Post in preparation.
To be added to as more information appears - I could do with some assistance from someone on the ground in Jamaica!
This is the only bust to my knowledge that has been ascribed to John Cheere with any degree certainty.
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Most of the secular busts ascribed to his brother Henry Cheere were probably not carved by him but were made in his workshop or sub contracted - the bust of Hawksmoor at All Souls College Oxford which uses the same dress as several busts by Roubiliac comes to mind.
This is a subject that I have returned to on several occasions and will no doubt come back to in the future.
We do not know what Roubiliac did until 1736 with reports in the press of his busts of Farinelli and Senesino.
There is so far no proof of later reports that Roubiliac was working for or subcontracting to Henry Cheere in his workshops at Westminster, but the evidence presented here strongly suggests a working relationship with both of the Cheere brothers.
Roubiliac reused /repeated the dress on several of his busts and here we have evidence of this practise occurring again, with the bust inscribed by John Cheere in Jamaica and the anonymous very fine lead and so far unidentified, bust in the Victoria and Albert Museum using the same basic dress and in this case the soft hat.
Much of John Cheere's early working life remains a mystery until in 1738 he acquire (along with his brother the properties of the van Nosts at Stone Bridge on the North side of what became Portugal Row and later Piccadilly, at Hyde Park Corner.
For a series of busts previously attributed to the hand of Henry Cheere but with only circumstantial evidence see my post.
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2021/05/addison-or-someone-else.html
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for a brief biography of John Cheere see-
https://gunnis.henry-moore.org/henrymoore/sculptor/browserecord.php?-action=browse&-recid=513
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For a very useful article on Church Monuments in the West Indies see -
Carving Histories: British Sculpture in the West Indies by Joan Coutu in the Journal of the Church Monuments Society Vol XII 1997 p 77.
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The Marble Bust of the Hon. James Lawes ( 1698 - 1734).
On the base of the socle the bust on the monument is inscribed .John Cheere (1709 - 87) Fecit 1737.
Halfway Tree, Kingston, Jamaica.
The St Nicholas Chapel (western wall) boasts an elaborate memorial to the Hon. James Lawes, son of Sir Nicholas Lawes, (d. 1731 in Jamaica) who was Governor of Jamaica (1718 - 22) and benefactor who had also donated the intricate brass candelabrum to the church in 1706.
This bust is very obviously closely related to the anonymous lead bust formerly thought to be of Hogarth in the V and A.
It is most likely that the bust had been carved whilst Lawes was in England and was later fitted on to the monument.
The Hon. James Lawes was only thirty-six years old when he died in 1733, and his widow, Elizabeth née Gibbons contracted John Cheere to provide the monument to him.
James Lawes was born in Jamaica 26/02/1697. Member of Assembly 1721-1722, Member of Council 1725, Lieutenant Governor. Buried 29/12/1733.
He had no legitimate children. He inherited Snow Hill and Mount James as well as a moity of Swallowfield, Temple Hall and Townswell estates in Jamaica from his father. He married Elizabeth, only daughter and heir of William Gibbons of Vere, Jamaica in 1720.
Elizabeth Lawes nee Gibbons inherited her husband's estates on his death and remarried in 1742 to the profligate William,
8th Earl of Home.
The will of James Lawes was proved in Jamaica in 1733.
James Lawes of St Andrew, Esquire. Estate probated in Jamaica in 1734. Slave-ownership at probate: 317 of whom 158 were listed as male and 159 as female. 91 were listed as boys, girls or children. Total value of estate at probate: £21,515.31 Jamaican currency of which £10,228.75 currency was the value of enslaved people. Estate valuation included £0 currency cash, £6,702 currency debts and £2,490.53 currency plate.
John Cheere also provided the monument to the mother of Elizabeth Lawes Deborah Gibbons at St Peters, Vere, Jamaica. (see image below).
Elizabeth Lawes nee Gibbons - later Countess of Home (née Gibbons; 1703/04 – 15 January 1784) was a Jamaican-English heiress.
She was born in
Jamaica in 1703 or 1704 She was the only
child and heir of William Gibbons and his wife Deborah. William Gibbons was a
West Indies merchant and one of the island's original English planters. Little
otherwise is known of him.
Nicholas Lawes was
a child of a royalist family who arrived in Jamaica in 1663, whilst he was
still a boy. The Lawes began the cultivation of coffee in Jamaica and
established a number of coffee plantations there. Probate records for Nicholas
Lawes taken upon his death in 1731 recorded a total of 478 enslaved people
across his estates, of whom 279 were listed as male, 199 as female and 86 as
children.
James Lawes was perhaps the most eligible bachelor in
Jamaica. He was often in dispute with the island's governor Henry Bentinck, 1st
Duke of Portland (his father's successor to the post) and would not allow his
wife to pay her respects.
The Lawes eventually moved to London, where he received the
post of Lieutenant Governor for the island of Jamaica. However, Lawes died in 1734,
several months before he could officially begin the position. They had no
children.
She also owned many prosperous Jamaican estates inherited from her father.
She commissioned English sculptor John Cheere to construct the monument in her husband's honour.
The resulting sculpture, the largest yet to be shipped to the West Indies, was placed in Lawes' home parish church of Saint Andrew, Halfway Tree. Kingston, Jamaica
Already rich from her merchant father, she married James Lawes, the eligible son of Jamaica's governor, in 1720.
They moved to London, and his death in 1734 she was left an extremely wealthy widow.
The Jamaica Quit Rent books of 1754. (when patents of land were granted, the grantees had to pay an annual "quit rent" to the Crown for the land) she is recorded as the sole owner of a total of 5,287 acres spread across St Andrew, St George, St Elizabeth, Clarendon and Vere. She is also recorded as the joint owner of Snow Hill, Townwell and Temple Hall Estates in St Andrew, totalling 3,370 acres. 423 enslaved people are also recorded in relation to the St Andrew estates.
It should be noted that the joint owner of the St Andrew plantations was one Simon Luttrell, the Countess’ brother in law by marriage and later 1st Earl of Carhampton.
The Luttrells would play a vital part in Lady Home’s role in London society, a connection it seems born out of loyalty to Elizabeth’s first husband James Lawes.
In 1737 James’s half-sister Judith Lawes had married Luttrell, and it
was their daughter Anne who probably provided the key to Lady Home’s motivation in
building a Home House of such palatial standards in her advanced years.
Elizabeth married the spendthrift William Home, 8th Earl of Home on 25 December 1742 when, aged 38. The Homes of Home and Dunglass had held the baronetcy since 1473, and were subsequently raised to an Earldom by James I. William, 8th Earl of Home held a commission in the 3rd regiment of Foot Guards and was notorious for his substantial debts.
The marriage, was probably one of convenience, and lasted just over a year with William abandoning his new wife in February 1744. Elizabeth had settled her husband’s debts in 1742 and again in 1747, but after this she seems to have declined further support as he was later declared bankrupt. In 1757 William, 8th Earl of Home was made Governor of Gibraltar, where he died a few years later.
She spent her next years living a fairly extravagant lifestyle.
In 1776 the Modern Characters from Shakespear, an anthology of
Shakespearian quotations applied to well-known persons was published.
Interestingly the following lines from The Merry Wives of Windsor were assigned
to the ‘Countess of H__e’:
‘She’s a witch, a quean, a Cozening quean; Come down, you witch, you hag, you, come down I say; No doubt the devil will soon have her!’
Infamously, William Beckford records in his correspondence that the ‘extraordinary lady’ was commonly referred to amongst ‘the riffraff of the Metropolis by the name, style, and title of Queen of Hell’.
In another letter William Beckford refers to her ‘As her infernal majesty happens to have immense possessions… in the Island of Jamaica… she took it into her extremely eccentric head that as a West Indian potentate I ought to receive distinguished homage’.
Lady Home first took up residence in Portman Square in 1771 with the lease of a house on the south side of the Square.
However in June 1772 she decided to take out a ninety-year lease for a plot of land on the north side of the Square.
In 1997 Harris noted five surviving ceiling designs by Wyatt for the Countess of Home, with at least three of these ceilings executed. First employed in 1772, it seems Wyatt fell out of favour with the Countess and he was dismissed in January 1775, to be replaced by Robert Adam. Therefore the shell of 20 Portman Square was in fact constructed by Wyatt, along with some interior work which was subsequently drastically altered by Adam.
In 1774 the house appears in the rate books suggesting the exterior was completed at this time.
From January 1775 the Adam office were employed to complete the unfinished rooms at 20 Portman Square. Given free reign by the client, Adam was also able to alter Wyatt’s existing work and adapt the spaces accordingly. It is possible that, in her choice of architect, Lady Home was influenced by her neighbours William Locke and Lord Scarsdale, who were both Adam clients.
However, it is more likely the Countess was influenced by her relative Anne,
Duchess of Cumberland, wife of Henry Frederick Duke of Cumberland.as Adam also produced designs for Cumberland House.
Originally numbered
18, the house was re-numbered 17 in 1777. Its present number 20 arises from a
re-ordering of the square in 1859.
Elizabeth, Countess of Home died at 20 Portman Square on 15
January 1784, aged 80. She is buried in St. Erasmus Chapel, Westminster Abbey.
The house in 1932 became the first home of the Courtauld Institute.
Much of the detail of her later life published here have been adapted from The Soane Museum website which has a fabulous collection of drawings and designs for Home House by the office of Robert Adam. see -
https://collections.soane.org/drawings
For a useful biography of Elizabeth, Countess of Home see -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Home,_Countess_of_Home#CITEREFPocockCook2011
see also for her Jamaica holdings and slave ownership -
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146649547
Literature ref. James Lawes etc
Vere Langford Oliver, Caribbeana being miscellaneous papers relating to the history, genealogy, topography, and antiquities of the British West Indies (6 vols., London, Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke, 1910-1919) vol. 2 p. 157. and vol. 5 pp. 55-58, 'Lawes of Jamaica'.
Trevor Burnard, Database of Jamaican inventories, 1674-1784.
For Monuments in the Colonies see - Persuasion and
Propaganda: Monuments and the Eighteenth-Century British Empire by Joan Coutu, pub. Mc Gill, Queens University Press. 2006.
I do not have a copy.
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The Images below Courtesy the Conway Library, Courtauld Gallery Website.
Including pedestal height: 75.5cm.
Width: 47.1cm
John Cheere came first worked with his most loyal early patron,
the 2nd Duke of Atholl, prior to 1740, when lead figures forming the first of
eight major orders were shipped north to Blair Castle.
There is an extremely fine gilt lead bust of the Duke of Athol at Blair Castle (see below).
The next shipment, billed in 1742, comprised seventeen
plaster busts, largely of classical and modern Men of Letters, this is Cheere’s
first documented series of library busts. -
The sculptor also sent up ten plaster statues and groups with
advice on their maintenance: ‘they shoud be painted over carefully with Flake
White and Turpentine Oile when they are set up ... and a little Drying Oile’.
Any parts broken during unpacking might be repaired with
‘Comon Glew’ (Cheere bills, bundle 55).
Archival References: Blair Castle, misc tradesmen’s
accounts, bundle 55, Cheere bills (Fulton 2001, appendix A 7-14);
Supplied with busts of Matthew Prior (after A Coysevox), John Dryden (after P
Scheemakers), William Congreve, Joseph Addison, Sir Francis Bacon (after L-F
Roubiliac), Dr Samuel Clarke, Dean Swift, Cicero, Horace.
Most mid 18th century the few surviving 18th century lead busts are assumed to have been
made by John Cheere who is recognised as the creator of some very fine lead
statuary as well as plaster busts, but the quality of this and several other
lead busts might suggest the hand of Roubiliac who certainly reproduced and
marketed his own works in plaster.
Examples of these very rare lead busts include those of Dr
Salmon and his wife and the anonymous bust at the V and A, a bust of
Matthew Prior (when purchased believed to have been the painter Rigaud) now in
the Louvre, and a very fine bust, perhaps of the Italian castrato opera singer
Farinelli (with the London trade in 2014) and a bust of the Duke of Atholl at
Blair Castle
see -
http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2018/01/lead-bust-of-matthew-prior-by-john.html
and -
http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-very-good-and-extremely-rare-mid-18th.html
Resident slave-owner and agent of the South Sea Co. in
Jamaica, party to public divorce proceedings in Jamaica in 1741.
Owner of 413 acres and 104 enslaved people in St Andrew,
Jamaica, in 1753.
Edward Manning was listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books
for 1754 as the owner of 750 acres of land in St Andrew, 480 acres in St
Thomas-in-the-East, 1500 acres in Portland, 3200 acres in Clarendon and 80
acres in Vere, total 6010 acres.
"M.A. Kingston 1744, '45, '49, '52. Portland 1754, '55,
'56. Speaker 1756. Called to the Council 1756. Died K.P.C. 1756, December 6;
aged 46 years. He was married to the sister of Sir Henry Moore, but they were
divorced; Ballard Beckford was the Co-Respondent."
Anna Catalina, daughter of Elizabeth Pinnock, a free mulatto
woman, by the Honble Edward Manning esq, was born 13/5/1755 and bapt. at
Kingston 24/11/1755. Perhaps the mother was Elizabeth Pinnock [no racial
description given] whose daughter Sarah was baptised in St Andrew 22/12/1749
[no paternity mentioned].
Will of Edward Manning of Kingston, Jamaica proved
05/05/1758. After monetary legacies to his family in England and providing for
'a free mulatto' woman Elizabeth Pinnock and Elizabeth's children, he left his
estates 1/4 to his nephew Sabine Turner and 3/4 to Sarah and Mary Lawrence, the
daughters of his sister Sarah Baxter.
Edward Manning of Kingston, Esquire. Estate probated in
Jamaica in 1758. Slave-ownership at probate: 609 of whom 327 were listed as
male and 282 as female. 132 were listed as boys, girls or children. Total value
of estate at probate: £67,297.54 Jamaican currency of which £25,322.18 currency
was the value of enslaved people. Estate valuation included £15.39 currency
cash, £33,218.13 currency debts and £1,243.56 currency plate.
For the indiscretions of both Manning and his wife in Jamaica see -
https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/27514/2/799860_vol_2.pdf
for more on Manning and the iniquitous Slave Trade in Jamaica see -
http://www.barrow-lousada.org/PDFdocs/Kingston%20loan%20books.pdf
see also
A 1748 “Petition of Negro Slaves” and the Local Politics of Slavery in Jamaica by James Roberstonin the The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 67, No. 2 (April 2010), pp. 319-346 (28 pages).
available on line through jstor
The Monument to Edward Manning (1710 -56).
Previously suggested as by Roubiliac.
Currently attributed to Sir Robert Taylor (1714 - 88) which would seem most likely.
Taylor seems to have specialised in relief portraits on his monuments.
There several Taylor monuments - Thomas Withers in Bridgetown, Barbados (damaged) d August 1750 which resembles also the monument to John Andrews in Trinity Hall Chapel, Cambridge.
Image below courtesy the Conway Library, Courtauld Gallery.
To the Memory of THOMAS WITHERS Mercht. who Died Aug. 30th 1750,
Aged 68 Years. A Man of fair Character in his Profession And unaffected Piety in his Life.
In the Dispatch of Business punctual and exact. In his Friendships hearty and sincere, In his Conversation affable and free. Charity which actually extended itself to man[y,] [A]nd readiness with a
Benevolence that reached Al[l.]
This monument was erected by his Son . . .Daniel Moore
https://photoarchive.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk/objects/408117/barbados-museum-and-historical-society-monument-to-thomas-w?ctx=5ec3d345d520f6ce3357963a606bb7f358d4e049&idx=6
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Of Tangential Interest.
John Bacon and his Jamaican Monuments.
John Bacon’s commission to produce a statue of Admiral Lord Rodney to be located in the main square of Spanish Town Jamaica led to a further 11 requests from senior government officials and wealthy planters over the next decade. Included are 5 examples here; three from Spanish Town Cathedral and one each from Kingston Parish Church and St James's Church Montego Bay.
https://victorianweb.org/sculpture/baconsenior/jamaica.htm
List of John Bacon’s Jamaican works (from Roscoe)
Roscoe Number.
47. John
Wolmer (†1729), Funerary Monument . 1789. St.
Thomas, Kingston, Jamaica.
49. George
McFarquhar (†1786). Funerary Monument. 1791, St.
James, Montego Bay, Jamaica.
56. Dr
Fortunatus Dwarris (†1790) and his niece, Anne Neufville (†1782). Funerary Monument 1792 Kingston,
Jamaica
72. Malcolm
(†1781) and Eleanor Laing (†1747). Funerary
Monument . 1794. St. Thomas, Kingston, Jamaica.
74. Rosa
Palmer (†1790). Funerary Monument. 1794. St.
James, Montego Bay, Jamaica
82. E Prince. Funerary Monument. 1795. Port Antonio. Jamaica, WI
96. Thomas,
4th Earl and Catherine, Countess of Effingham (both †1791). Funerary Monument, 1796. Spanish
Town Cathedral, Jamaica.
105. Anne
Williamson (†1794). Funerary
Monument. 1798. Spanish Town Cathedral, Jamaica.
108. Richard
Batty (†1796). Funerary Monument. 1798. Spanish
Town Cathedral, Jamaica.
110. Francis
Rigby Brodbelt (†1795). Funerary Monument. 1799. Spanish
Town Cathedral, Jamaica.
112. Mary Carr
(†1798). Funerary Monument ? 1799. Kingston
Cathedral, Jamaica.
150. Admiral Lord
Rodney. Statue. 1786-1790. Spanish
Town, Jamaica.
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For a very good high resolution 18th century map of Jamaica see -
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