The Marble Bust of Dr Richard Busby (1606 - 95).
by Michael Rysbrack
In the Vestibule, Christ Church College Library, Oxford.
and the two plaster busts at Westminster School and Balliol College, Oxford.
Once again sincere thanks are due to Dana Josephson of the Bodleian Library for making all my work on the Oxford portrait sculpture possible.
All colour photographs here taken by the author.
Busby is believed never to have had his portrait taken in his lifetime and that all the portraits are taken from an original death mask taken shortly after his death.
The closeness of the bust to the effigy on his monument in Westminster Abbey suggests to me that Rysbrack used this or perhaps a death mask as the starting point for his bust of Busby
Dr Richard Busby was the most celebrated
schoolmaster of his time and in 1640 was appointed to the position of Head Master of Westminster School a post he held for 55 years.
He was the second son of Mr.
Richard Busby, a citizen of Westminster, but was born, 22 Sept. 1606, at
Lutton, otherwise called Sutton St. Nicholas, in Lincolnshire. He obtained a
king's scholarship at Westminster, and was educated at that school, whence he
was elected, in 1624, to a studentship at Christ Church, Oxford, where he took
his B.A. degree in 1628 and his M.A. in 1631. He was for some time a tutor at
Christ Church College Oxford , and in 1639 was admitted to the prebend and rectory of Cudworth,
with the chapel of Knowle near Bristol annexed, in Somersetshire. He was appointed master of
Westminster School provisionally when Osbolston was deprived of that office in
1638, but was not confirmed in it till 23 Dec. 1640 (info culled from Dictionary Nat. Biography).
He is buried beneath the black and white marble pavement of the
Choir of Westminster Abbey, which he presented in 1677.
He was famous for his
liberal use of corporal punishment to discipline the boys and his pupils included the poet
John Dryden, architect Christopher Wren, and scientist Robert Hooke.
He is supposed to have noted that he had that he had tought 16 bishops (Anecdotes William Seward)
An anonymous epigram 'on Dr. Robert Freind's appointment to Westminster
Ye sons of Westminster who still retain
Your antient dread of Busby's awful reign,
Forget at length your fears, — your panic end, —
The monarch of the place is now a Freind.
For a very useful biography of Busby see - Memoirs of Richard Busby DD by G.F. Russell Barker, 1895.
This includes a summery of his accounts and a transcription of his will.
Available on line at -
https://archive.org/stream/memoirofrichardb00bark#page/n5/mode/2up/search/Rysbrack
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Richard Busby
Plaster Bust
Bodleian Library
It has not yet been possible to inspect or take more photographs of this bust as it is in deep store in the Bodleian store in Swindon.
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Richard Busby
Plaster Bust
Westminster School
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Richard Busby
Michael Rysbrack
The Balliol College, Oxford Plaster Bust
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The Busby Memorial - Westminster Abbey
Francis Bird
1695.
He reclines on a mattress holding a pen and an open book and
looks upwards towards the long Latin inscription. This can be translated:
See! underneath, lies the image of Busby: such as he
appeared to human eyes. If you desire to see that part of him more deeply
impressed in their minds, thoughtfully survey the shining characters of both
universities, and the law, in the court, the parliament and the church. When
you have viewed around such a full-sown and plenteous harvest of ingenious men;
only consider what he must have been who sowed it. This must be he, who, the
natural genius in everyone nicely discovered, usefully managed and happily
improved. This he, who, by his instructions, so formed and nourished the minds
of youth, that they learned to grow wise, as they learned language; and while
they were educated as boys, they improved as men. As many as taught by him
appeared in public, so many faithful and strenuous asserters were raised to the
monarchy and the Church of England. Lastly whatever fame the School of
Westminster boasts, and whatever advantages mankind shall reap from thence, is
principally owing to Busby, and will be owing to him in all ages. So useful a
member of the Commonwealth, God was pleased to bless him with length of days
and increase of riches. And in return, he cheerfully devoted himself and his
[wealth] for the promotion of piety, to relieve the poor, to encourage learning,
to repair churches. These were his ways of enjoying wealth; and what he did not
employ in his life-time to this purpose, he bequeathed at his death.
Below on the plinth:
Richard Busby of Lincolnshire, S.T.P. [Professor of Sacred
Theology]. Born at Lutton 1606 Sep.22. Head Master of Westminster School 1640
Dec.23. Installed Prebendary in the Church of Westminster 1660 Jul. 5.
Installed Treasurer at Wells [Cathedral] 1660 Aug.11. Died 1695 Apr.5.
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Francis Bird - a few notes.
Francis Bird (1667–1731) was one of the leading English
sculptors of his time. He is mainly remembered for sculptures in Westminster
Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral. He carved a tomb for the dramatist William
Congreve in Westminster Abbey and sculptures of the apostles and evangelists on
the exterior of St Paul's, as well as the statue of Henry VI in School Yard,
Eton College[1]. Despite his success, later in life Bird did little sculpting.
He had inherited money from his father-in-law and set up a marble import
business.
Francis Bird is best known for his work at St. Paul's Cathedral. In
March 1706 he was paid £329 for the panel over the west door and in December of
that year £650 for carving the "Conversion of St. Paul", 64' long and
17' high for the great pediment. This contained "eight large figures” six
whereof on horseback and several of them "two and a half feet
imbost".
In 1711 he carved the statue of Queen Anne with four other
figures, which was erected in St Paul's Cathedral yard in 1712. This statue was
saved from demolition in December 1886 when it was replaced by the present
statue executed by Richard Belt. This original Queen Anne statue is now in the
grounds of St Mary's School, The Ridge, Hastings. East Sussex.
Between 1712 and
1713 he executed the two panels over the west portico for £339, but it was not
until 1721 that he carved the statues of various apostles and evangelists (each
nearly 12 ft (3.7 m). high) for the west front and south side of the Cathedral.
For these he received a total sum of £2,040.
Francis Bird
Miniature
Anonymous
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Francis_Bird_miniature.png
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Richard Busby with pupil
John Riley (1646 - 1691).
Oil on Canvas
124.5 x 99.1 cms
Christ Church College
Oxford University
Image from Art UK
John Riley (1646-1691) began practising painting at a young
age, which probably meant he was independently wealthy. He became a fashionable
society portrait painter. At the height of his success, in the 1680s, Riley
charged £40 for a full-length portrait, a considerable amount of money at this
time. In 1689, together with Godfrey Kneller, he was appointed Principal
Painter to King William III and Queen Mary, though there are no known portraits
by him of either as sovereign.
Richard Busby with a favourite Pupil, Edward Wells
Scratched with production and publication detail below
image: "Riley pinxit", "J Watson Fecit" and "Published
according to Act of Parliament Novem 1. 1775"
Mezzotint
Proof state.
455 x 331 mm
British Museum
The young man beside Busby has been identified as Edward
Wells (1667 - 1730). Wells was an English mathematician, geographer, and
controversial theologian. In 1680, Wells was admitted to Westminster School, and so
would have attended the school under Busby.
Info from Sanders of Oxford website.
see -
https://www.sandersofoxford.com/shop/product/dr-richard-busby-master-of-westminster-school-58-years-died-1695-aged-89/
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Richard Busby
Henry Tilson (1659 - 1695).
Oil on Canvas
72.5 x 61 cms.
Christ Church College, Oxford University.
Needhams Accounts given in the Chancery suit after Busby's death note " to Mr Tilson for drawing the Doctors picture and Frame £12, to Mr White for engraving the Doctors Picture £5 10s (Lansdown MSS 655, f.29.
Tilson a pupil of Peter Lely lived in Lincolns Inn Fields shot himself in Nov 1699.
Image Courtesy Art UK
Richard Busby
Engraved by Robert White
1695
352 x 258 mm trimmed.
British Museum
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Richard Busby
Unknown Artist
Oil on canvas
based on the White engraving
74.9 x 62.2 cms
Post 1695
National Portrait Gallery
Image Courtesy Art UK
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Another Portrait
based on the White engraving
&3 x 61 cms
Recent on Art Market.
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Richard Busby
Anonymous.
Bought recently at a sale in Cockermouth, Cumbria.
see - http://readingeuclid.org/robert-hookes-euclid-guest-post-by-elizabeth-wells/
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Busby's Reputation lives on.
Westminster School
James Gilray
356 x 250 mm
Engraving
1785
Image courtesy British Museum
see - http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1629476&partId=1&searchText=Busby&page=2
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The Busby Library
Westminster School
c. 1840.
Note the bust in the circular niche on the left hand wall.
