Bath, Art and Architecture: 08/06/24

Tuesday, 6 August 2024

The 18th Century Sculpture at Wilton House. Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke.

Post under construction.

The 18th Century Portrait Sculpture at Wilton House.

This is a project I have been intending to commence for several years -

I am very grateful to the 18th Earl and Countess of Pembroke for allowing me to visit with my camera and giving me free access to the sculptures outside visiting hours.

I am also very grateful to all the staff at Wilton, Charlotte Spender, Sandie Buxcie, and in particular the House Manager Nigel Bailey and all at Wilton who made me feel most welome.

In the I640S, Isaac de Caux's new gardens at Wilton had at their centre a bronze by Hubert Le Sueur of the Borghese Gladiator -described by Isaac de Caux in his Jardin de Vuillton as "the most famous statue of all that Antiquity hath left."

The sculpture collection of antique marble fragments, statues and busts at Wilton the nucleus of which was formed by Thomas, Eighth Earl of Pembroke, who died in 1733 but the collection was continued by his son Henry the 9th Earl who died in 1755, and by Henry's son, also Henry the 10th Earl.

This collection of antique sculpture and its dispersal has been more than adequately covered by other authors, my intention is to fill in some gaps with more information and illustrate the 18th Century sculpture collection with some, until now unpublished photographs.

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I will commence these posts with what I consider to be the least successful of the 18th century portrait busts at Wilton.

1. Thomas Herbert, the 8th Earl of Pembroke (1656 - 1733).

Probably Peter Scheemakers (1691 - 1781).

Posthumous Terracotta Bust.

Modelled prior to 1743.

The terracotta has a rather patchy surface that suggests to me that it has been stripped of an oil based paint - there are remains of white paint on the back - it was probably painted to resemble white marble

Until recently this bust was believed to be by Roubiliac but because of the inscription on the very similar marble bust at Trinity College, Dublin there is definitely uncertainty. Ingrid Roscoe suggests that the terracotta is by Scheemakers but to me there is a lingering doubt. see (Walpole Journal 1999).

Was the bust modelled by Roubiliac but carved in the Scheemakers workshop? A careful analysis of the facture and clay might clarify the matter.

There is also some doubt as to the authorship of the busts at Trinity - Although Scheemakers was contracted to provide them it is possible that he subcontracted much of the work.

In 1698 Pembroke had given the University £500 for the purchase of books - a substantial sum.

for the Dublin, Trinity Library marble bust.

Peter Scheemakers by Ingrid Roscoe, Walpole Society Journal 1999. see pages 270 - 271

Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke and 5th Earl of Montgomery, KG, PC, PRS (c. 1656 – 22 January 1733), styled The Honourable Thomas Herbert until 1683, was an English and later British statesman during the reigns of William III and Anne.

For a useful short biography see

https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/member/herbert-hon-thomas-1656-1733

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Guides to Sculpture at Wilton - 1731.

First Illustrated Guide

Carey Creed, 1731.

The marble antiquities, The Right Honble. the Earl of Pembrokes, at Wilton are too many to be drawn by but several hands there being statues, bustos, bass-reliev's and miscellanies ... /

I have drawn and etch'd in imitation of Perrier all the statues, and to make the number of my plates even 70 here are three different postures of some of the statues by the famous sculptor Cleomenes

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=gri.ark:/13960/t7dr6t03p&seq=5

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The 18th Century Wilton House Guides.

Description of the Pictures, Statues, Busto's, Basso Relievo's and other Curiosities.

In the 1751 Guide by Richard Cowdrey, First Edition (page 19) the bust of the 8th Earl was on the Chimneypiece in the Great Hall (since demolished in the Wyatt alterations

The Guide is dedicated to Sir Andrew Fountaine whose marble bust at Wilton will be discussed in a later post.

The statue of Shakespeare by Scheemakers was at that time in the Great Gateway.

The foreword of the guide was almost certainly written by Sir Andrew Fountaine and the descriptions of the statuary were probably prepared by Sir Andrew.

Available on line at -

https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_a-description-of-the-pic_cowdry-richard_1751

The second edition of 1752 is available online at -

https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.35013350?seq=11

The 1769 edition available online at

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009711746

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The Terracotta Bust of Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke.

in the Double Cube Room at Wilton House.

Photographed by the author on 5th September 2023.

Long thought of as a bust by Roubiliac it is more more likely to be by Scheemakers but there is always the possibility that it was a collaboration between the two.

The bust in marble is in the Long Room of the Library at Trinity College Dublin inscribed PS ft (Peter Scheemakers) but to complicate issues it is unclear who was collaborating or subcontracted on the Dublin Busts. It is possible that John van Nost III was also involved.

It has a single central prop at the back. and there is evidence that it has been broken and repaired.

The construction seems to follow the French method used by Roubiliac which created a fairly thin wall of terracotta which was less likely to crack when fired - a feature of many of the terracotta busts by Rysbrack wch were mostly but it was impossible to tell whether the head is hollow.

It was almost impossible to see the back in order to compare with the terracotta of Francis Bacon definitely by Roubiliac.

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The Marble Bust of Thomas Herbert (1656 - 1733). 8th Earl of Pembroke.

in the Long Room, Trinity College Library, Dublin.

Peter Scheemakers.

Signed P.S. Ft

No date c. 1743.

One of 14 Ancient and modern worthies which Scheemakers was contracted in 1743 to supply for the Library at Trinity College, Dublin.

6 of these busts which are unsigned are believed to have been sub contracted to Roubiliac (who scarce had any Capital work" Vertue III page 148. Although showing evidence of coming from his workshop the Dublin busts do not show his usual flair - - it is possible that Roubiliac in turn sub contracted the work to John van Nost III (c. 1710 - 80). He had been apprenticed to Henry Scheemakers in 1726 and had settled in Ireland by 1749.

In 1743, £500 was left by Dr Claudius Gilbert, Vice Provost 'for the purchase of busts of men eminent for learning to adorn the library'

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-busts-in-long-room-of-library-at.html

All photographs below taken by the author 4 October 2016, no flash in very low light.