Samson and the Philistine.
The Lead Group.
Some notes and images.
This group was based on the original Renaissance marble
group by Giambologna which is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum which in turn was
inspired by an original by Michelangelo.
The first recorded lead replica of the group was supplied to Chatsworth in 1691, possibly by Richard Osgood (fl. 1691 d,1724) who is known to have produced a copy for Sutton Court in 1695 as well as other lead ornaments for Chatsworth.
John Nost I (the Elder) also supplied leadwork to Chatsworth and must have known the original marble sculpture because of his commissions for Buckingham House (c. 1703).
An early 18th century cast of the Samson group attributed to John van Nost I is at Harrowden Hall (reproduced Country Life 1908, Jackson Stops 1974) and a ‘Cain and Abel, of John de Bellone, lead’ was one of the sculptures sold at Nost’s end-of-life sale in 1712 (O'Connell 1987).
John van Nost's moulds were reused by his cousin John Nost II (d.1729) and later by the firm’s apprentice/assistant, Andrew Carpenter (Carpentiere) (c. 1677-1737), as a Cain and Abel was sent by Nost II to Hopetoun House in 1718, whilst the Chiswick House cast of c. 1725 (which is now at Chatsworth) and the Stowe cast (installed by 1738; sold in 1922, now at Trent Park) are attributed to Carpenter (Bevington 1994, p. 114).
Certainly Carpenter produced copies of Giambologna’s group because a Cain and Abel is recorded on the price list sent to Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle (1669-1738), in 1723 (see - A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851, Yale pub. 2009 ‘Andrew Carpenter’).
The sculpture appears again in the repertoire of John Cheere, Carpenter’s successor, who supplied a Cain and Abel made from Nost or Carpenter moulds to Portugal in 1755-6 as part of a massive commission for Queluz Palace (Neto and Grillo 2006, pp. 5-18).
Henry Cheere (1703 – 81) and his younger brother John Cheere (1709 – 87) took over the yard of Anthony ‘Noast’ Nost at Hyde Park Corner in 1737 in what became Portugal Row, Piccadilly, Henry Cheere’s workshops were in Westminster and quite separate from the Hyde Park Corner site which appears to have been occupied solely by John Cheere and his workshop.
Other sculptors in this growing centre for the trade included Thomas Carter I, William Collins, Richard Dickinson and Thomas Manning.
Andrew Carpenter had ceased producing lead figures in the previous year and it seems likely that Cheere acquired some of his early stock and moulds from Carpenter’s sale, for, like Carpenter, he later marketed figures of a Blackamoor with a Sundial, the Borghese Gladiator and Diana with her Stag.
After Manning’s death in 1747 John Cheere took over two of his yards.
Several casts of Cheere's Samson and the Philistine still exists, along with other lead figures at
Seaton Delaval (NT 1276673), Wimpole (NT 207395), Drayton House (reproduced
Tipping 1912), Southill Park (bought by Samuel Whitbread at Cheere’s estate
sale, 1812; reproduced Hussey 1930) and the Yale Center for British Art
(inv.no. B2012.3; previously with Tomasso Brothers).
..........................
The Chatsworth Samson and the Philistine.
It has been stated that the first recorded lead replica of the group described as Cain and Abel was supplied to Chatsworth in 1691, possibly by Richard Osgood of Hyde Park Corner (fl. 1691 d,1724) who is known to have produced a version, along with statues of Mars and Minerva - I suspect that this isn't true.
Is it a coincidence that Richard Osgood supplied Thomas Belasyse, Lord Fauconberg at Sutton Court, Chiswick (later Chiswick House) with a Cain and Abel for which he was paid £42 in 1695? - this version has supposedly disappeared.
Richard Osgood went, after Fauconberg’s death, to repair and paint them) for his house Sutton Court (later known as Chiswick House, which was acquired by Lord Burlington in 1726).
Amongst the Fauconberg papers is Arthur Palmer’s Account Book. Palmer
was Fauconberg’s steward and kept an account of all expenditure on his Chiswick
property – he spent £42 on statuary.
There is the
version of Samson and the Philistine in a painting at Chatworth of the garden
at Chiswick House by Pieter Rysbrack of 1728.
John Nost the Elder (d.1710) also supplied leadwork to Chatsworth and must have known the original marble sculpture because of his commissions for Buckingham House (c. 1703).
The Chatsworth Samson Slaying the Philistine by Richard Osgood.
circa 1695.
Formerly at Chiswick removed in and now at Chatsworth.
The first record of Osgood’s work dates from 1691, when he
supplied two heads for Kensington Palace (15). His name subsequently appears in
the accounts of several country estates and royal palaces as the provider of a
considerable amount of lead and other metal work.
He must have made a good living prior to 1691 for on 1
January 1689, in partnership with Huntley Bigg, a scrivener, he bought 30 acres
of land in Alkham, Kent from Mathias Shore of St Martin-in-the-Fields.
In 1694 Osgood sent off statues for Sir Roger Hill at Denham Place, Bucks (2, 25). These do not appear to have survived but a topographical sketch of Denham shows several statues in situ, which may well be his work (repr Harris 1957-8, 192). Statue of Neptune and a statue of Hercules.
In 1700 Osgood was employed in mending statues at Hampton
Court and his bill gives an insight into the practice of restoration at that
time. He was paid £43 ‘for casting of new feet and part of ye legs of copper to
the great Hercules’ and another £40 ‘for casting a large piece of drapery of
the great statue of Antineous and making good what was wanting of ye legs...’
He also provided ‘two new arms of copper and the great part of the drapery and
a new quiver of arrows for the Diana that stands in the Quadrangle Court and
burning altogether and mending several other parts. For rifling and cleaning
the figure with aquafort to make it look bright all alike’ (TNA WORK 5/51 fol
506).
In 1709 he was
responsible for further repairs at Hampton Court, supplying ‘two new wings for
the statue of Victory and two new trumpets for the statue of Fame’.
In 1715 he was ordered ‘to model and cast in hard metal two
large sea-horses and two large Tritons to spout the water in the great bason’
in Bushey Park (Gunnis 1968, 285, incorrectly cites PRO AO1.2447).
Osgood’s premises were at Hyde Park Corner, close to the lead
manufacturers John Nost I, Edward Hurst and Josias Iback.
He collaborated with Nost at least once. The statues sent to
Knole in 1697 were billed by Osgood but possibly supplied by Nost (6-8, 18) and
in 1701 he certainly collaborated with Nost on a large order for twenty-four
lead urns for Hampton Court (20) and he appears to have worked in partnership
with another neighbour, the ironsmith Jean Tijou, at Sutton Court (13).
He was rated on three houses in Portugal Row (now Picadilly) in
1697, two at £12 and one at £30. His premises were visited in 1703 by the
architect William Winde, who was attempting to find a statue for the garden of
Lady Mary Bridgwater. Winde reported that he had been to ‘Mr Nostes’ and ‘Mr
Ansgood’ and that the latter ‘has the best leaden figures ... very good pieces
with fine mantel or drapery caste very loosely ... they are moderne’
(Winde/Bridgeman).
The will of a Richard Osgood of St Martin-in-the-Fields was
proved in April 1724, and though there is no mention of the profession of the
deceased in the document, it is likely that this is the sculptor. He left his
‘little house’ in the ‘high road leading to Piccadilly’ to his daughter
Elizabeth Osgood, and another property on Hyde Park Corner to his wife Anne,
who also received houses in Knightsbridge, Chelmsford and Much Haddon. These
properties continued in family possession until 1737.
MGS
Literary References: Harris 1957-8, 193-7; Gunnis 1968,
284-5; Davis 1991 (1), 34, 42, 52
Archival References: ‘large Caesar’s head for the Guard-room,
1691’, TNA WORK E.351/1347 fol 9; Lincs RO Jarvis I/D/2/14; WCA; Poor Rate
1697, F1232; Highways Rate 1722 F5550; Poor Rate 1733-1737, C118-C127; GPC
Will: PROB 11/597/26-7
No comments:
Post a Comment