Bust of George Clarke, Codrington Library, John Cheere

The Codrington Library Plaster Busts by John Cheere. 
All Souls College, Oxford University .

Part 4.  Dr George Clarke (1661 - 1736).

Fellow of All Souls College. M.P. for the University of Oxford, Architect.

A Fellow of All Souls from 1680 until his death, George Clarke had a political career as MP, Judge-Advocate of the Army, Secretary at War and in the Admiralty. He then became the University’s leading authority on aesthetic matters, designed Oxford Almanacks, and was involved in all major building projects. 

He inherited books and papers from his father Sir William Clarke (Secretary at War to the Commonwealth and Charles II), collected books, manuscripts, prints, drawings, and paintings, and acquired most of Inigo Jones’s library. 

Disgusted by quarrels at All Souls, he left the bulk of his estate to the newly founded Worcester College, whose buildings he designed.

Curiously I could not locate any engraved portraits of Dr George Clarke - very surprising given his collecting habits and his interest in the visual arts. This suggests that John Cheere will probably have visited All Souls or Worcester College, Oxford to inspect the portraits in order to create his bust of Clarke.



The Godfrey Kneller (1646 - 1723), type portraits.

Inscribed on two old labels, verso: This belongs to Lord Hyde, and: In Mary Shaw's legacy / to Lord Cornbury.

oil on canvas.

75.5 by 62.5 cm.; 29 3/4 by 24 3/4 in.

Sotheby's 9 December 2010 lot 252

Lady T. Lewis, Lives of the Friends and Contemporaries of Lord Chancellor Clarendon, London 1852, Vol. III, no. 114, pp. 257, 429 and 430;

R. L. Poole, Catalogue of Portraits in Oxford, 1925, no. 114, Vol. II, pp. 189-190, and Vol. III, pp. 261-162;

R. Gibson, Catalogue of Portraits in the Collection of the Earl of Clarendon, Wallop 1977, no. 50, pp. 46-47

sitter was the the son of Sir William Clarke, Secretary of War for the King during the Civil War. A Fellow of All Souls, and M.P. for Oxford University in 1685 (and later from 1717 to 1736), Clarke was himself Secretary of War from 1692 to 1704, Secretary to Prince George of Denmark when Lord High Admiral, and Lord of the Admiralty from 1712 to 1714. A prominent figure at court from a noted Royalist family, Clarke appears to have been a close friend of Henry Hyde, Lord Cornbury, later  2nd Earl of Clarendon, who inherited this painting from his father's secretary. It relates to two portraits at Worcester College, Oxford,(below) one of which is inscribed with the sitter's name.

Information above from Sotheby's see -

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2010/old-master-british-paintings-day-sale-l10037/lot.252.html

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George Clarke 

after Kneller

Oil on Canvas

74.2 x 64.2 cms

Worcester College, Oxford

Image courtesy Art UK

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/george-clarke-16611736-benefactor-of-worcester-college-mp-for-the-university-of-oxford-fellow-of-all-souls-college-16801736-224128

Portrait miniature of George Clarke (1661–1736)

Worcester College, Oxford.

This miniature, after the oil portrait (school of Sir Godfrey Kneller) in Worcester College, has a gilt frame with Clarke’s monogram on the reverse. 

It was bequeathed by Clarke to John Michel, 1736.

George Clarke
Circle of Godfrey Kneller
Oil on Canvas
73.6 x 60.9 cms

Photo Courtesy Worcester College University of Oxford


Dr George Clarke
Anon. Circle of Godfrey Kneller
74.3 x 61.4cms
All Souls College
Bequeathed to All Souls by Dr Clarke in 1736.
Image courtesy Art UK.






Dr George Clarke
Circle of Godfrey Kneller.
Oil on Canvas
124.8 x 100.7 cms
Worcester College, Oxford.
Image Art UK

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/george-clarke-16611736-benefactor-of-worcester-college-mp-for-the-university-of-oxford-fellow-of-all-souls-college-16801736-224127






Prince George of Denmark husband of Queen Ann and Dr George Clarke.
Godfrey Kneller.
Oil on Canvas.
144.7 x 164.6 cms.
Bequeathed by the sitter Dr George Clarke.
All Souls College, University of Oxford.
Image courtesy Art UK

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/prince-george-of-denmark-and-george-clarke-221506


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For the Print Collection of George Clarke at Worcester College, Oxford.

see - http://prints.worc.ox.ac.uk/history.html

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Sir William Petre bust John Cheere Codrington Library

The Codrington Library Plaster Busts by John Cheere - 
All Souls College, University of Oxford.

Part 3. Sir William Petre (1505 - 72).

Sir William Petre

by Unknown artist

oil on panel, 

1567

924 mm x 711 mm.

Montacute House, Somerset

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Petre acquired the lease of the monastic lands at Montacute after the dissolution of the priory there in 1539. He sub-let to the Phelips family who built the present house at the end of the sixteenth century.

 The piece of paper which is depicted in this portrait of Petre as if attached to the wall is known as a 'cartellino'. It states that Petre was Secretary of State to Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I. This form of cartellino was added to paintings in the collection of John, Lord Lumley and is not original to the portrait.

Sir William Petrie

William Holwell Carr (1758 - 1830)

1785

Oil on Canvas

86.3 x 76.5 cms

Presented by the Artist in 1785.

University of Oxford.

This painting if not based on a missing original would appear to be at least partly basted on the Cheere bust - note the similarities in the head gear.

Image courtesy Art UK.

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/sir-william-petre-150615721573-221913/view_as/grid/search/works:sir-william-petre-150615721573/page/1



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