Part 10.
The Lead Group of Samson slaying the Philistine / Cain and Abel.
at the Royal Palace, Queluz, Portugal.
John Cheere.
One of 90 Groups, Figures and Urns supplied in two tranches in 1755 - 57.
Photographs taken by the author.
I will in due course post photographs and details of all the Cheere statues at Queluz.
Information on the Cheere statuary at Queluz (below) culled
from - John Cheere's lead garden
statues.... by Maria Joaon Neto and Fernando Grilo. Sculpture Journal Vol.
15.1, 2006.
The Gardens of the National Palace of Queluz, Ana Duarte
Rodrigues, Denise Pereira da Silva and Gerald Luckhurst, pub. 2011.
For a not very satisfactory introduction to the works of John
Cheere.
see John Cheere, the Eminent Statuary ..... Moira Fulton,
Sculpture Journal, Volume X, 2003.
______________________________
Details of the purchases are contained in Correspondence
between the Portuguese Ambassador in London Don Louis da Cnha Manuel and the
Foreign Secretary in Lisbon Sebasteao Jose de Carvalho e Melo (future Marquis
of Pombal).
A stipulation by Dom Pedro was that the statues not be embarrassingly naked and an assurance from the sculptor that they were "girdled".
The sculptures exported from England to Queluz consisted in total of 9 Sculptural Groups, 57 individual figures and 72 lead vases.
The first Collection sent in May? 1755 in 36 crates on board the ship Camberwell consisted of -
Meleager and Atalanta (as Diana and Endymion at Wrest Park).
Vertumnus and Pomona.
23 statues of Mythological figures -
Neptune, Meleager, Mercury, Fame, Apollo, Diana, Bacchus,
Venus, Ceres and Flora.
A Gladiator and 4 Seasons,
4 Commedia dell' Arte figures, - (Pierrot, Harlequin,
Scaramouche and Columbine)
4 Picturesque figures - Shepherd and Shepherdess a man with a
flute and drum and a woman with a rake.
24 Vases.
Cost £290.5s. 2d including shipping - £340.18s. 6d.
......................................
The second lot of sculptures were sent in 58 crates on the ship Nossa Senhora do Socorro in September 1755.
The speed with which these sculptures were ordered suggests that John Cheere already had these objects in stock at his premises at Hyde Park Corner..
7 Sculptural Groups -
Rape of Proserpine.
Aeneas Carrying his father Anchises.
Rape of the Sabine Women (another at Wrest Park).
David and Goliath
Cain and Abel actually Samson Slaying the Philistine from the Giambologa original then at Buckingham House (another lead version at Harrowden Hall, Northants).
Venus and Adonis (another at Wrest Park),
Bacchus and Ariadne.
and 6 individual figures -
Hercules.
Meleager.
Atalanta.
Justice.
Mars.
and Minerva.
and 16 animals -
4 Monkeys.
4 Lions.
4 Tigers.
2 Foxes a Harpy and an Eagle.
4 Groups with holes for the large tanks and water spouts?
8 Boys to decorate the waterfalls.
48 Painted Bronze and gold vases.
Cost with 10% discount £853.14s.1d.
Two invaluable general works on the subject of Lead Statuary are English Leadwork, ..... by Lawrence Weaver, pub. 1909 and available on line at -
https://archive.org/stream/englishleadworki00weav#page/n9/mode/2up
and Antique Garden Ornament by John Davies, pub Antique Collectors Club, 1999.
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For the Lead Sculpture at Wrest Park, Bedfordshire.
http://leadrestoration.co.uk/h-a-r-l-e-q-u-i-n-a-n-d-c-o-l-u-m-b-i-n-e
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aeneas_and_Anchises_by_John_Cheere,_1700s_-_Wrest_Park_-_Bedfordshire,_England_-_DSC08325.jpg
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/wrest-park/history/collection
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1113789
https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/statue-of-the-young-adonis-at-wrest-park/IAGV4fdMEWYITw
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