The Coade Stone Polyphemus Group from the Grotto by the Lake at Fonthill.
a work in progress.
Originally displayed with a group of Acis and Galatea in 1799 at the Coade Gallery at the Manufactory in Narrow Wall, Lambeth. It appears to have been moved to the Coade Gallery at Westminster Bridge Road after 1801 and later in about 1727 moved to the Coade / Croggan Gallery in the New Road (Euston Road).
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The Grottos at Fonthill.
Fonthill Grottoes is a 0.69 hectare biological Site of
Special Scientific Interest, in woodland adjacent to Fonthill Lake in
Wiltshire, notified in 1994. Its SSSI designation is due to its roosting bats:
the site is the sixth largest hibernaculum in Britain.
The site consists of three subterranean grotto follies,
constructed in the 18th century, split between two areas, one on the western
side of the lake, at grid reference ST933316 and one on the eastern side at
grid reference ST937315.
It has been assumed that the grottos were constructed circa 1790, perhaps by Josiah Lane of Tisbury,
for William Beckford, but Caroline Dakers has found evidence that much of the construction was initiated by his father Alderman Beckford (d.1770).
Quotes below from Dakers - Fonthill recovered -
"Alderman Beckford’s contribution to Fonthill can now be
established on firmer foundations, and works often attributed to his son
returned to him with certitude. His Hermitage and subterraneous tunnel probably
represent Joseph Lane’s first commission, one that would evolve into the
creation – with his son, Josiah – of the highly elaborate and wondrous grottoes
that still delight us today. The Alderman’s making of the ‘serpentine
river’, his extensive planting, and the addition of various ornamental features
also defined the eighteenth-century Fonthill Park".
The first description, made by Edward Knight junior (d.
1812), the eldest son of a leading Midlands ironmaster, dates to 3 or 4 July
1761:
"Fonthill – Beckford’s Rustic Gateway — New-House 140 by 650
__Coll.de 10 pairs of P.s join the house & offices. —— Ionic Port. 4 P.s 16
In Diamr__Int.n 4..6–5..9 –4..6 behind a room 14 by 28 – View of the Water,
Bridge &c. Shrubry ab 3 Miles round — Subterraneous passage – Umbrella Seat
– Rockwork — Church –— Doric Rottond 8 P.s 22 In. D.r Interc.n 5..3_3 mutules –
view to the House, water, lawn &c __Boat_House & Rockwork".
Knight here describes the grounds to the west of the river (see 1880's OS Maps below), making
an anticlockwise circuit: subterraneous clearly indicates a passage going below
ground, rather than an arched passageway above; the ‘Umbrella Seat’ must have
been nearby, perhaps on top of the rockwork that would correspond to the
Hermitage.
The second description, written in the summer of 1766,
possibly comes from the architect James Essex:
"M.r Beckford’s House was not finish’d, but appeared to be
intended as magnificent as most in England … The Bed Chambers particularly
grand. … You ascend a Flight of steps to the House, which bring you under an
Ionic Colonnade – the Offices are united with the House by a Piazza of the
Doric Order. __
The Chimney Pieces in the the [sic] Work of Moore of London,
cost 400£ each – Caryatides support the entablature.
There are two very fine Rooms, one intended for Music, in
which there is an Alcove for the Organ, the other for a Picture Gallery. … The
Garden are [sic] pretty – there is a subterraneous Grot winding 30 yards. ___
The Hermitage adorn’d with Shells and Spars, is well imagined.
The lower grotto on
the edge of the lake with a low entrance partly under water and several higher
entrances from the bank; rocky structure with niches at different levels and
tunnels between the entrances to large central chamber with former cascade to
rear.
A second group of grottoes higher up the bank have several entrances at
different levels to rocky tunnels and central chamber with ovoid ashlar-lined
bowl, probably originally to hold a reservoir to supply the cascade of the
lower grotto. Josiah Lane of Tisbury was an important builder of grottoes for
country estates in Wiltshire, also see the grotto at Wardour and at Stourhead.
The three follies are named "The Dark Walks",
"The Hermitage" and "The Quarry".
One of the best descriptions of Beckford’s early
achievements comes in 1791 from a Dutch visitor, Baron Johan Frederik Willem
van Spaen van Biljoen:
"The parkland matches the house both in beauty and elegance –
nowhere have we seen finer lawns so well maintained and of such large expanse
stretching over the hillsides, with the valley occupied by a large river which
flows over a fine waterfall of some 25 to 30 ft; there are several grottoes cut
in the living rock; to achieve this effect, very tasteful use has been made of
the quarries which furnished the building materials for the house; the entrance
to these grottoes is masked with creepers. There are also some artificial
grottoes, a particularly fine one with a cold bath [Figure 14.9] and another
where the water seeping from the top was forming stalactites. Men were occupied
in levelling the irregularities of a hill so that the slope was swarming with a
quantity of workmen, who, taken together with a flock of some 200 or 300 sheep,
greatly animated a landscape already very picturesque in itself".
Redding, Memoirs of William Beckford at Fonthill vol. II, 97.g 1859 wrote that ‘the east bank was ornamented with rocks,
caverns, baths, and grottoes in the taste of the earlier part of the century
see -
I have quoted liberally here from the excellent Fonthill Recovered...edited by Caroline Dakers pub. 2018 - available on line at - https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10048421/1/Fonthill-Recovered.pdf
Chaper 14 - page 247 The landscape at Fonthill - An assessment of the grottoes and their builders by Michael Cousins
or individual chapters at -
https://www.ucldigitalpress.co.uk/Book/Article/68/92/5083/
https://ucldigitalpress.co.uk/Book/Article/68/92/5126/
https://ucldigitalpress.co.uk/Book/Article/68/92/5130/
The landscape at Fonthill
An assessment of the grottoes and their builders
Michael Cousins
For a brief video of the Hermitage see -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt-DGxqe0i0
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Polyphemus.
https://ucldigitalpress.co.uk/Book/Article/68/92/5083/
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The Knees of Polyphemus are shown in the Water colour drawing by Charles Tompkins (1757 - 1823).
Signed and dated 1801.
British Museum.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_G-1-234
The Fonthill Polyphemus Left Leg.
35 in. (89 cm.) high; 26 in. (66 cm.) deep.
Christie's say modelled by Stephen Pettifer but it appears to me to be the original leg!
https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5694138?ldp_breadcrumb=back
sold at The Dunsborough Park sale.
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The Water colour drawing of the Coade Manufactory by Charles Tompkins.
Signed and dated 1801.
This drawing appears to show the legs of the statue of Polyphemus (illustrated below) which was later set up in the Westminster Bridge showroom before being sold to the Fonthill Estate in the sale of 1843.
Note the statue of Polyphemus which was retrieved from the Fonthill estate along with the much smaller group of Acis and Galatea by John Robbins when he was working for Talisman Antiques of Gillingham,
It is a great shame that thes pieces were split up - at the time Talisman were unaware of the relationship of the two groups of Acis and Galatea and Polyphemus and I didn't make the connection until later when the small group had been sold - where is it now?.
See the photographs and notes on the Poyphemus.
The watercolour also shows a pair of felines on rusticated plinths and a pair of Herm / Term type busts and a very large pair of female figures.
British Museum.
see - Fonthill Recovered... Professor Caroline Dakers pub. UCL 2018 available on line -
https://www.ucldigitalpress.co.uk/Book/Article/68/92/5083/
It appears in the 1799 catalogue where it was to form the ‘coup de theatre’ at the new Coade Gallery by Westminster Bridge Road, Lambeth with a fulsome description in the visitor’s guidebook of 1799 - but if the signed and dated watercolour by Tompkins is to be believed it was still in the Narrow Walls premises in 1801.
"this stupendous design is conceived at the moment when Polyphemus discovers, from the summit of the rock, the nymph Galatea with his rival Acis, upon whom, in his fury, he hurls a fragment of stone, and kills him. This work occupies a space of 20 feet in height by 12 ft in width, the Polyphemus is a statue of 10 ft. 6 ins, a cave is formed in the rock, at the entrance of it lays the Acis and Galatea, much larger than life".
The figure was perhaps designed by John de Vaere (d. 1830) possibly? in circa 1798 - 99 when de Vaere was active with the Coade manufactory. It was not mentioned in the Coade catalogues of 1784. In 1799 John Bacon died, he had been the chief designer and supervisor of the firm from 1771 and a close associate until his death.
Bacon was replaced by de Vaere who is cited in the new guidebook, '[de Vaere] is now constantly engaged at the Manufactory in its various branches of statuary &tc.’ (Coade’s Gallery, 1799)
In 1787 de Vaere had been employed by Josiah Wedgwood to make models from the Antique under the supervision of the sculptor, John Flaxman, R.A. (d. 1826), an experience which would have ably equipped him for the role at Coade.
Extract from the Somerset House Gazette 1824.
The reference to Acis and Galatea and Polyphemus.
These statues were sold to JB Papworth for James Morrison and erected at the Fonthill Estate in Wiltshire after 1843.
Acquired from the Rushworth & Jarvis auction of the stock of the Coade Artifcial Stone Manufactory, Lambeth on 23 July 1843, by architect J.B. Papworth, (d. 1847) on behalf of James Morrison (d. 1859), for 16 guineas and subsequently removed to The Pavillion, Fonthill Estate, Wiltshire, and thence by descent from James Morrison to his great, great, great grandson.
Alastair Morrison, 3rd Baron Margadale, from whom along with a small group of Acis and Galatea acquired by Talisman Antiques of Gillingham.
In their wisdom the smaller group of Acis and Galatea were sold separately! When I learn't of its existance I contacted Talisman with the history of the figures somehow my input was never recognised - but I'm not bitter!
It is possible that the missing vandalised fragments are still in the lake at Fonthill - the head of Poyphemus would be a fantastic discovery.
https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5838449
"On 20 July 1843, J.B. Papworth, architect and designer to James Morrison ('the richest commoner in England’), advised him of several lots in a sale of the stock of the Coade Artifical Stone Manufactory that was to begin the following day, 21 July 1843, by Rushworth & Jarvis, and of the suitability of ' Polyphemus Acis and Galatea’ for the Pavilion at Fonthill, Morrison’s preferred summer retreat.
'At Coade’s in the Belvedere Road there are works that would suit your objects – some for indoor and some out. ... The Polyphemus Acis and Galatea in the third days sale – this will probably be sold for a small sum – for its taking down removing & repair will be a considerable draw back to biddings for it – The Giant would certainly perform well over the covered way at the Landing, Fonthill & the Acis & Galataea [sic] in the Cavern of the Rookery".
Quote below from Christies Catalogue entry -
-The cluster of grottos located around the serpentine lake or 'river’ in the grounds of the Pavilion had been commissioned by Alderman Beckford in circa 1749; the grottos had excited the imagination and works of his son, William, but by Morrison’s tenure were virtually in ruins (T. Mowl, 'Inside Beckford’s Landscape of the Mind’, Country Life, 7 February 2002, p. 60).
Papworth created a grand landing stage on the east side of the lake that led to the first of three grottos, which is presumably the landing refered to by Papworth in his letter to Morrison of 20 July 1843. Interestingly, the architectural historian, Timothy Mowl, describes what may be the present figure, and another figure, probably Galatea, on a visit he made to the grottos in the late 20th century, 'Relics of some abandoned garden project by the Alderman, half-finished stone statues, a naked god and a broken nymph they lie there in the dark’ (op. cit., p. 62).
Catalogue of the surplus and splendid collection of sculpture, in Coade's imperishable stone, comprising a magnificent colossal group of Polypheme with Acis & Galatea, Apollo Belvidere, Gladiators, Venus, ... and a great variety of other works; also about thirty excellent marble chimney pieces, ... which will be sold by auction, by Mr. W.R. Croggon, on the premises, Palace Row, New Road, opposite to Tottenham Court Road, on Wednesday, July 30, 1834, and following day, at twelve o'clock, by order of the proprietors, who, in consequence of the above premises being disposed of, are removing to their Manufactory Belvidere Road. Lambeth.
The closest I can find for the original source for the design of this group is the engraving of the painting by Pompeo Batoni of 1761.
and the subsequent engraving.
National Museum of Stockholm.
Sold 23 May 1780, Lot 43 by AJ Paillet and subsequently in 1868 Druot
The engraving below shows that the original by Batoni was with Jacques-Laure Le Tonnelier (1723–1785), Bailli de Breteuil, who was the Knights of Malta’s ambassador to the Holy See in Rome from 1758 and, subsequently, to the French court from 1778.
It is conceivable that the original composition came from the original painting by Pompeo Batoni. The closest I can find to a source for the design of this group is the painting by Pompeo Batoni of 1761.and the subsequent engraving.
National Museum of Stockholm.
Sold 23 May 1780, Lot 43 by AJ Paillet and subsequently in 1868 Druot in Paris.
The engraving below shows that the original by Batoni was with Jacques-Laure Le Tonnelier (1723–1785), Bailli de Breteuil, who was the Knights of Malta’s ambassador to the Holy See in Rome from 1758 and, subsequently, to the French court from 1778.
A Preparatory Drawing? is in Museu Nacional del Belas Artes. Rio de Janiero, Brazil.
The painting by Batoni in turn appears to be derived from Annibale Carracci's frescoes of Polyphemus, located in the Galleria Farnese in Rome (painted between 1597 and 1607).
A 19th Century Danish terracotta of Polyphemus.
Biscuit porcelain tinted in imitation of red terracotta.
Marked "P. Ipsen, Kjøbenhavn. Eneret" and number "406" (?).
Height: 47 cm. Width: 11 cm. Depth: 21,5 cm.
Produced by the P. Ipsens Enke factory founded in Copenhagen, Denmark by Peter Ipsen (d.1860) in 1843.
The factory enjoys international success with its reproductions of the great models of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture.
The company won awards at international exhibitions and opens boutiques in its name in Paris and London at 110 New Bond St.
For the very comprehensive Ipsen Catalogue of 1886 in German see -
https://www.kb.dk/e-mat/cop/pamphlets/dasmaa//pamphlets-dasmaa-2012-jul-smaatryk-object64287.pdf
This statuette was almost certainly based on the Coade original sold at auction in 1843 and gives us some idea of how the 10 tall statue originally appeared.
The lack of the third eyeball but the appearance of the eye socket in the middle of the forehead is interesting.
Who knows - it might be possible to have the missing pieces modelled and united with the torso!
Page 40 from the Ipsen Catalogue of 1885.
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Polyphemus and Acis and Galatea
Vignette of Galatea; on the right, Polyphème seated on a
rock, playing Pan flute; on the left, Acis and Galatea embracing each other on
beach; sea behind them; after Cipriani; illustration to 'Opere di Pietro
Metastasio' by Pietro Metastasio (Paris: V Hérissant, 1780-2); proof before
letters. 1783
Engraved by Francesco
Bartolozzi after Giovanni Battista Cipriani
British Museum.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1897-1231-215
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The Fonthill Grottos
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The Coade Lion and Tiger (in the Charles Tompkins watercolour dated 1801 above).
This tiger was sold at the Dunsborough Park sale by Christie's - Lot 50 - 20 June 2013.
The Tiger is illustrated in the book of Coade's etchings which correspond to those listed in the 1784 Descriptive Catalogue of Coade's Artificial Stone Manufactory, Section I, Statues, p.4, No.59, Tiger, £8/8/0d.
Alison Kelly, discusses a Tiger and its Companion in Tehidy Park, Cornwall which have since disappeared.
According to Mrs Coade in her Gallery handbook, the Tiger, sitting up like a cat, was modelled from life by John Bacon, the Coade Manufactory's principle modeller and designer. The model cost 8 guineas and sat about 3ft 6ins high..
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