Sunday, 16 August 2020

William Penn - Lead Statue at the Philadelphia Hospital



William Penn (1644 - 1718)
Lead Statue. 
at the Philadelphia Hospital.

Attributed to John Cheere
presented by John Penn in 1804.


The face supposedly based on the carving by Silvanus Bevan (1691 - 1765) (see below).

This statue was made for Lord Despenser of West Wycombe Park

Following a visit to Lord Le Despencer’s estate in Buckinghamshire, England, Benjamin Franklin wrote that his friend “has lately erected at Wycombe … a noble statue of William Penn holding in his hand a scroll.” When Lord Le Despencer’s successor  had  the grounds of West Wycombe,redesigned by Repton he sold the statue for old metal.

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The Percy Anecdotes: Original and Select, Volume 6

By Reuben Percy



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Photograph Courtesy Alamy



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Engraving after the relief carved by Silvanus Bevan

Text incorporated into the design of the base below Penn's portrait bears the title and reads: "William Penn, First Proprietor and Founder of Pensilvania". Small text at bottom reads: " Drawn by D. Simitiere from a bust in Alto Relievo done by Sylvanus Bevan. Said to be a good Likeness. Philadelphia October 1770. Engraved by John Hall. London. 1773."


I have written at some length on the portrait reliefs carved by Silvanus Bevan


https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2014/03/silvanus-and-timothy-bevan-at-barbers.html

http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2016/05/silvanus-bevan-portrait-reliefs.html

http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2014/03/a-briefhistory-of-family-home-of.html

http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2014/03/silvanus-bevan-amateur-sculptor.html


This image from the Royal Collection









see also


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Wedgwood relief of William Penn
after the ivory by Silvanus Bevan.
until recently in the family collection of  Michael Waterhouse

at The American Philosophical Society



Height of Relief 4.5"


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