35 in. (89 cm.) high; the plinth 11 in. (28 cm.) square.
Possibly removed from a Fuerary Monument.
I an find no other examples.
This very fine piece would certainly have benefited with a good wash.
Where is it now??
Saturday, 14 November 2026
Friday, 13 November 2026
Is this a portrait of Eleanor Coade by John Downman (1750 - 1824)?
John Downman sometimes spelled Dowman.
A very recent search of the new National Trust collection website came up with two portraits described as of Mrs Coade by John Downman at Mompesson House, Salisbury.
The first (no.1 here) is a distinct possibility. The second definitely not!
1. A Portrait of Mrs Coade. A framed pastel drawing, signed 'Downman, 1806'.
Size 330 x 267 mm.
Inventory number - NT 724310
Downman had moved briefly to Plymouth, Devon in 1806 - where he got married. unfortunately his wife died in 1808.
https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/Details/museum/433678
Portrait Suggested as Eleanor Coade (1733 - 1821).
She would have been 73 if this very fine portrait is of her.
I can find no other versions.
..........................
2. Called on the NT Collection website Portrait of Mrs Coade.
It is not Mrs Coade but a version of The Huntington Library Portrait by Downman of Mrs Coll. Hall.
Framed, pastel, signed 'Downman,
1806'.
Inventory number - NT 724311
330 x 267 mm.
This portrait is presumably Ann Kent the wife of Colonel Robert Hall (1753 - 1836) of the Devon and Cornwall Fencible Regiment (raised in 1791 and disbanded in 1802).
They had twelve Children, nine were baptised in Topsham, all were born in Topsham between the years 1791 and 1807 and three in Ireland where the regiment had been posted.
He married Ann Kent at Topsham, Devon on 6 April 1790.
Note - Mustered in 1794 by Colonel Robert Hall, with its headquarters at the Salutation Inn, Topsham the Devonshire and Cornwall Fencible Regiment was one of a number of volunteer regiments - see The Forgotten Army: Fencible Regiments of Great Britain 1793 - 1816 - set up for domestic defence during the War of the First Coalition.
Their role was somewhat equivalent to the Home Guard of World War 2, but they were more mobile, and many Fencible regiments did see action; the Devonshire and Cornwall Fencibles, for instance, were stationed in Ireland during the 1798 Rebellion.
info initially culled from The Western Antiquary; Or, Devon and Cornwall Note-book Volume 1. 1882 pages 104/105.
see - https://jsbookreader.blogspot.com/2010/10/samuel-carter-hall-visits-topsham.html
https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/Details/museum/433679
.......................
The Huntington Library Portrait of Mrs Coll. Hall.
John Downman.
Date1806.
Medium pencil, black and red chalk
Dimensions12 1/2 × 10 in. (31.8 × 25.4 cm.) mat: 22 × 16 in.
(55.9 × 40.6 cm.)
Inscribed on mount: Mrs. Coll. Hall 1806 / Plymouth Dock.
https://emuseum.huntington.org/people/210/john-downman/objects
...........................
To confuse issues Downman produced several portraits of Mrs Anne Croad in 1806.
Whilst drawn in 1806 the name Croad shouldn't be confused with Coade.
The Huntington Library Portrait of Anne Croad. (The Determined Widow).
Medium black stump touched with red.
Dimensions11 × 8 3/4 in. (27.9 × 22.2 cm.)
Friends of Huntington Art Gallery 1959 given to; Huntington
Library & Art Gallery, San Marino
Huntington Library, San Marino California.
.jpg)
Portrait of Mrs Ann Croad (the determined widow) at Princeton University Art Museum.
88.2 x 66 cm (34 3/4 x 26 in.) frame: 116.8 x 94 x 9.5 cm
(46 x 37 x 3 3/4 in.)
Signed and dated, lower right: Jo Downman | 1806
This monumental mixed-media drawing shows Ann Croad in elegant mourning attire, her arm around her only child, who shows off her sketchbook, signifying the important role that drawing played in the education of young ladies.
Mrs. Croad was called the Determined Widow due to her resolution to carry on her husband’s construction business after his death in 1800, when she was only twenty-three.
The Greek inscription on the funerary urn—oket esti (he is no more)—both refers to the departed husband and adds an air of classical refinement to the scene.
The coastline behind the sitters
represents Plymouth, a thriving port town which provided Downman with an
upscale clientele.
...................
Here is not the place for any sort of in depth study of Downman but here a is a brief biography and some links for anyone who wishes to take this study further -
Earlier works assumed Downman was born in 1750 near Ruabon
in Denbighshire where he first went to school; however it is now known he was
baptised on 12 September 1749 at Eynesbury in Huntingdonshire, adjacent to St
Neots. After his early schooling in Ruabon, and then briefly in Liverpool, he
attended finally the Royal Academy Schools, and was for a while in the studio
of Benjamin West.
Downman set off in 1773 with Joseph Wright of Derby, a
pregnant Ann Wright and Richard Hurleston for Italy.
After returning from Italy he settled down for a while in Cambridge (1777), eventually moving to London, where he contributed to various art exhibitions.
He exhibited 148 works in the Royal Academy between 1769 and
1819, mainly portraits, but often fancy subjects, such as 'Rosalind,' painted
for the Shakespeare Gallery; 'The Death of Lucretia; The Priestess of Bacchus;'
'Tobias;' 'Fair Rosamond;' 'The Return of Orestes;' 'Duke Robert,' etc. In 1795
he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy.
His first work at the Royal Academy (1769) was A small portrait in oil,' and the last (1819), A late Princess personifying Peace crowning the glory of England reflected on Europe, 1815.
In 1884 the trustees of the British Museum acquired, by purchase, a volume containing numerous coloured drawings by Downman, among which were several portraits, now separately mounted.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/search?agent=John%20Downman
He also left several volumes of exquisite drawings, executed in red and black chalk, of which Ralph Neville Grenville published a catalogue (Taunton, 1865).
Engravings
were also made by Bartolozzi and others. Many of his portraits have attached to
them remarks of considerable importance respecting the persons represented.
The eminent art historian Ellis Waterhouse said this of
Downman: "mainly distinguished as the prettiest and most elegant of
portrait painters of his age in chalk and watercolours" .. to which I would add - and also in pencil".
In 1804 he
moved to the village of West Malling in Kent In 1806, Downman visited Plymouth
in the West Country, between 1807 and 1808 he practised at Exeter, afterwards
working in London for some years, settling at
Chester in 1818-19, then finally moving to Wrexham, where his only
daughter married and where he died on 24 December 1824.
For an old and now long out of date biography of Downman but nevertheless very useful see -
John Downman; His life and works. With a catalogue of his drawings.
by Williamson, George Charles, 1858-1942.
Published Otto, Ltd., London, 1907. available on line at -
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008693012?__cf_chl_tk=PCdYDuG52a5JHhJ7L7PI.7JR3qK5T56WFH0CJT6JzRM-1794581327-1.0.1.1-zZ19d6LNXujAcg59eS9iFYCCSfl.zuL41S00es0Y2PE
......................
Downman was a very prolific artist - sometimes producing several versions of a portrait at the same time.
.........................
...........................
https://photoarchive.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk/search/Downman
......................
Unfortunately this project which started off with such good intentions appears to have run out of steam before completion.
https://artuk.org/discover/artists/downman-john-17491824
..............
Downman at the V and A.
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?page=1&page_size=50&q=John+Downman
.....................
Thomas Williams.
Portrait sketch by John Downman, 1816.
Now in the Tate Gallery.
Perhaps an indication of Downman's Politics - but included here because it is a beautiful and sensitive portrait.
Inscribed Thos Williams a sailor Liverpool October 13th
1815 - burnt umber and. .. . Perfecctly expresses the complexion of a negro;
Sketch used in watercolour: ""Mr Wilberforce abolishing the Slave
Trade."
Image below from the Paul Mellon Centre Photographic Archive.
............................
A Portrait of An Anonymous Young Lady in a Feathered Hat.
John Downman.
Size without frame 23 x 19 cms.
Mc Ewan Gallery.
I have adapted some of their post for my brief biography above.
https://www.mcewangallery.com/artworks/
Bridge of Gairn (on A939) Ballater, Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire AB35 5UB
https://www.mcewangallery.com/artworks/957-john-downman-ara-young-lady-in-a-feather-hat/
https://www.mcewangallery.com/artworks/957-john-downman-ara-young-lady-in-a-feather-hat/
Thursday, 12 November 2026
The Coade Artificial Stone Reliefs of Alfred and Ethelred at Keddleston - Some Notes
The medallions are derived from moulds produced by 'Bridges of Knightsbridge', an artificial stone manufacturer whose stock-in-trade was auctioned by Christie's on 26 May 1775.
On 26 May 1775, Bridge's stock-in-trade, consisting of ‘a
great Variety of Statues, Vases, Bustos, and various kinds of Ornaments in
Artificial Stone’ was sold by Messrs Christie, on the occasion of his ‘quitting
that Branch of Business’ (Public Ad, 24 May 1775, 4).
Among the lots sold
were medallions of the kings Alfred and Ethelred (8, 9); busts of Homer and
Pitt (6, 7), statues of Ceres, Flora and Samson (2, 3, 5) and statuettes of
Rubens and Van Dyck (4). A number of the lots, including a statue of a druid
(1), were purchased by Eleanor Coade (see Coade Factory, of Lambeth). She also
bought the Knightsbridge factory itself, for in December 1778 she announced
that she intended to sell all the equipment of ‘Mrs COADE’s Manufactory at
Knightsbridge ... the Whole to be sold extremely cheap, on Account of clearing
the Premises, the Business being carried on at King’s Arms’ Stairs, Lambeth’
(Daily Ad, 24 December 1778). Some of Bridges’s moulds appear to have remained
in use at the Coade factory, including those for the statue of a druid, which
Bridges himself had probably acquired indirectly from George Davy of Spitalfields who appears to have taken over the Goulston Square business of Daniel Pincot
https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/Details/museum/107263
She reused Bridges' moulds at her factory, including moulds
of the medallions of Alfred and Æthelred and the Druid (see 'A descriptive catalogue of
Coade's artificial stone manufactory[...]', 1784, p. 15, Medallions, no. 298,
[Head of] Alfred and no. 299 [Head of] Ethelred').
For other Coade Stone at Kedleston see the signed copies of
the Borghese and Medici Vases after the antique (NT 109017.1 and 109017.2) and
a pair of recumbent deer (NT 109016.1 and 109016.2).
The medallions were installed in Caesar's Hall sometime
after 1769 as they are not listed in the 'Catalogue of the pictures, statues,
&c. at Kedleston' published that year. They do, however, appear in a
hand-written annotation in the so-called 'House Keeper's Book' of 1787 (held at
Kedleston Hall) which was used by the then housekeeper Mrs. Garnett as she
carried out guided tours of Kedleston Hall.
Portraits of both kings were probably loosely based on
engravings: Æthelred II after an engraved portrait said to derive from a
'scarce coin' (see British Museum, London, 1943,0410.573), Alfred from an
engraving by George Vertue made for Rapin's 'History of England' (British
Museum, London, 1935,0522.3.74) which was reused by Benoist for Smollett's
History of England, 1757 (British Museum, London, 1874,1010.80).
Bust of Homer .
Flora Statue
Samson
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2015/11/a-pair-of-statuettes-of-rubens-and-van.html and the following essays.
Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 61; Valpy 1986, 217-8,
222; Kelly 1990, 34, 44-5, 134
Auction Catalogues: Bridges 1775; Coade Factory 1779.
Pincot and Davy of Goulston Square, Spitalfields, Smith and Bridges of Knightsbridge, and the Coade Artificial Stone Manufactory of Lambeth. Some Notes.
The Radcliffe Obsrvatory Sculpture - Part 4.
Some thoughts on the Artificial Stone Reliefs on the Ground Floor Facade.
This post was inspired by an e mail message from Geoffrey Walford discussing the Artificial Stone reliefs on the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford.
It had previously been assumed that the Relief Panels and Paterae on the ground floor were made of Coade's Artificial Stone but Geoffrey Walford has suggested (given the uneven weathering) that they might have been supplied by another manufacturer.
Building on the observatory complex began in 1772 under the direction of
architect Henry Keene, who until recently was credited with only to have only
been responsible for the adjoining directors house.
It now seems that he remained in charge of the building
work until his death in 1776.
I will go through some of the pros and cons but consider it unlikely that these rondels and reliefs came from another manufacturer but it is not an impossibility!
Messrs Smith and Bridges of Knightsbridge were producing Artificial Stone in the early 1770's before the business was subsumed by Messrs Coade - the Knightsbridge premises, machinery etc and remaining stock were sold off in December 1778 (Daily Advertiser).
Smith and Bridges had bought the Artficial Stone moulds at a sale of the assets of George Davy of Goulston Square Spitalfields.
In 1767 George Davy had purchased the assets or had some sort of business partnership with Daniel Pincot of Goulston square before Pincot relocated to Lambeth.
John Bacon I seems to have had some sort of relationship wiyth all these concerns before taking over the running of the Coade Manufactory in 1771.
.............................
A very useful source of information on the building of the observatory -
https://georgiangroup.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GGJ_2000_10_TYACK.pdf
......................
The rectangular relief appears in the 1784 Coade Artificial Stone Catalogue of 1784.
No. 786 with sizes added in ink 4ft 11ins x 3ft 3ins. The price added in ink - 5 guineas.
I have been using the annotated Coade Catalogue in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris available in excellent high resolution.
It is odd that the Catalogue Price and Size l
List finishes at no 778 (see extract below) when several pieces are illustrated in the engravings including our relief have later (786) stock numbers in ink.
I havn't inspected these pieces at close quarters - when I visited Oxford on a mission to photograph the two original lead figures (Carpentiere? not van Nost?) and another replacement from the Clarendon Building which were on display in the Weston Library - the Observatory was completely clad in scaffolding.
This has prompted me to return to the subject of Coade's competitors in the 1760/70s.
I believe that these four reliefs were manufactured as three separate pieces, two main sections and with small round flower petal paterae.
A variation of these reliefs was used at Croome
......................
The Paterae on the Radcliffe Observatory, no 334 in the Coade Catalogue of 1784.
Page from the Coade Catalogue of 1784. at the Bibliotheque Nationale.
The Engraving is dated Nov. 1777.
.......................
Reliefs from the Collection of Peter Hone.
Sold Christies South Ken 16 October 2016.
Showing the use of the seperate paterae
...........................
Daniel Pincot (d.1797), John Bacon, Smith and Bridges of Knightsbridge and Artificial Stone.
John Bacon's Trade Card.
At Mr Pincot's in Paternoster Row, Spitalfields.
Presumably before the Pincot business removed to Goulston Square, Spitalfields
Image below courtesey British Museum.
John Bacon (1740 - 99), his relationship with Wedgwood, Nicholas Crisp
(1704 - 84) and Daniel Pincot (before the
annexation of his business by Eleanor Coade in 1769).
He was born in Southwark, London on 24 November 1740, the son of Thomas Bacon (1767), a cloth-worker, and Anne, née Greenwood, and was apprenticed to Nicholas Crisp of Bow churchyard, a jeweller and watchmaker, on 7 June 1755.
Crisp owned a porcelain factory in Vauxhall, where Bacon apparently first saw the models that inspired him to become a sculptor (Euro Mag 1790, 83-4).
By 1759 he had begun to make his own models and that year he
was awarded a premium by the newly-formed Society for the Encouragement of
Arts, Manufactures and Commerce for a figure of Peace
Bacon’s submission to the Society was no doubt encouraged by Crisp, who was one of its founders and a member of the award-giving committee.
Bacon won premiums again at the SCAMC in 1760, 1761 and 1764.
In July 1764 he left Crisp, who was now bankrupt, but he continued to enter works for Society of Arts prizes until 1778 (127, 130, 134, 216).
He later wrote to
the Society expressing gratitude for their encouragement, which had enabled him
‘to pursue those studies which a disadvantageous situation had otherwise made
difficult, if not impossible’ (Bacon/RSA).
He married Elizabeth Wade at St Saviour, Southwark on 2 March 1767, and their first child, Ann, was born in 1768.
That year Bacon exhibited with the Society of Artists, giving his address as ‘Mr Tucker’s, Cox’s Square, Spital Fields’ (Graves 1907, 18).
By 1769 he had moved from the
City to George Yard, Soho Square.
The first known record of his work for Wedgwood is a letter dated 21 March 1769 from Peter Swift, Wedgwood’s London agent:
‘Mr. Bacon hath brought a model of Apollo and Daphne which I have got a cast of - he asks for your futhur instructions since which I have found a paper with two drawings of vases and some references for modelling’ (Wedgwood MSS E5/30858, Swift to Wedgwood, 21 March 1769).
Between July 1769 and February 1771 he also received
payments totalling £104 9s 7d for models prepared for the Chelsea-Derby factory. (info Gunnis website)
Enrolling at the Royal Academy in 1769 enabled Bacon, at 28, to make the transition from a modeller in manufacture to a professional sculptor although it would seem that he was already modelling larger figures and pieces for Pincot.
I would suggest that the figure of the seated Druid was possibly modelled by Bacon whilst he was working for or with Daniel Pincot.
John Bacon won Royal Academy School's Gold Medal in 1769 befor Pincot commenced his (short lived association with Mrs Coade at Lambeth.
The foundation of the Royal Academy in 1768, with its focus
on teaching, saw many of the sculptors
who had begun their careers by exhibiting at the Society of Arts enrol at the
RA school. John Flaxman and Thomas Banks registered in 1769 and Joseph
Nollekens in 1770.
In 1767 Daniel Pincot (who is erroneously listed as
‘Pincat’ in Algernon Graves 1907, 199 and Gunnis 1968, 304) had a pamphlet printed (illustrated below) that he had set
up as an artificial-stone manufacturer in Goulston Square, Whitechapel.
He offered ‘all sorts of rich
carved Ornaments used in Buildings, viz. Tablets, Frizes, Medalions, Ionic and
Corinthian Capitals, Statues, Bustos, Vases, etc in several Compositions; some
resembling Portland Stone, but much harder and more durable, others still more
beautiful, approaching nearer to Marble; the Whole executed in a Manner far
exceeding any Thing of the like Kind that has hitherto been offered to the
Publick’ (Daily Advertiser, 31 Jan 1767 cited by Valpy 1986, 210).
Pincot made no reference to the Mrs Coade in this leaflet illustrated below and later he seems to have angered the Coades by taking certain business
transactions into his own hands, including an agreement to provide Borghese
vases for Stourhead and Kedleston.
The Borghese vase currently at Keddleston is indented Coade London Fecit.
The Stourhead Borghese Vase has no inscription.
Henry Hoare, Ledger 1770 - 85 - 8th October 1770 'Do Pincot my sbn to ye Borghese vase in part £5 5s.
It should be stated in Pincot's defence that it is possible that he had taken the orders from Keddleston and Stourhead prior to the take over of the business by the Coades in 1769.
Image below from - https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_Heal-106-19
The leaflet below here suggested as c 1767 - 68
George Davy of Goulston Square, Spitalfields.
George Davy, an artificial stone manufacturer, appears to have taken over the premises in Goulston Square, Whitechapel, London, formerly occupied by Daniel Pincot, some time between February and October 1767, when he advertised ‘a large Quantity of Goods of near 100 different Subjects, such as Figures, Busts, Tablets, Friezes, Medalions, Vases, Capitals of Different Orders of various Sizes’ for sale at his warehouse at 18 Long Acre, near Covent Garden.
It is not clear to me whether Pincot and Davy were in business together.
Davy claimed that these goods were ‘more durable and higher finished than natural stone’ and, furthermore, undertook to sell them at the same price or cheaper than any equivalent work available in plaster or wood (Daily Advertiser, 23 October 1767). using the same sales pitch previously employed by Daniel Pincot.
At the end of December 1767 there was a sale of artificial stone produced at Goulston Square over the last year, by Christie’s, perhaps including work by both Davy and Pincot.
The catalogue survives in the Christie's archive and shows that prices were considerably lower than those of comparable items listed in the catalogue of the Coade Factory of Lambeth, published in 1784.
In March 1768 Davy announced that a large quantity of his artificial stone had been sold by John Moreing at the Great Sale Room in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, adding ‘if due Encouragement is given to this Undertaking, the Proprietor intends to continue the Manufactory’ (Daily Advertiser, 23/24 March 1768).
Further sales at Moreing’s auction house and then at Blyth’s sale room
in Dean Street, Soho were advertised throughout 1768 and in 1770. The public
response appears to have been less than enthusiastic for Davy commented, ‘the
Proprietor has reason to think that many Gentlemen entertain a less opinion of
Artificial Stone by the Reports of some whose Interest it may be to deprecate
it’ (Daily Advertiser, 27 May 1768).
Davy’s last known advertisements appeared in April 1771 (Daily Advertiser, 29 April 1771) and by July 1773 he was financially ruined.
He wrote
to his patron, the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham requesting payment for four
medallions of Alexander and Hercules (6), explaining that they ‘were made by
your particular Order and at the Sale I bought them for your Lordship but am
now so poor that I cannot clare [sic] the lots therefore let me intreat your
Lordship to be so kind as to advance me the money or else the goods will be
resold and all the charges attending it will fall on me’. He also informed him
that if he had any further orders he should approach a ‘Mr Smith at
Nightsbridge’ who had bought all his moulds (Rockingham Vouchers, Sheffield
City Library, No 1, microfilm A314). In October 1773 Davy wrote a yet more
desperate letter to the Duke of Northumberland asking him to settle a bill for
£14 8s for various pieces of artificial stone (5),‘for I must Actually go to
Prison in a City Action if I can’t raise fifteen pounds by the 15th or 16th of
this month’ (Davy/Northumberland).
Rockingham bought reliefs, busts and statues after the
antique from Davy, as well as a statue of a druid (2) and charity children (7),
both subjects later produced by the Coade Factory. Some of Davy’s moulds may
still have been in use at Lambeth more than 50 years later, for it seems likely
that ‘Mr Smith at Nightsbridge’ was a predecessor or partner of Bridges of
Knightsbridge whose factory was bought by Mrs Coade in 1775. This suggestion of
a direct connection between Davy, Bridges and Coade is supported by the
production of large-scale statues of druids by all three businesses (see
Bridges, of Knightsbridge, 1 and Coade Factory, of Lambeth, 207).
Literary References: Valpy 1986, 210-5, 220-1; Coade 1990,
33; Penny 1990, 879
Archival References: Rockingham Vouchers;
Davy/Northumberland
Auction References: Pincot and Davy 1767; Davy 1768 (1);
Davy 1768 (2); Davy 1768 (3); Davy 1768 (4); Davy 1770.
Smith and Bridges of Knightsbridge.
Davy had informed his patron the 2nd Marquis of Rockingham that if he had any further orders he should approach a ‘Mr
Smith at Nightsbridge, who had bought all his moulds (Rockingham Vouchers,
Sheffield City Library, No 1, microfilm A314).
The Bridge's of Knightsbridge Sale of 1775.
Lots 8 and 9, King Ethelred, Relief medallion and King Alfred, Relief medallion.
The information below from Alice Rylance - National Trust website -
https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/109000.
The Keddleston Coade Artificial Stone Rondels.
The Kedleston medallions (55cms diam) of Alfred and Ethelred are derived from moulds produced by 'Bridges of Knightsbridge', an artificial stone manufacturer whose stock-in-trade was auctioned by Christies on 26 May 1775.
On 26 May 1775, Bridge's stock-in-trade, consisting of ‘a great Variety of Statues, Vases, Bustos, and various kinds of Ornaments in Artificial Stone’ was sold by Messrs Christie, on the occasion of his ‘quitting that Branch of Business’ (Public Ad, 24 May 1775, 4).
Among the lots sold were medallions of the kings Alfred and Ethelred (8, 9); busts of Homer and Pitt (6, 7), statues of Ceres, Flora and Samson (2, 3, 5) and statuettes of Rubens and Van Dyck (4). A number of the lots, including a statue of a druid (1), were purchased by Eleanor Coade (see Coade Factory, of Lambeth). She also bought the Knightsbridge factory itself, for in December 1778 she announced that she intended to sell all the equipment of ‘Mrs COADE’s Manufactory at Knightsbridge ... the Whole to be sold extremely cheap, on Account of clearing the Premises, the Business being carried on at King’s Arms’ Stairs, Lambeth’ (Daily Ad, 24 December 1778). Some of Bridges’s moulds appear to have remained in use at the Coade factory, including those for the statue of a druid, which Bridges himself had probably acquired indirectly from George Davy.
https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/Details/museum/107263
King Alfred, Relief. Keddleston
The Coade Artificial Stone Catalogue of 1784.
Nos 298 and 299.
The Coade Catalogue of 1784.
Size and Price List.
Alfred no 298. - 1 ft 9ins - £1 11s 6d.
Ethelred no. 299. - 1ft 9ins - £1 11s 6d.
........................
1. A Druid.
2. Ceres Statue.
3. Flora Statue.
4. Rubens and Van Dyck, statuettes (the pair of figures after the originals by Rysbrack) - no Artificial Stone versions have appeared. see this post with ref to the many reproductions of these figures
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2015/11/a-pair-of-statuettes-of-rubens-and-van.html and the following essays.
5. Samson.
6. Bust of Homer.
7. Bust of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham - A version was sent to Harvard University, America by Benjamin Franklin. Another appears in the Coade Catalogue of the exhibits of the Coade's Westminster Bridge Gallery of 1799.
Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 61; Valpy 1986, 217-8,
222; Kelly 1990, 34, 44-5, 134
Auction Catalogues: Bridges 1775;
Coade Catalogue 1784.
Wednesday, 11 November 2026
The Bronze Bust of Alexander Pope by Louis Francois Roubiliac
Post in progress.
A Recent Acquisition by the Louvre.
Height: 0.48 m (with socle); Height: 0.38 m (without
pedestal); Width: 0.23 m.
https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010538701
According to tradition, the bust comes from the Plowden - Wardlaw family, Craigie Castle (Ayrshire, Scotland); then by descent to Margaret Spurway (née Plowden-Wardlaw) and remained in the same family until -
Sold London, Sotheby's, July 6, 2007, lot 136; acquired at this sale by the English collector Manny Davidson (1931-2024) who was based in Monaco.
Put up for sale in The Manny Davidson
collection: A Life in Treasures and Benevolence, Paris, Sotheby's, November 5,
2025, lot 69 (unsold); acquired by private purchase by the Louvre Museum on
decision of February 12, 2026.
I suspect that the turned Red Marble ? Socle is not original.
Although the fixing appears to be original.
To my eye the socle is a little too big for the bust.
...........................
Images below from Sotheby's, Paris.
...............................
The images below were supplied to me by Sotheby's sculpture department in 2007.
Higher resolution than the official Louvre photographs and give much clearer indication of the very fine chiseling particularly of the hair.
......................
For the V and A Bronze Bust of Lord Chesterfield see -
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127094/philip-dormer-stanhope-fourth-earl-bust-roubiliac-louis-francois/philip-dormer-stanhope-fourth-earl-bust-roubiliac-louis-fran%C3%A7ois/
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