracotta bust were produced. One is in the Royal Shakespeare Company Collection in Stratford and the other was presumed lost in the London Crystal Palace fire in 1866. The presence of the State Library’s bust in Australia in 1857 strongly suggests that either a third replica was produced, or that this may be the bust that was believed lost in the Crystal Palace fire.

Photographs below courtesy Bonham's.

After its appearance at Bonham's sale room the statue then went to dealer Westenholz.

where it remained until sold to dealer James Graham Stewart.

Photographs below taken at the Masterpiece fair in 2022, when it sold.

Current location unknown.

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The Lead Statue of Shakespeare.

John Cheere.

Stratford on Avon Town Hall.

The building was opened by David Garrick in 1769 on the occasion of the Shakespeare Jubilee, when he presented the statue of Shakespeare.

The Statue was conserved by Rupert Harris in 2022.

Note the earings on this statue and the Theatre Royal lead statue (below).

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The Stratford Lead Statue before restoration.

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An Admission Ticket to the Shakespeare Jubilee Festival.

6/ 7th September 1769.

........................

Shakespeare Jubilee 1769, Tankard.

Image above courtesy.

https://museumcrush.org/how-david-garrick-turned-stratford-into-the-shakespeare-epicentre/

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The 1769 Shakespeare Jubilee Medallion.

J Westwood.

Silver 31 mm.

British Museum.

A letter from a gentleman attending the jubilee describes in detail the festivities on p. 423 of the 'Gentleman's Magazine' for 1769 (pp. 421ff.) "my dress consisted of . . ., a silver medal of Shakespeare, pendant from a sky blue ribbon round my neck!" The Initials D. G. on the reverse of the medal are those of David Garrick.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_M-4766

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The Lead Statue of Shakespeare in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London.

Here suggested as cast by John Cheere.

I have written at some length on this statue and the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane.

Photographs taken by the Author.

British History Online states that it was presented to the Theatre by the brewer Samuel Whitbread (1764 - 1815) in 1809 and placed on the portico some time after 1820.

This seems very plausible, Whitbread purchased 20 statues from the second sale of the works of John Cheere for his garden at Southill Park in Bedfordshire for £975. 15 shillings.

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-lead-statue-of-shakespeare-and-its.html

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The Plaster Statuettes of William Shakespeare after the Scheemakers monument.

The York Museums/ Kirkleatham Plaster Statuette of Shakespeare.

Image from Art UK website.

Inscribed on the side of plinth: P. Scheemakers F. 1740.

One of a group of 19 busts and figures supplied to Kirkleatham Hall.

If this was supplied in 1749 then it is possible that it is a first generation cast by John Cheere from the original terracotta model.

The marks on the column / plinth certainly seem to suggest this!

It should be noted that only 20 to 25 casts could be taken before the moulds deteriorated and new piece moulds would have had to be prepared from a master.

A n interesting response to this figure by another contemporary sculptor is the three terracotta statuettes of Rubens, van Dyke and du Quesnoy by Rysbrack - which were reproduced in plaster in numerous iterations.

Only the statuette of Rubens appears to have survived.

see my post https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-rysbrack-statuettes-of-rubens-van_19.html

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The Trade Card of Fenwick Bull of the White Horse on Ludgate Hill.

with a plaster cast of the Westminster Shakespeare.

Fenwick Bull

Whilst by no means conclusive it would seem likely that Fenwick Bull's shop on Ludgate Hill was retailing John Cheere’s plaster productions in the 1750’s and a bust of Handel is one of the edition of thirty advertised in The Public Advertiser, 19th April 1758.

Of Tangential Interest - Some notes on Fenwick Bull. fl 1750 - 64.

Fenwick Bull was a map and print seller at The White Horse, Ludgate Hill who married Elizabeth Foster of St Martin’s Ludgate Hill at St Georges Chapel, Mayfair – 25 March 1753.

George Foster (d.17520, who was the father of Elizabeth Foster (b. c. 1730), the wife of Fenwick Bull) - Publisher, printer, map-seller, bookseller was previously at the White Horse, St Paul's Churchyard (1737-9); and later moved to the sign of the White Horse, (18) Ludgate Hill (1741-7). information from Royal Academy.

The Model of the Vauxhall statue of Handel by Roubiliac in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Terracotta, hand-modelled and fired, height 47.2cm, width 26.9cm, diameter 36.2cm, before 1738.

There are two mentions in the mid Eighteenth Century London newspapers of plaster sculptures of Handel.

Evening Post, 15th March 1751. "To be published by subscription, a figure in plaister of Paris of the celebrated Mr Handel, taken from the statue at Vauxhall. Conditions - the price to the subscriber is one guinea and a half; half a guinea to be paid at the time of subscribing, and the remainder on the delivery, which will be in May next. Subscriptions are taken at Mr Fosters on Ludgate Hill, where the model may be seen.

(George Vertue described the Fitzwilliam terracotta maquette in 1751, as “the model in clay baked of Mr Handel done by Mr Roubiliac - the same from which the Foxhall statue in Foxhall Gardens was done….. this model near 2 foot high is in the possession of Mr Hudson painter”).

As far as I know no plaster casts of the Vauxhall statue of Handel have yet come to light.

Fenwick Bull was advertising a plaster bust of Handel in The Public Advertiser, 19th April 1758. An edition of thirty casts of a bust of Handel was advertised for sale by subscription by F. Bull.

"To the lovers of music particularly those who admire the compositions of Geo Frederick Handel esq. F. Bull at the White Horse Ludgate Hill, London having at Great expense procured a fine model of a busto of Mr Handel proposes to sell by subscription thirty casts in plaister of Paris. The subscription money which is to be paid at the time of subscribing, and for which a receipt will be given, is one guinea and the cast in the order in which they are finished and will be delivered in the order in which the subscriptions are made. The busto which will make a rich and elegant piece of furniture... to be twenty three and a half high and eighteen inches broad. The model may be viewed until Monday next at the place above mentioned".

Fenwick Bull disappeared to America leaving his wife behind to carry on trading at the White Horse.

An engraving 1784, The Fashions of the Day by Rowlandson after H. Repton was published by her dated 1784.

She appears to have taken John Jeffreys into partnership in about 1785.

Messrs Bull and Jeffreys were still trading at 18 Ludgate hill in 1801 when the business folded.

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The Ham House Plaster Statuette of William Shakespeare.

1750's ?

probably John Cheere?

National Trust.

https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1139984

With Prospero's Speech on the scroll from the Tempest as on the Westminster Abbey monument.

From Jeremy Warrens Description on the NT website.

The statuette of William Shakespeare is one of three figures of famous English poets in the Library at Ham House, the others Edmund Spenser and John Milton (NT 1139985 and 1139983).

The three figures were bought in 1756 by Lionel Tollemache, 4th Earl of Dysart, who made significant additions to the house, including building the famous Ham Library, the books from which were sold in 1938.

The figures, particularly suitable subjects for a room devoted to books, are recorded in the Library in the 1844 inventory of Ham House, along with ‘Three plaister busts’ and two unspecified ‘fancy figures’, none of which are still at Ham.

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The Arniston House Plaster Statuette.

Almost certainly by John Cheere.

Height approx. 12"

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2016/01/

The attribution of the two statuettes (the second being an Hercules after Rysbrack's figure in the Pantheon at Stourhead), and at least the bust of Newton to Cheere is based on the fact that work on the the Library refurbishment at Arniston commenced in February 1756, when the alterations were made to the joinery and paint work and the busts were cleaned under the supervision of Edinburgh George Stevenson. Stevenson had worked for the Dundas family since the 1730's at their town house in Edinburgh, at Ormiston Hall in Lothian and at Arniston. The Library was repainted by James Norrie the Edinburgh house painter who invoiced for £14 14 8d for painting the library in "oil white" for March and April 1756. Norrie also gilded he capitals in library in1756.

I am very grateful to Henrietta Dundas for allowing me the opportunity to visit Arniston and to photograph the busts and statuettes in the upper library.

The Harris of the Strand Catalogue (in French) of 1777 of page 5, includes a statuette of Shakespeare Height 1' 8 " Price £2. 2s

Not to be confused with Harris's List.

Plaster Statues of Shakespeare in two sizes could be obtained from Messrs Shout of Holborn

https://english18thcenturyportraitsculpture.blogspot.com/2016/01/charles-harris-catalogue.html

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The Musee de Beaux Arts, Brussels, Plaster Statuette of Shakespeare.

51 cms

very low resolution photograph from

https://fine-arts-museum.be/fr/la-collection/john-cheere-atelier-de-projet-de-monument-a-shakespeare?artist=cheere-john-1

Currently this is the best photograph available.

The scroll is different from the Cheere versions illustrated above.

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In 1769 Mrs Landre supplied Wedgwood and Bentley with a "model of Shakespeare"

The Wedgwood modelling bills of 1769 Mrs. Landre's bill bearing the date of January 21st in that year, the sum of ten shillings is paid for the figures of Apollo and Daphne; and in September Theodore Parker is paid a trifling sum for a model of Shakespeare, and what is termed " A Boy A Couch." source Meteyard - it is unclear whether this payment was for a bust or figure.

..........................

For a very brief survey of the engraved portraits of Shakespeare see -

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2016/01/

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The Louvre Plaster Statuette of William Shakespeare.

35 cms.

https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010091684

Provenance - Atelier Samson.

The original provenance is unknown.

In the Louvre since 1981, paired with a statuette of John Milton.

At this stage of the researches it is impossible to date these figures.

This pair of plaster statuettes are of tangential interest - the Shakespeare is related to the Scheemakers model reproduced by John Cheere but it is a version by a different hand. The Milton is also close to the John Cheere statuette.

But a close comparison can be made with the Louvre statuette and the Derby Porcelain figures of Shakespeare and Milton which are frequently found together, particularly in the pronounced Rococo style bases.

For more on the John Cheere Statuettes of Milton see -

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-statuette-of-milton-by-john-cheere.html

The Louvre Statuette of John Milton.

Height 35 cms

https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010091685

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The National Portrait Gallery Derby Porcelain Statuette of Shakespeare.

c. 1770.

Height approx. 28.5 cms.

https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw292217

They do not give a size?!

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The Wood and Caldwell (1791 - 1818) Figure of Shakespeare after Scheemakers.

The Winterthur Museum Shakespeare.

Height 46.2 cms.

Initialled PV on the back of the Column.

From the 2015 Catalogue of Stockspring Antiques Formerly of Kensington Church St, London.

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The Kilmainham, Dublin Statue of Shakespeare.

Disappeared.

For another interesting and mysterious statue of Shakespeare formerly at Riversdale House, Kilmainham (demolished in 1969) see my previous blog post -

https://english18thcenturyportraitsculpture.blogspot.com/2015/12/statue-of-shakespear-riversdale-house.html

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Of Tangential Interest.

The Coadestone Statues of Shakespeare.

Coade - 1769 - 1840's.

Much of the factories original productions were designed and sculpted by John Bacon I.

For the Birkbeck College List and Photographs of the productions of the Coade Factory compiled by the indefatigable Alison Kelly see

https://www.jstor.org/site/birkbeck-university-of-london/coade-stone/?so=item_title_str_asc&searchkey=1727092995823&pagemark=eyJwYWdlIjo1LCJzdGFydCI6MTAwLCJ0b3RhbCI6NzcxfQ%253D%253D

For an excellent overview see -

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

I have no hesitation in recommending the productions and service of the present day Coade company

https://coade.co.uk/sculptures/

So far I have identified four versions of this model.

The Bonaly Edinburgh

The advocate and writer Lord Henry Cockburn installed the statue in the garden at Bonaly Tower, Edinburgh. It is in a curved recess in the boundary wall at west end of garden.

It came from the Theatre Royal at Shakespeare Square at the east end of Princes Street after it was demolished in 1860. It was originally acquired by John Jackson in the 1780s, along with accompanying figures of tragedy and comedy, for the theatre which had its last performance on May 25th. 1859. Photograph taken in the summer of 1981