A
Summary of Researches into a Plaster Bust of Handel.
22" tall x 15"
wide attributed to the manufacture of John Cheere, circa 1750 -1760.
Perhaps after an original by Louis Francois Roubiliac.
An
Eighteenth Century, Plaster, three quarter life size, with original
painted surface.
The
bust is 17" tall without the socle, 22” including socle.
This
bust conforms in the facial details, with all the Roubiliac versions
of Handel, except that it lacks the mole or wart on his left cheek,
although it appears to represent a somewhat younger Handel than the
known busts and is closest to the Vauxhall Handel now in the Victoria
and Albert Museum in London.
Comparisons
with the Grimsthorpe terra cotta would suggest that the terra cotta
is a much later version of a bust of Handel by Roubiliac where he looks
considerably older.
There
were 5 plaster busts, a terra cotta and two moulds for busts of
Handel sold at the sale of the contents of the Roubiliac Studio in
1762.
The
Harris Correspondence (see below) confirms the existence of plaster
busts of Handel by Roubiliac as early as 1741.
A
reasonable starting point for sources of information for the Handel
portraits comes from the National Portrait Gallery Exhibition
Catalogue of 1985:-
Handel; A
Celebration of his Life and Times. (1685 -1759).
For
more detailed and up to date information : -
The
Sculpture Journal, Vol. 16.2 2007.
A
detailed study in The British Art Journal, Vol. X no. 1 Spring /
Summer 2009.
The Three so called “Life Masks”.
There
is a recent article written by David Coke in the Sculpture Journal
Vol. 16.2. 2007 on the Vauxhall Gardens Handel by Roubiliac.
In
it is illustrated the three quarter profile of the "life
mask" which Coke suggests is a copy of one taken by
Roubiliac (the first published mention of a life mask is in the Mirror, 19 July
1834, I can find no previous reference to this or any other mask).
.............................................................................
I
have also discovered that there is another cast of this mask in the collection in Germany, of Alexander
Schubert (see http://www.alexander-schubert.info/).
This
is a slightly better cast showing a little more of the hair and neck.
It
is very much my belief that these masks were in fact taken from a painted
version of the Grimsthorpe Castle terra cotta, (there is a painted
plaster version of this bust at Gloucester cathedral), this would
explain the lack of definition of his facial features on these life
masks and therefore shows that they are probably not life or death
masks. The depiction of the pupils of the eye is another pointer.
Of
particular note are the similarities of the details of the hair on
the forehead and the incising of the pupils of the eye.
The Grimsthorpe terra cotta of Handel by Roubiliac.
_________________________
David
Coke obtained his photograph
from a photograph pasted
into the
extra-illustrated Archdeacon Coxe
memoir
of Handel & Smith at The Foundling Museum Library.
.........................................
The
Handel House Museum at Brooke St, London recently exhibited yet
another version of the “life mask” belonging to an English
Collector.
_____________________________
The
John Bishop Bust of Handel.
I
have been in contact with Katherine Hogg the librarian at the Foundling Hospital, who whilst looking for the photograph of the life
mask discovered a
photograph of our bust or a version of it in the Archdeacon Coxe
Memoirs at the Foundling Hospital Library.
On
the back of this photograph is a label which states - ‘G.F.
Handel. From a bust in the possession of John Bishop, of Cheltenham.
Photo J.H.B. Registered.’.
John
Bishop (1818 -1890) arranged various works by Handel for publication.
Notes
from Richard King. University of Maryland.
The
note mentioned in the National Portrait Gallery catalogue (p. 45) is
almost certainly that found in Schoelcher’s catalogue of his
collection (Bibliothèque nationale, shelf number: Rés. V.S. 1080,
pp. 720-21). Here is what he wrote:
Masque
de Handel photografalicé[?] d’après un platre par J. Bishop et
fils.
Il
existe au British Museum dans la[continuation hidden by binding] d’un
graveur à l’eau forte, nommé D. Rea[continuation hidden by
binding] (un amateur) une tête grosse et vulgar qu’il marque
‘Handel—From a picture in his possession by Hogarth” I; n’y a
[ai?] jamais eu d’autres exemplaires de cette planche que les deux
que possède the British Museum. Il [indecipherable word] parait
douteux que ce soit réellement un portrait de Handel.
Concerning
the date of Schoelcher’s note:
1.
In his Life of Handel
(published 1857), Schoelcher discusses the “death mask” taken by
Roubiliac (p. 355), and then writes: “A few proofs of that precious
mould have been taken and distributed, but I have been unable to find
a copy anywhere, and the oldest amateurs tell me that they have never
seen one. I only know of its existence through a little woodcut,
which is itself of excessive rarity.” (p. 356)
2.
The MS catalogue in Paris, from which the note above was transcribed,
cannot be dated precisely, but it appears to have been written in the
1860s, and to have been donated to the Paris Conservatoire in 1872.
Schoelcher
would have learned about the Bishop cast sometime between 1857 and 1872
The
closest version of a Handel bust to our bust is the Grimsthorpe
Castle terra cotta bust by Roubiliac. Our bust
is certainly very close to the Roubiliac sculptures of Handel. The
eyebrows are very similar in detail. I have images of this terra
cotta provided by the Curator at Grimsthorpe (who can find no record
of when it was acquired acquisition).
Grimsthorpe
is the family seat of the Berties, Dukes of Ancaster.
The
plaster bust at Gloucester cathedral appears to have been a version
of the Grimsthorpe terra cotta.
There
is a painted plaster version of the Grimsthorpe Castle terra
cotta at the Handle House Museum in Halle, Germany. (see attached
HH-bust-face.jpg)
The
article in The British Art Journal Vol X no 1 by David Wilson states
that this bust was fabricated for the Haendl Haus in 1997.
The
Fenwick Bull Plaster Busts of Handel.
There
are two mentions in the mid Eighteenth Century London Press of
sculpted plaster images 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.
This
is unlikely to refer to the maquette of the Vauxhall Handel, Vertue
described this 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 posses of Mr Hudson painter”
The
Public Advertiser, 19th
April 1758.
An edition of thirty casts 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.
I
have since discovered that 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 (the father of Elizabeth Foster, wife of Fenwick Bull) - who was a publisher, printer, map-seller, bookseller, in London. was at the White Horse, St Paul's Churchyard (1737-9); and afterwards at the White Horse, Ludgate Hill (1741-7). information from Royal Academy
Further references
to Fenwick Bull. –
1747
in the subscribers list of “Twelve Sonatas for Two Violins” by
William Boyce.
Daily
Advertiser.
21 Aug 1752. Foster,
Elizabeth.
This day is publish'd (Price 2s 6d) printed on three sheets of
Elephant paper ... a new and exact map of the city of London,
Westminster and Southwark, to this present year 1752 ... Printed for
ans sold by Eliz. Foster, Map and Print, at the White Horse on
Ludgate-Hill ...
Daily
Advertiser.
15 Jul 1753. This day is publish'd (price 2s.) From a painting of
Highmore's, A metzotinto print, done by Faber, of the late Francis
Columbine ... Printed for Fenwick Bull, map and print-seller, at the
White Horse on Ludgate Hill.
London
Evening Post 5-7 June 1753: F. Bull - “fine English and French
prints neatly framed” …”figures in plaster of Paris, bronzed
and plain from the most celebrated poets and antique statues, highly
finished”
Public
Advertiser.10 May 1757:- A complete set of the Luxembourg Gallery,
good impressions and well preserved in frames and glasses, to be sold
cheap at F. Bulls Print shop on Ludgate Hill, London where the most
money is given for collections of prints and drawings.
There
is an engraving by P Boitard published by Fenwick Bull of the White
Horse Ludgate Hill June 1753 of the “Celebrated Scottish
Equilibrist.
Daily
Advertiser
7 Nov 1761 Bull,
Mr.
To all true Britons. This day is publish'd (Price 1s) A curious
copper plate print of the true likeness of her present Majesty Queen
Charlotte ... To be had at Mr. Rocque's in the Strand; and at Bull's
Printshop, Ludgate-street, facing the Old Baily ...
Fenwick
Bull later emigrated to America. He was certainly in South Carolina
before 1762 where he seems to have reinvented himself as a Loyalist,
Tory, slave owner, Justice of the Peace and public notary at Charles
Town. He lived with but did not marry Christiana Hoff, was later
disgraced, horsewhipped and ostracized for attempting to bribe a
jockey to fix a race. He lived at 93 East Bay Street. His estate was
confiscated and he died 1778.
I
have found an illustration of his trade card which appears to show
the plaster Scheemakers statuette of the Westminster Abbey
Shakespeare monument installed in 1741, which Cheere produced in
plaster. (Example at York Castle Museum).
Whilst
by no means conclusive it would seem likely that Fenwick Bulls shop
on Ludgate Hill was retailing John Cheere’s plaster productions in the
1750’s and our bust is one of the edition of thirty of Handel’s
bust advertised in The
Public Advertiser, 19th
April 1758.
If
the Mirror is to be believed (and personally I am very
skeptical) then it would seem most likely that our bust could
be an early version of Handel by Roubiliac, cast, perhaps
when working with the Cheere brothers.
It appears to show a younger Handel.
The
socle matches those on the Plaster busts by Cheere illustrated in the
Man at Hyde Park Corner (1974) by Timothy Clifford, but so far I
can find no record of a Cheere Handel.
The existence of a lead
version of this bust in Ireland in the early 20th
century would add credence to this theory.
It
seems most likely that Cheere would have produced a bust of Handel,
as he produced busts of many other 18th
Century celebrities.
Charles
Harris and Richard Parker Plaster Figure and Busts, Circa 1780.
Our
bust does not seem to accord with the casts of Handel sold in 3 sizes
by Charles Harris noted in his catalogue of circa 1780. (National
Arts Library).
Harris
was advertising busts in three sizes of Handel in his catalogue
of c.1780 - large as life, 16" to 18" and 11"
(National Arts Library). This size is very close to the N.P.G terra
cotta. The Fitzwilliam Bronze is 11 5/8” tall.
Harris
is noted at 162 Strand, London Kent’s Directory 1794.
Charles
Harris (d.1795) described as of the Strand, opposite the
New Church (St Mary le Strand) an undated trade card gives his
address as The Alfred’s head opposite the New Church, Strand
It
might be a coincidence but Harris provided the monument for the third
and fourth Duke of Ancasters (of Grimsthorpe) at Edenham Parish
Church in Lincolnshire, they died in 1778 and 1779 ). The Roubiliac
Terra cotta of Handel is at Grimsthorpe. It is therefore possible that the
Grimsthorpe terra cotta is the source for the Gloucester Cathedral
and Haendel Haus Museum’s plaster busts. There is clear evidence on
the Grimsthorpe terra cotta of damage perhaps firing cracks which
would have been filled and over painted!! See photographs.
Harris
was in partnership with Richard Parker by 1776, working at Parkers
premises in the Strand, opposite the New Church with second premises
in Bond Street, Bath.
Richard
Parker specialized in making casts. There was a set of busts by him
at Ashburnham Place, Sussex, - Locke, Milton, Congreve, Prior, See
Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors .Roscoe. 2009) Parker is
mentioned as Statuary of The Strand bankrupt in The Gentleman’s
Magazine and The Town and Country Magazine in October, 1776.
Parker
was employed by Wedgwood, their archives contain a letter from their
London agent William Cox which states “Mr Parker has cast the
medallions off in the best manner him and I could well contrive. I
should be glad of your notes respecting the propriety or Deserts of
the Performance. (Wedgwood/ParkerE5/30873 undated)
Theodore
Parker, father of Richard supplied Wedgwood in 1769 with a figure of
Shakespeare. In 1769 Theodore supplied Wedgwood with Flora, Seres,
Spencer, Hercules, Seres Large Juno, Prudence, Milton and Shakespeare
(Wedgwood/Parker L1/73, Theodore Parker acct Sept 1769 – 18 Dec
1769
Also
supplied ‘Bracket open work’, ‘a boy a couch’ 3 dogge. Same
refs
1774,
Richard Parker supplied busts to Wedgwood & Bentley see
Plagiarism
personified. European pottery and porcelain figures, Julia
Poole 1986.
Busts
Zingara and Vestal and Pug Dog 10th
Feb 1774. On the bill is the printed heading
‘Scagliola;/or
Plaster casts of Elegant subjects/ proper to introduce into the
decoration of rooms, staircases, halls etc/ Richard Parker/ Opposite
the new curch in the Strand/ having obtained from Joseph Wilton Esq.
statuary to his majesty,/ various moulds of bas reliefs and bustos,
made upon his original models / has the honour to acquaint the
nobility and gentry, that they may be accommodated with casts at the
shortest notice, Sundry samples of which with/ their prices may be
seen at the above RICHARD PARKER’S / N.B. These original casts can
be had at no other place; and although it may happen/ that some
figure makers may clandestinely make moulds of any of those casts,
they can / produce at best but an impression void of every original
touch’.
Richard
Parker - In 1785 in Biographical
anecdotes of William Hogarth: with a catalogue of his works by John
Nichols ... - Page 20
mentions a catalogue of the Statues, Bustos, etc of Richard Parker
Statuary in the Strand and Hogarth’s Pug Dog.
There
is a bill in the British Museum from Parker and Harris signed by
Richard Parker for £1 -12 shillings for busts of Dryden and Virgil
for the Earl of Winterton dated 18th
June 1776.
.....................................................................
The
Lead version of the Plaster Bust of Handel in Ireland.
I
have recently discovered a Country Life photograph of the Gardens
designed by Edwin Lutyens at Heywood, Co. Laois, Eire taken in 1917
showing a lead
version of our bust
in a niche, probably provided by Lutyens. Also shown are busts of
Shakespeare and Cicero in lead! Both are the same models as those
illustrated in the Man at Hyde Park Corner - Temple Newsam
Catalogue by Timothy Clifford, all three busts are long gone.
This leads me to believe that our bust was probably from Cheeres workshop.
.
..................................................................................................
The
1784 Handel Commemorative Medal.
There
is a commemorative medal of 1784, which shows our bust in profile,
illustrated in the NPG Exhibition Catalogue (page 255).
This certainly proves the existence of a version of our bust prior to 1784.
I
am aware of most up to date research on Roubiliac. Nobody really
seems to know exactly what he was doing from 1730, when he first came
to England until his arrival fully formed with the Vauxhall Handel in
1738. In all likelihood he was probably working on an ad hoc basis
for the Cheere and Carter primarily making chimneypieces but
certainly producing busts and other sculpture, and perhaps restoring
antiquities. (He produced a bust of Senesino in 1735, Senesino was
also painted by Thomas Hudson in 1735).
Whilst
not a great work of art, this plaster bust would seem to be a very
rare and early, unrecorded portrait bust of Handel, cast by John
Cheere and marketed as a limited edition of thirty, by Fenwick Bull
at the Sign of the White Horse on Ludgate Hill, London.
The
Roubiliac Sculptures of Handel.
Vertue
notes busts of Handel, Pope, and Newton in the Roubiliac studio in 1741
The
life size, full length, marble figure of Handel was made for Vauxhall
Gardens and unveiled in 1738. It is now in the V&A.
Terra
Cotta Maquette of the Vauxhall Handel, 47 cms in the Fitzwilliam
Museum Cambridge.
The
statuette first belonged to Thomas Hudson, a friend of Roubiliac.
Nathaniel Smith bought it at auction at Christie’s on c. 26th
February 1785, lot 37; purchased by Nathaniel Smith and sold by him
to his master, Joseph Nollekens; Nollekens sale, 3rd July, 1823, lot
60 (as Carlini), purchased by 'Hamlet, the silversmith', presumably
Thomas Hamlet; probably purchased for Northwick Park at Hamlet's sale
held by Robins, 29th July, 1833 (only recorded copy of the sale cat.
derives from the Northwick Park Library); Captain E.G.
Spencer-Churchill, Northwick, by whom given to the Fitzwilliam
Museum.
1.
The Foundling Museum Terra cotta portrait bust with turban,
presented in 1844, by Sir Frederick Pollock, 1st Bart
(1783 -1870) 28.2” tall. Gerald Coke Collection.
This
bust is the only bust by Roubiliac that shows the prominent mole or
wart on his left cheek which is shown in the engraving by Jacobus
Houbraken, with a decorative border by Hubert Gravelot (Drg B.M.) issued
only to subscribers to the score of Handel's dramatic ode Alexander’s
Feast (advertised in The Country Journal 22 April 1738) first
mentioned in the London Daily Post 15 Jun 1737.
A Marble version of the Foundling /Coke terra cotta bust of Handel in the Royal Collection (one of two versions in the Royal Collection).
Roubiliac Marble bust of Handel, Royal Collection.
Inscribed HANDEL / AETATIS SUAE 54 / MDCCXXXIX.
2.
The Windsor Castle, Marble bust, 1739, a version of the terra
cotta above with Turban, Royal Collection. According to Coxes
Anecdotes (1799) the marble was owned by Handel, who gave it to JC
Smith who in turn with Handel’s music manuscripts gave it to George
III.
In 1741 George Vertue, the 18th century chronicler of the arts, recorded that ‘Mr. Rubbilac Sculptor…had Modelld from the Life several Busts of portraits extreamly like….Mr. Isaac Ware Architect Mr Handel -&c. and several others’.
‘
From Royal Collection Website - http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/35255/george-frederick-handel-1685-1759
"The present bust belongs to a group of contemporary portraits by Roubiliac in which male sitters are shown in the style known as en negligé. The tasselled cap and heavy cloak with tasselled buttonholes may not have been Handel’s, since they also appear - similarly disarranged - on Roubiliac’s bust of Isaac Ware dated 1741 (Detroit Institute of Arts; version London, National Portrait Gallery). The bust was given to George III - together with a harpsichord and the majority of the composer’s manuscripts - by J.C. Smith the Younger (1712-95), the composer, organist and conductor, who had been Handel’s pupil and his amanuensis during the years of his blindness from 1752. It is probably this bust that was seen by Horace Walpole in the King’s Apartments at Buckingham House in 1783."
1.
Plaster version in the Huntington Art Gallery California, ex Gambier
Parry Collection, Highnam Court, Gloucester. (Thomas Gambier Parry
1816 -88) 33.5” tall.
________________________________________
2.
Plaster casts with Foundling/Gerald Coke Collection. (Schoelcher
states in 1857. “a very good cast…. has been taken and copies may
be now obtained” (this probably refers to the D. Brucciani &
Co. cast of the head of the Westminster Abbey Handel Monument (DB).
Plaster cast of the Westminster Monument Head by Dominico Brucciani, 52 cms tall.
English mid 19th Century, Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge - not uncommon.
3.
Plaster cast with the Czech Handel Society.
4.
Bronze at Handel Haus, Halle.
.......................................................
Some
Early saleroom references to Handel busts…..
Roubiliac
sale, Langfords 1762. – 5 plaster busts, a terracotta, two moulds.
John
Blackwood. Feb 1778, lot 1326. – Roubiliac - marble bust of Handel.
John
Stanley, Christies, 24 Jun 1786.,lot 89 “a remarkable fine bust
exquisitely modell’d, by Roubiliac”
Anonymous
Sale. (perhaps the surgeon John Belchier?), Christie's 29 March 1805, (a
terra cotta model for a bust of Handel. This is a prime candidate for the Terracotta in the Foundling Museum Coke Collection.
Daniel
Lysons. Environs of London II. 1795 p.22 notes in the possession of
Rev. John Bacon Esq. (not the sculptor) original cast (plaster?) of Roubiliac’s
bust of Handel.
3. The Roubiliac Terra cotta at
Grimsthorpe. Bareheaded. No long term history.
The Grimsthorpe terra cotta bust of Handel by Roubiliac. These photographs clearly show the cracks on the face probably caused by the firing in the kiln.
A
plaster version at the Handel Haus, Halle, Germany (modern) but based
on the Grimsthorpe terra
cotta.
Handel Haus Museum Halle Germany, plaster bust of Handel.
"In 2008 an image of a patinated plaster cast,
resembling marble, in almost all respects (including measurements)
practically identical with the bust at Grimsthorpe Castle, appeared
on the website of the Stiftung Händel-Haus in Halle, Germany, which
restated the attribution of the model to Roubiliac. Enquiries have
established that the plaster cast was made for the Händel-Haus in
1997 by the gipsformerei (plaster workshop) of the Stiftung
Preußischer Kulturbesitz in Berlin, and that the plaster was cast
after an identical plaster bust in their collection bearing the
signature of the German sculptor Aurelio (Mark Aurelius) Micheli
(1834-1908, fl. 1860-70). Micheli specialised in portraits of notable
Germans, many of them composers, and his works appear to have been
issued in multiples produced by the plaster workshop of the Micheli
Brothers in Berlin. There is no doubt, given the existence of the
terracotta model by Roubiliac at Grimsthorpe Castle, that Micheli
must have possessed either a plaster cast of the bust (no less than
five plaster busts of Handel are listed in the catalogue of
Roubiliac’s posthumous sale in 1762)[7]
or a mould for the bust (and a plaster mould for a bust of Handel is
recorded as lot 53 on the fourth day of the sculptor’s posthumous
sale, 15 May 1762)".
Info lifted from London dealer David Wilsons website 2013 -
Another
Plaster version at Gloucester Cathedral.
Scan of information at the NPG on the Gloucester Cathedral Plaster bust of Handel.
____________________________
4.
Roubiliac, Marble, Grimsthorpe Type (Bareheaded) in the Royal
Collection.
Located at Kew Palace in 1984. It was at Buckingham House
in 1817 placed above the organ in the Queens Japan room shown in an
engraving in Pyne.
The Sotheby's Marble bust "By Heaven Inspired" - Here attributed to Roubiliac.
Another
bareheaded Grimsthorpe type marble of Handel by Roubiliac was recorded in the Alfred Morrison
Collection in the 19th Century. Described as life size statuary marble on socle inscribed "By Heaven Inspired". It was sold to dealer Gooden for £50. 8. 0d., lot 107, Catalogue... Earl Waldegrave ... also Sculpture from the Collection of Alfred Morrison, 10 February 1900, Christie, Manson and Woods.
David Wilson says.
Possibly the ‘remarkable fine bust of [Handel], exquisitely modell’d by Roubiliac’ in a sale of 1766;
Possibly lot 35 on the second day (21 February) of the John Blackwood sale at Christie’s in 1778, ‘Roubiliac, marble busto of Handel, on a pedestal’;
In the Collection of Alfred Morrison (1821-97), at Fonthill House, Wiltshire, and 16 Carlton House Terrace, London, from c. 1860- 1897;
By descent to his widow, 16 Carlton House Terrace, London;
This magnificent bust is currently with the London Art dealer David Wilson - January 2014.
For a full description see http://www.davidwilsonfineart.com/works-for-sale/george-frideric-handel-1685-1759-attributed-to-louis-francois-roubiliac-1702-62/
5.
Bust of Handel with turban by an unidentified Sculptor.
Bronze bust in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, photographed on the Handel Bookcase.
a.
Bronze at the Fitzwilliam Cambridge, 11.5/8” tall.
b.
Terra cotta bust of Handel, on modern plaster socle at the NPG. 17.25” tall.
Said
to have been acquired either at the sale of amateur musician William
Kitchener (1775 -1827) or that of singer James Bartleman (1769 –
1821) by the conductor Sir George Smart(176 -1867) given by him to
Richard Clark (1780 -1856) from whom received c. 1852 by W.F.
Whitehall and given by him to NPG 1891.
If it definitely was acquired in the 18th Century then it is a candidate for the Charles Harris bust noted in his list of c.1780 (Nat. Arts Library).
c.
19th Century cast of this bust in the Coke Collection
marked Brucciani (NPG cat.)
5.
The Roubiliac Reliefs –
The
subject remains to be investigated thoroughly-
1.
Terra cotta, Roubiliac. - V&A.
2.
Bronze, anonymous – Bremen. Not of sufficient quality to be by
Roubiliac.
3.
Bronze, Roubiliac formerly in the collection of F.J.B.Watson from
series including Pope, Garrick, and Conyers Middleton.
4.
Plaster, Soane Museum– Associated with Roubiliac from an early date
(Kerslake).
6.
The Roubiliac Monument to Handel in Westminster Abbey.
Much
has already been written - here are the basic facts -
Terra
cotta Maquette in the Ashmolean, another smaller in the Gerald Coke
collection
The
monument was opened on 10 July 1762, six months after the death of
Roubiliac.
Three days before his death in 1759 Handel signed a codicil to his will saying he hoped he might be buried in the Abbey and desired that his executor erect a monument for him.
The funeral was attended by about 3,000 people and the choirs of the Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral and the Chapel Royal sang the service.
His gravestone in the south transept reads "GEORGE FREDERIC HANDEL BORN YE 23 FEBRUARY 1684 DIED YE 14 OF APRIL 1759".
The date of his birth inscribed on the stone
is due to the fact that the new year in England at this period did not
begin on 1 January but on 25 March (Lady Day). Therefore, to the
contemporary Englishman, Handel was born in February 1684, as the
year 1685 would not have begun until 25 March. The coat of arms on
his gravestone is now very worn.
On
the wall above his grave is a monument by the sculptor Louis Francois
Roubiliac (with the same inscription as on the stone but with the
dates in Roman numerals). The life-size statue, unveiled in 1762, is
said to be an exact likeness as the face was modelled from a death
mask. Behind the figure, among clouds, is an organ with an angel
playing a harp. On the left of the statue is a group of musical
instruments and an open score of his most well-known oratorio
Messiah, composed in 1741. Directly in front of him is the musical
score I
know that my Redeemer liveth.
The legend that Roubiliac modelled Handels likeness for this monument, on the “life mask” is disproved by the comparisons with the “life masks” and the Grimsthorpe terra cotta.
_______________________________
Roubiliac
Plaster Busts of Handel in the Harris Correspondence from Music and
Theatre in Handel’s World by Donald Burrows
16.
April 1741, Louis Francois Roubiliac (London). To James Harris.
Salusbury G565/1.
“According
to your order I have got a busto of Mr Handel ready to send you. I
desire you would be pleased to let me know where I must direct it to
and if it be necessary I put a colour on it or leave it white”.
In
1741 James Harris was involved with the purchase of busts of Handel
(presumably in plaster from the sculptor Roubiliac subsequent letters
show that he purchased one for the Countess of Shaftsbury, one for
Charles Jennens and probably one for himself
21
April, 1741. Thomas Harris, Lincolns Inn (London). To James Harris
Salisbury
“Roubiliac
I will call on this evening or in a day or two. Rawlins will make all
the haste he can”.
P.S.
I have seen Handel’s bust at Roubiliacs, and like it very well.
What he meant by colouring was only making the whole of a light dun
colour as the original you saw is: and what he says will keep clean
better and I think it looks handsomer. If therefore you approve of
that, write him word that you will have it coloured as the original
is, and he says he will do it immediately”
The
P.S. was probably added after T.H. had visited Roubiliac in the
evening, the postmark carries the same date as the letter. Rawling
was presumably copying music for J.H.
18th
June 1741.Thomas Harris, Lincolns Inn, (London) to James Harris.
Salisbury
P.S.
I called at Roubilliacs today about the bust for Lady Shaftsbury but
found it was not coloured yet so it cant be sent till the carrier
sets out next week.
27
June 1742. 4th
Countess of Shaftsbury (St Giles) to James Harris Salisbury. Thursday
I received the bust of Handel and am very thankful to my cousin
Thomas Harris for negotiating this affair for me. I have disposed of
it in a place of highest eminence in my room and please myself in
thinking you will approve of it. I hope soon to have an opportunity
of reimbursing my cousin T Harris for this and the expenses attending
its coming down…….
10
July 1741. Louis Francois Roubiliac (London) to James Harris
Salisbury.
I
have reciev’d your obliging letter and in answer I shall acquaint
you that Mr Hendels busto shall be near ready tomorrow so I hope you
will be pleased to send how to direct. You know I have Mr Popes busto
which I have likewise made after life. I also have Milton’s and
Newton’s so in case any of your friends should want you will be
pleased to recommend them; but bustos being works by which there is
little to be got but reputation, I desire that you will let your
friends know that my chief talent is marble work, such as monuments,
chimneys, tables, all of which I will hope to do to the satisfaction
of those that will do me the honour to employ me.
24
July 1741. Lord Guernsey, Powderham, Devon to James Harris,
Salisbury.
“As
soon as I can inform myself who is Mr Jennens carrier, I shall beg
the favour of you to give Roubiliac directions how to send the bust.
I shall write this post to London for a direction & order an
answer to be sent to me at Salisbury, so desire you will keep the
letter till I come”.
There
is also an interesting note in these letters - on 10 Feb 1743. with reference to a statuette
of the Shakespeare monument by Scheemakers, suggesting copies in plaster
by Cheere were available at this time. This statuette was available
for sale by Fenwick Bull of Ludgate Hill in the 1750’s. (see Trade
card illustrated above).
A Bill for a Plaster Bust of Handel 1753.
A
bill for a plaster bust of Handel and a plaster bust of Newton sent
by Roubiliac to Baptist Noel, Lord Gainsborough of Exton
Leicestershire (d.1751), paid in 1753, exists see - (DE3214 box 67/3
Leicestershire Records Office).The
busts mentioned could be either the bust with a turban after the
terra cotta at the Foundling (marble signed and dated 1739 – Royal
Collection or the Grimsthorpe type.
___________________________
Reference to other Handel Busts in the 18th and 19th Centuries.
From - Some British Collectors of Music c. 1600-1960. By A. Hyatt King, Cambridge 1963
The time of the general Handel collector did not come until well into the nineteenth century, with one notable but rather obscure exception. Nichols records in his Literary Anecdotes (vol. m, p. 739) one John Walkden, who died at Windsor in 1808 and may therefore be presumed to have been active not very long after Handel's death. Walkden was a stationer in Shoe Lane, and from his business 'acquired a handsome fortune with an unexception-able character'. Nichols goes on: 'He was passionately fond of Handel's music, of which he possessed a sufficient quantity to make a sale of six days.
At his house in Highbury Place he built a very spacious music room, in which he placed a bust of Handel over an excellent organ, on which he was a complete performer.' It is a thousand pities that no record of such a big sale (perhaps the first consisting wholly of the music of one composer) can now be traced.
...................................................
From Victoria County History. A History of the County of Middlesex: Vol 6.
Whetsone and Friern Barnet Manors – The Manor House.
When occupied in 1797 by John Bacon (not Bacon the sculptor), the house contained family portraits and a bust of Handel by Roubiliac. (Lysons Environs).
..............................................
The Brucianni Casts.
Schoelcher states in 1857. “a very good cast…. has been taken and copies may be now obtained” (this probably refers to the D. Brucciani &Co. cast of the Westminster Monument bust.
The Fitzwilliam has a good Domenico Brucciani plaster cast after the monument by Roubiliac in Westminster Abbey -52 cms tall. Marked D. Brucianni and Co.
Brucciani bust of Handel by Roubiliac in the Oxford Faculty of Music
Another is in the Bate Collection in Oxford – unmarked.
This cast would appear to be relatively common.
Conclusions.
The previously unrecorded plaster bust is a cast made by John Cheere and sometime marketed by Fenwick Bull at his shop on Ludgate Hill, London, firstly in 1751 and then again as a limited edition of thirty in 1758.
This is partly based on the shape of the socle and the evidence of the existence of a further lead version of this bust, along with lead busts of Cicero and Shakespeare (known to have also been produced by Cheere - see The Man at Hyde Park Corner), once at Heywood, County Laoise in Ireland in 1917.
The panelled socle with the convex front matches those of the known Cheere busts (as illustrated in the man at Hyde Park Corner) but this of course is a generalisation - socles of this form were frequently used by Italian plaster casters working in London in the 19th Century perhaps using 18th century moulds.
The Charles Harris Busts of Handel of the 1780's were variations of the NPG Terra Cotta and the Fitzwilliam Bronze, the sizes of which correspond very closely with those mentioned in his catalogue. It is possible that the Harris busts were the Grimsthorpe type but only the life size version is known to exist so far.
The top of the socle of these two busts uses a form much favoured by Cavaceppi in Rome and Joseph Nollekins in the mid to late 18th century.
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