A Set of Eight John Cheere Busts.

 

Set of Eight Plaster Busts of Male Scholars.

Attributed to John Cheere.

From the Desmond Heyward Collection, Hasely Court, Oxfordshire.

Desmond Heyward d. 2019 purchased Hasely in 1981.

Certainly the crispness of the casting, the shape of the panelled socle with the slightly convex front and the detail of the embroidery etc suggest the authorship of Cheere.

I am unaware of any signed Cheere busts.

Bronzed plaster; each on an integral shaped rectangular socle; inscribed, some indistinctly, with the name of each sitter including Milton, Swift, Dryden, Newton, Virgil, Cicero and Pope

The smallest: 15 ¾ in. (40 cm.) high.

The largest: 17 ½ in. (44.5 cm.) high.

Christie's 8 June 2021.

https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6318845

The Bust of John Dryden (1631 - 1700). 

after the bust on the Monument in Westminster Abbey by Scheemakers.

 The Full size (height approx 60 cms) Plaster Bust by John Cheere (1709 - 87) is in the Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge.It has the square section socle rather than the convex panelled socle more typical of John Cheere used on the Christies bust.

 The Wren Library set of plaster busts were probably supplied by John Cheere some time after 1753 - they are noted in a guide of 1763. Unfortunately there is no record of their purchase.

This bust is one of  the set of 26 plaster busts supplied and now consisting of 12 ancient and 11 modern authors all placed on top of the bookcases in the Wren Library.

 The Sarti bust is very obviously derived from the Cheere bust  - The Cheere bust was later reproduced by Parker of the Strand c 1770 - 76)  and later after about 1795 by Shout of Holborn, and then after about 1820 by Sarti.

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A later bust with eared socle probably by Shout is at the Vyne NT.

https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/719583

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An even later bust with the eared socle -Height 71 cms.

with a freshening up of green bronze paint by Sarti (1793 - 1868) is at Wimpole Hall, Cambs.

For an overview of the later plaster casts of the bust of Dryden see 

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2021_03_08_archive.html

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/john-dryden-16311700-254849

The Bust of Milton.

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The Bust of Jonathan Swift.

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The Bust of Alexander Pope.

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Bust of Isaac Newton