Roubiliac's small lay figure

 

John Wragg, Greek St, Soho, London 1777, 1784, 25 Denmark St, Soho 1789-1793, 10 Tottenham Court Road 1799-1801, 2 London St, Fitzroy Square 1802. Carver and lay figure maker.

 

John Wragg (?c.1737-1804 or later) is presumably the ‘Mr Wragg’, carver and lay figure maker, who advertised from Greek St in 1777 (Daily Advertiser 5 April 1777). He took part in the Westminster election from this address in 1784 (DEFM). As John Wragg, lay figure maker, he was listed in Andrews’s directory at 25 Denmark St in 1789 and 1790. John Wragg features in Holden’s directory as a figure maker in 1799 and as a lay figure maker in 1802, without an entry in 1805. He took out insurance as a figure maker from 10 Tottenham Court Road, on the terrace opposite London St, on 24 June 1801 (Sun Fire Office policy registers, 419/718808). It is likely that he can be identified with the ‘eminent lay figure maker’, age 67, who benefited from galvanic treatment for a paralytic disorder (Charles Henry Wilkinson, Elements of Galvanism, 1804, p.448, accessed through Google Book Search).

 

A small lay figure once belonging to Roubiliac (Museum of London) was repaired by John Wragg in 1793, as can be seen from his interesting letter from 25 Denmark St to the then owner, Richard French at Derby (information from Beatrice Behlen, Museum of London, June 2012, with thanks to Jane Munro).

 

John Wragg features in the 3rd Earl of Egremont’s London and Petworth bills as supplying a lay figure with moveable joints, 1799-1800, perhaps for use by one of the artists working at Petworth (West Sussex Record Office: Petworth House Archives, PHA/8064).

Information above lifted from Jacob Simon's - British artists' suppliers, 1650-1950 prepared for the National Portrait Gallerie's website -

 https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/research/programmes/directory-of-suppliers/suppliers-w/

The Museum of London has a lay figure used by Louis François Roubiliac in the 18th century for his drawing and sculpting classes. According to the museum’s catalogue



, “The figure is articulated and can adopt a variety of poses. It has a skeleton of bronze overlaid with cork, horsehair, wool and an outer covering of silk stockinette. With a carved and painted wooden head that may be used as both male or female, the model has two sets of accompanying sets of clothes - one male and one female.”.

https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/v/object-287369/figure-lay-figure/

Height 76 cms.