Bath, Art and Architecture: Nollekens by Rowlandson, Portraits of Nollekens

Wednesday, 9 September 2015

Nollekens by Rowlandson, Portraits of Nollekens

Joseph Nollekens (1737–1823).
by Thomas Rowlandson (1757–1827).
c.1800.

As a little light relief and for no particular reason here are some satirical images of Nollekens by Thomas Rowlandson along with portraits of Nollekens and some further engravings by Rowlandson.

"His figure was short, his head big. . . . His neck was short, his shoulders narrow, his body too large particularly in the front lower part . .. . he was bow-legged and hook-nosed-indeed, his leg was somewhat like his nose which resembled the rudder of an Antwerp packetboat-his lips were thin, but between his brows there was great evidence of study." " 'Oh, dear,' observed Miss Coleman, 'andyou don't know me:-you have given me many a basin of broth in the depth of winter when I used to standfor Venus.' Mrs. Nollekens, not knowing what to think of Joseph, shook her head at him as she slammed the window, at the same time exclaiming, 'Oh! fie! Mr. Nollekens. fie! fie! . . . to know such wretches after you have done with them in your studio!' " "I have seen him finish up the feet of his female figures from those of the Venlus de Medicis; the English women, his constant models, having very bad toes in consequence of their abominable habit of wearing small and pointed shoes."

Smith, Nollekens and His Times, I, London, I828, pp. 83, 227, 328

Nollekens And His Times: Comprehending A Life Of That Celebrated Sculptor; And Memoirs Of Several Contemporary Artists, From The Time Of Roubiliac, Hogarth, And Reynolds, To That of Fuseli, Flaxman, And Blake. By John Thomas Smith, Keeper Of The Prints And Drawings In The British Museum. Second Edition. In Two Volumes. Vol. I. (II.) - London: 1829.

For 1895 edition see - https://archive.org/stream/nollekenshistime00smitrich#page/n1/mode/2up

Nollekens in his Studio.

20.02 x 24.46 cm.

Dallas Museum of Art.

Rowlandson Unknown Source

Joseph Nollekens in the Studio.

Mary Moser RA. (1744 - 1819).

635 x 483 mm.

Yale Centre for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.

Literature -

J. H. Plumb, The pursuit of happiness : a view of life in Georgian England : an exhibition selected from the Paul Mellon collection, a view of life in Georgian England : an exhibition selected from the Paul Mellon collection, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1977, pp. 47, 101, no. 78, N6766 Y34 1977 (YCBA).

David Blayney Brown, Testaments of Friendship, Two New Portraits by James Barry of Francis Douce and Joseph Nollekens, Burlington Magazine, vol 128, January 1986, pp. 27-29, N1 B87 128:1 OVERSIZE (YCBA)

Joseph Nollekens with his bust of Lawrence Sterne.

John Francis Rigaud, 1742–1810, French, active in Britain (from 1771).

(76.2 x 63.5 cm)

Yale Centre for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

Literature -

R. J. B. Walker, Regency portraits, National Portrait Gallery, London, 1985, v.1, p.368-9, N1090 A592 (YCBA)

John T. Hayes, The portrait in British art, masterpieces bought with the help of the National Art Collections Fund, National Portrait Gallery, London, 1991, p.94, ND1314 H28 1991 + (YCBA)

Stephen Francis Dutilh Rigaud, Facts and recollections of the XVIIIth century in a memoir of John Francis Rigaud Esq., R.A.,Volume of the Walpole Society, vol. 50, 1984, p. 11,24,52-53, fig. 5, N12 W35 A1 + (YCBA)

William L. Pressly, A Portrait of Joseph Nollekens,Connoisseur, vol. 197, no.792, February 1978, p. 111, N1 C75 + (YCBA)

Portrait of Joseph Nollekens: The Sculptor with the Bust of Laurence Sterne, Apollo, ns no. 118, March 1979, p. 21, N1 A54 + (YCBA)

Portrait of Joseph Nollekens, The Sculptor with the Bust of Lawrence Sterne, Connoisseur, vol. 200, March 1979, p. 38, N1 C75 + (YCBA)

Elizabeth A. Fay, Fashioning faces, the portraitive mode in British romanticism, University of New Hampshire Press University Press of New England, Durham, N.H. Hanover, N.H., 2010, pp. 61-2, fig. 2.6, PR457 .F34 2009 (YCBA)

Christie's Advertisement of Sale on Friday, March 23, 1979,Apollo, v. 109, no. 205, March 1979, p. 21, N1 A54 + (YCBA).

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Joseph Nollekens.

black and white chalk, and pencil

20.6 x 13.3 cm.

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Gilbert Davis Collection.

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Joseph Nollekens

by Lemuel Francis Abbott

771 mm x 635 mm.oil on canvas, circa 1797.

In the centre Joseph Nollekens, to his right Richard Cosway and far right William Hoare

This image has been cropped from the Mezzotint below.

Life School at the Royal Academy. 1773.

Mezzotint After the Original by Zoffany

Image size - 48.9 x 71.8 cm

Lettered in black ink, lower left: "J Zoffany pinxit"; lower center: "Publish'd August 1st. 1773, R Sayer Excudit"; lower right: "Rd. Earlom Sculpst"

Mary Moser and Angelica Kaufman are represented here by their portraits on the wall

Yale Centre for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

The Key to the Mezzotint above.

Anonymous Engraving 1794

Publifhed 12th. May, 1794. by LAURIE WHITTLE, No. 53 Fleet Street, London

25.1 x 35.2 cm

Yale Centre for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.

"Publifhed 12th. May, 1794. by LAURIE WHITTLE, No. 53 Fleet Street, London."; center left to center right: "19 | 35 | 17 | 31 | 10 | 11 | 23 | 33 | 28 | 16 | 27 | 6 | 30 | 9 | 26 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 12 | 15 | 14 | 32 | 34 | 7 | 36 | 5 | 29 | 13 | 3 | 22 | 21 | 25 | 18 | 24 | 20"; lower center: "<. . .>P<. . .>2 1773"; lower left to lower right: "1 Sr. Joshua Reynolds. | 2 Sr. William Chambers. | 3 George Michael Mofer. | 4 Francis Milner Newton. | 5 Edward Penny | 6 Thomas Sandby. | 7 Samuel Wale. | 8 William Hunter | 9 Francis Hayman. | 10 Tan Chet-qua a Chinefe Artist. | 11 George Barret. | 12 Francefco Bartolozzi. | 13 Edward Burch. | 14 Agoftino Carbini. | 15 Charles Catton. | 16 Mafon Chamberlin | 17 J. Baptist Capriani. | 18 Richard Cosway. | 19 John Gwynn. | 20 William Hoare | 21 Nathaniel Hone. | 22 Mrs. Angelica Kauffman. | 23 Jeremiah Meyer. | 24 Mrs. Mary Moser. | 25 Joseph Nollekens. | 26 John Richards. | 27 Paul Sandby | 28 Dominick Serres. | 29 Peter Toms. | 30 William Tyler. | 31 Benjamin West. | 32 Richard Wilson. | 33 Joseph Wilton. | 34 Richard Yeo. | 35 Johan Zoffanij. | 36 Francefco Zuccarelli."

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Joseph Nollekens

447 mm x 345 mm

Charles Turner, after Sir William Beechey
mezzotint, published 1814

Nollekens.

by James Lonsdale circa 1818oil on canvas, 737 x 610 mm.

Joseph Nollekens R.A. and Mrs. Nollekens:

The pair of compasses and the pair of callipers side by side

John Thomas Smith, 1766–1833.

92 x 79 mm.

Yale Centre for British Art. Paul Mellon Collection.

Lady H*******’s Attitudes!, c.1791. Etching on paper, 23.7 x 17 cm

Thomas Rowlandson,

Lady Hamilton.

A Dutch Academy

Watercolour Drawing by Rowlandson

Image from Houghton Library at Harvard University

For an interesting, short essay on the titillating aspects of viewing 18th century painting and sculpture see

-http://unmakingthings.rca.ac.uk/2014/flesh-marble-materialising-the-body-in-18th-century-satirical-prints/

For more on this hitherto neglected aspect of viewing sculpture, particularly the classical nude see

Owning the Past - Why the English Collected Antique Sculpture, 1640 - 1840.

Ruth Gilding. published by Yale. 2014.

By far and away the best book on classical sculpture and the English collector published recently and should be in the library of anyone interested in the subject. A refreshingly enlightened work with excellent illustrations and photographs. Highly recommended.