The Capesthorne Hall, Cheshire, Coade Artificial Stone Chimneypiece.
Indented COADE LONDON 1790.
Shelf width - 2254 mm - 88 ¾ in.
The subject matter would suggest that it was originally in the family chapel.
After a fire and rebuilding, the fireplace was taken to Capesthorne in the 1860s from the family's house in Belgrave Square.
The building of Belgrave Square post-dates the fireplace by about 40 years and so it is quite possible that this fireplace was in the original Georgian Capesthorne.
The frieze with classical figures to centre, the end blockings with finely cast dove.
The jambs with classical figures and winged Putti masks and drapery
below. The shelf with Lion's masks, egg and dart moulding and stiff acanthus
leaves. The plinth block indented with "Coade, London. 1790".
Previously with Chelminski Gallery, Kings Road, London.
https://www.thornhillgalleries.co.uk/item/stock-number-2613/
notes -
The chapel at Capesthorne was built in 1722 to a design by John Ward and restored in 1886–88 by Mrs Augusta Bromley Davenport.
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Page from the 1784 Coade Catalogue.
1784 Catalogue No. 514. Sizes and price on page 23.
A Marble version of this Chimneypiece is at Goodwood House.
This image from the Catalogue at the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.
The Bretton Hall Chimneypiece.
Coade Catalogue no. 514 with different tablet.
Modelled by John Bacon I.
Christie's - Clifton Little Venice Sale - 6 June 1994 Lot 188.
A GEORGE III COADE STONE CHIMNEY-PIECE, the moulded shelf
edged with drapery swags, the frieze with raised oval centred by a
laurel-framed shield with the arms of Beaumont and Wentworth surrounded by
swaggged drapery held by a faun and baccante, the fireplace opening edged with
entrelac-and-rosette, signed COADE 1796 LONDON (damages to shelf), late 18th
Century
Provenance - Bretton Hall, West Yorkshire.
Previously an anonymous Sale, Christie's, London, 25 June 1987, lot 85.
The Tablet is indented Coade Lambeth 1796.
The new house was begun c.1720 for Sir William Wentworth, who is thought to have designed it himself with the assistance of Col. James Moyser of Beverley, a friend of Lord Burlington, who was also involved later at Nostell Priory.
The house was described in 1730 as 'now a-building' by
the Earl of Mar (then in exile on the continent), It was a nine by five bay block of two-and-a-half
storeys, with a low-pitched roof hidden behind a balustrade and sash windows
set in moulded architraves. Rather curiously, no surviving view seems to be
known of the house before late 18th century alterations.
The first major changes were made for Sir Thomas Wentworth (later Blackett) (d. 1792), who inherited his uncle's Northumberland estates. He brought in William Lindley of Doncaster, who in about 1790 rebuilt the detached kitchens north of the house as an L-shaped block of two storeys above a basement, linked to the house by a long corridor.
Blackett left the estate to
his illegitimate daughter, Diana, the formidable wife of Col. Thomas Richard
Beaumont (1758-1829), who spent a fortune on remodelling the house.
The rooms east and west of the staircase have later coved ceilings and dainty Adamesque decoration, and there is compelling evidence that at least the east one (the dining room in the 18th century but now called the breakfast room) was altered by John Carr in 1793 - 94.
Its rich plasterwork is very similar
to that at Farnley Hall (Yorks WR) and has monochrome medallions like those at
Farnley painted by Theodore de Bruyn.
The current house was built around 1720 by Sir William
Wentworth, assisted by the architect, Colonel James Moyser. Famously the
contents of the Henry VIII parlour would be incorporated into the new house.
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commemorating the peace between Great Britain and the United
States of America. Circa 1777–1791.
The carved Bacchante figures are depicted performing an
ecstatic dance upon two low plinths with crossed axes behind. The plinths are
decorated with leaves and flowers of the tobacco plant and rattlesnakes, both
of which are indigenous to the Americas. The central tablet depicts three
female allegorical figures: Minerva, Britannia and America, which commemorates
the peace and future harmonious relationship between Great Britain and the
United States of America, after the American War of Independence. According to
the family tradition of the previous owners, it belonged to Gouverneur Morris,
one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
This magnificent neoclassical chimneypiece, they suggest was designed by the renowned architect Samuel Wyatt, was carved John Bacon RA . Its vertical stiles feature a pair of beautifully dynamic Bacchante figures that derive from a work which Bacon exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1777.
Morris could have commissioned the work from John Bacon in 1790–91,
during his diplomatic mission to London, when he was sent by George Washington
to resolve some of the major issues that had arisen since the signing of the
Treaty.
There are several other known variations of this design - another is at Sir William Stanley’s residence of Hooton Hall, Cheshire.
There is another version of these chimneypieces located at number 38 Grosvenor Square, London, whose 1780s interior is attributed to Samuel Wyatt.
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The Pishiobury Chimneypiece (Marble - not Coade)
Another is in the lower part of the Hall at Pishiobury Park Mansion, Sawbridge near Hertford which was remodelled after fire by James Wyatt in 1782–3 in Gothic Revival style for Jeremiah III Milles (1751-1797). see Neale 1819, 2, 34, unpag;
Alison Kelly mentions a possible Coade stone chimneypiece in the recreation room at Pishiobury with a frieze of Corncopia, Scrolls and shinxes.
 |
Images below from the excellent Jamb
Made for Lord Irwin’s house, in Portman Square incorporates
figures representing the Muses of Drama and Music, after the models exhibited by
Bacon at the Royal Academy in 1777.
Restored by Messrs Melluish and Davis.
image below from their website -
Two further marble chimneypieces by John Bacon using similar designs.
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4 Elements from a Coade Chimneypiece.
Indented COADE LAMBETH DEL 1786.
From the Peter Hone sale by Lays lot 148 12 Oct. 2023
Bought from Messrs Jamb - sourced by them in the USA.
https://www.davidlay.co.uk/auction/lot/lot-148---eleanor-coade-1733--1821/?lot=116667&sd=1
The Octagon House, also known as the Colonel John Tayloe III House, is located at 1799 New York Avenue, Northwest in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
It was built in 1799 for John Tayloe III, the wealthiest planter in the country, at the behest of his new family member George Washington, as his sister Sarah Tayloe married William Augustine Washington, son of Gen. Washington's half brother Augustine Washington Jr.
In
September 1814, after British forces burnt the White House during the War of
1812, Tayloe, for six months, lent the Octagon House to United States president
James Madison and first lady Dolley Madison to serve as the Executive Mansion.
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Mrs Coade at the Society of Artists.
1774 - No 53 - A Chimneypiece in Artificial Stone for a nobleman's hall from a design of Mr Johnson's.
For a new and fairly in depth look at John Johnson and his relationships with John Bacon and Mrs Coade see -
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2026/10/john-johnson-coade-and-shire-hall.html
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The Bacon Chimneypieces and the Royal Academy.
The thesis by .. has been very useful here
https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/14231/1/639415.pdf
In 1775 Bacon exhibited a Venus and Minerva in Artificial Stone (Coade) and a marble chimneypiece at the Royal Academy. The whereabouts of this chimneypiece are not clear but the description strongly suggests that it is the Duke of Richmonds Chimneypiece in the Tapestry Room at Goodwood.
Bacon's Chimney-piece received significant critical praise - one reviewer going as far as to state that the piece was evidence of how well British art had developed under the auspices of the Royal Academy, claiming,
“There never was, since the institution of this Academy, a
better performance of a whole length in marble than the chimney-piece by this
Gentleman. The idea is simple, the attitudes elegant, the characters modern,
becoming, and beautiful, and the drapery easy and naturaL ..
It is impossible for any but an artist to conceive the very
great difficulty that attends the execution of a piece of this kind; and. therefore
the connoisseurs admire it, and the vulgar judge sees nothing but nature”.
Middlesex Journal or Chronicle of Liberty - Tuesday April
25th - Thursday 27th, 1775.
Also in Morning Post - Thursday April 27th, 1775.
Another critic in the Morning Chronicle, stated that
"The two Marble figures, which support the Chimney Piece, are excellent in their kinds, both as to the Characters of the Heads, and the Disposition of the Limbs and Drapery: The Drapery which hangs infestoons over the fire-place is likewise well executed; but there is perhaps some Degree of Impropriety in hanging any Drapery there at all".
Morning Chronicle - Wednesday April 26th, 1775, p.2. repeated in the Public Advertiser - Saturday May 6th, 1775.
When Bacon attempted to exhibit a second chimneypiece in
1786 his entry faced significant opposition centred around the title he had
given to his work. He had originally submitted the piece under the simple title
of Chimney-piece. However, this description was condemned by the Academy who
felt it insufficiently elevated the work.
Bacon replied to the Academy claiming that 'the subject of it is, two Nymphs holding a festoon of flowers over a sleeping Cupid (in marble)' and that he was 'very sorry that his not mentioning the subject and only saying it was a chimney piece, may have caused any doubts respecting its admission' .( Letter from John Bacon to the Royal Academy', (22nd April, 1786), Minutes of the Council of the Royal Academy (1785-1798), (RA archives).
Bacon further
qualified his position stating that he hoped the 'situation puts him above the
suspicion of urging any point which he conceives to be inconsistent with Spirit
or the interests of the Academy' .106
The council of the Academy responded to Bacon with a
resolution that 'the council have no Objection to receiving Mr Bacon's Work
provided the word Chimney-piece, be lifted out, and that it be introduced under
another Title' .
Eventually exhibited under the title Marble,' Two Nymphs holding Festoons.
The Goodwood House Chimneypiece.
The Chimneypiece was carved by John Bacon I for the Duke of Richmond in 1777. The design is related to the Bacon Coade Chimneypiece.
Photographs here taken by the Author.
I am very grateful to all at Goodwood for making my visit so memorable.
Venus.
Illustration to 'Philosophical Transaction' by Royal Society
of Arts (1787); state before title and Palmer's name.
After Bacon.
Bartolozzi.
British Museum.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0822-1369
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A Marble Panel from a Chimneypiece attributed to John Bacon I.
114.3 x 22.9 x 6.7 cm.
St Louis Art Museum. USA.
The panel shows Calliope, the daughter of the ancient Greek
god Zeus and Mnemosyne, who was the chief of the Muses. Known as the
inspiration for Homer’s poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, Calliope holds a
scroll indicating her role as the muse of epic poetry.
Not very helpful Provenance -
Where is the rest of it??
Purchased 1966 - from Michael Hall Fine Arts, Inc.
https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/5650/
.........
of tangential interest
Chimneypiece Clock by John Bacon I.
102.0 x 83.0 x 33.0 cm.
The dial is flanked by figures of Vigilance and Patience.
The figure of Vigilance holds a profile medallion of Father Time and has a
cockerel at his side. The figure of Patience gazes at a potted plam.
Both the chimney and clock case were moved to Windsor Castle following King George IV’s radical rebuilding of Buckingham House in the 1820s.
The quotation below is taken from William Cowper’s Latin
Poems: 'QUÆ LENTA ACCEDIT QUAM VELOX PRÆTERIT HORA! UT CAPIAS PATIENS ESTO, SED
ESTO VIGIL' [Slow comes the hour, its passing speed how great! Waiting to seize
it - Vigilantly wait.]. According to a letter from Cowper to Lady Hesketh,
dated 9 August, 1788, Cowper prepared two mottoes for approval by John Bacon,
the sculptor, who made the final selection of which was to appear on the clock.
Windsor Castle.
https://www.rct.uk/collection/30009/wall-clock
The clock has echoes with the Coade Clock (see image below).
https://www.rct.uk/collection/2935674/marble-mantlepiece-queens-presencenbspchamber-windsor-castle
James Stephanoff (1789-1874).
Buckingham House: The Saloon in 1818.
Watercolour and bodycolour over pencil | 21.0 x 25.1 cm
(sheet of paper) | RCIN 922141
The Saloon was the largest room in Buckingham House and
occupied the first and second floor in the centre of the entrance front of the
house, immediately above the Entrance Hall. George III’s works in the 1760s may
have involved a complete reconstruction of this room: as shown in this view, it
is the work of a combination of the King’s architects - Robert Adam, William
Chambers, John Yenn and probably also James ‘Athenian’ Stuart.
The site of George III’s Saloon is now occupied by Nash’s
Green Drawing Room. The chimneypiece, still surmounted by the same white marble
clock - with figures of Vigilance and Patience, carved by John Bacon the elder
in 1789 - is now in the Queen’s Presence Chamber at Windsor Castle.
The Chimney piece. Letter to Col. MacKenzie from John Bacon,
(sculptor) (1740 -1799). he apologises for the delay over the chimney piece and
outlines the problems.
1796 GD46/17/4/page 337.
