Bath, Art and Architecture: 03/17/25

Monday, 17 March 2025

A Set of Eight John Cheere Busts.

Set of Eight Plaster Busts of Male Scholars.

Attributed to John Cheere.

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 Milton.

..................

The Bust of Jonathan Swift.

................................

The Bust of Alexander Pope.

.........................

Bust of Isaac Newton

Charles Harris of the Strand - Plaster Casting.

This is a first attempt at following the course of plaster figure and bust manufacture over the course of the 18th Century into the 19th century from the busts cast by Roubiliac, John Cheere, his employees Messrs Hoskins and Grant, Peter Vanina (Rysbracks caster), William Wilton and his son Joseph Wilton, John (d.1765) and the formidable Mary Landre, John Flaxman father (d.1803) and son (1755 - 1826), Theodore Parker and his son Richard Parker and Richards partner from 1776 Charles Harris(d. 1795). deVille and Benjamin and Robert Shout.

Charles Harris (d.1795).

Sculptor and Supplier of Plaster Casts.

At the Alfred's Head. 162 Strand. Opposite the New Church in the Strand. (St Mary le Strand).

Formerly in Partnership with Richard Parker.

Catalogue in French for 1777.

For more on Richard Parker and Charles Harris see -

http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/asummary-of-researches-into-bust-of.html

For Parker supplying Wedgwood with plaster casts see -
and also Hoskins and Grant who supplied plaster busts etc to Wedgwood.

Hoskins and Grant were in St Martin's Lane in 1788.

(both formerly assistants to John Cheere at Hyde Park Corner).

The Life of Josiah Wedgwood: From His Private Correspondence and Family Papers ... with an Introductory Sketch of the Art of Pottery in England, Volume 2. Hurst and Blackett, 1866.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=KpxGAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22Hoskins+and+Grant%22+London&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Harris was still trading in the Strand in 1790.

His will was proved 8 May 1795.

.............................

A Plaster Bust inscribed by Richard Parker.

Height 65 cms.

Signed to the underside 'R.Parker/Strand. c 1770's.

The socle is typical of the busts supplied by John Cheere.

Christies 26 March 2013.

https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5662969

...............................

Invoice signed by Mr Parker to the Earl of Winterton.

For Bustos of Virgil and Dryden.

18 June 1776.

Image courtesy British Museum.

..............................

Trade Card for Charles Harris.

British Museum.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_Heal-106-15

.................................

Charles Harris and Richard Parker, Plaster Figures and Busts.

Harris was in partnership with Richard Parker by 1776, working at the Parkers premises in the Strand, opposite the New Church with a second premises in Bond Street, Bath.

Richard Parker specialized in making casts. There was a set of busts by him at Ashburnham Place, Sussex, - Locke, Milton, Congreve, Prior, See Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors .Roscoe. 2009).

Richard Parker is mentioned as Statuary of The Strand bankrupt in The Gentleman’s Magazine and The Town and Country Magazine in October, 1776.

Parker was employed by Wedgwood to make casts, their archives contain a letter from their London agent William Cox which states “Mr Parker has cast the medallions off in the best manner him and I could well contrive. I should be glad of your notes respecting the propriety or Deserts of the Performance. (Wedgwood/ParkerE5/30873 undated - 1760's).

Theodore Parker, father of Richard supplied Wedgwood in 1769 with a figure of Shakespeare (this is probably after John Cheere's model of the original by Scheemakers.

In 1769 Theodore Parker supplied Wedgwood with Flora, Seres, Spencer, Hercules, Seres Large, Juno, Prudence, Milton and Shakespeare (Wedgwood/Parker L1/73, Theodore Parker acct Sept 1769 – 18 Dec 1769.

Parker also supplied ‘Bracket open work’, ‘a boy, a couch’ 3 dogge. Same refs.

1774, Richard Parker supplied busts to Wedgwood & Bentley see Plagiarism personified. European pottery and porcelain figures, Julia Poole 1986.

Busts Zingara and Vestal and Pug Dog 10^th Feb 1774. On the bill is the printed heading

‘Scagliola;/or Plaster casts of Elegant subjects/ proper to introduce into the decoration of rooms, staircases, halls etc/ Richard Parker/ Opposite the new curch in the Strand/ having obtained from Joseph Wilton Esq. statuary to his majesty,/ various moulds of bas reliefs and bustos, made upon his original models / has the honour to acquaint the nobility and gentry, that they may be accommodated with casts at the shortest notice, Sundry samples of which with/ their prices may be seen at the above RICHARD PARKER’S / N.B. These original casts can be had at no other place; and although it may happen/ that some figure makers may clandestinely make moulds of any of those casts, they can / produce at best but an impression void of every original touch’.

In 1785 in Biographical Anecdotes of William Hogarth: with a catalogue of his works by John Nichols ... - Page 20 mentions a catalogue of the Statues, Bustos, etc of Richard Parker Statuary in the Strand and Hogarth’s Pug Dog.

Harris is noted as still at 162 Strand, in London, Kent’s Directory of 1794.

................................

................

The Richard Parker Letterhead.

Undated - prior to 1776 when Parker was made bankrupt.

I am very grateful to Lucy Lead of the Wedgwood Archives for supplying the image below.

On the bill is the printed heading.

‘Scagliola;/or Plaster casts of Elegant subjects/ proper to introduce into the decoration of rooms, staircases, halls etc/ Richard Parker/ Opposite the new church in the Strand/ having obtained from Joseph Wilton Esq. statuary to his majesty,/ various moulds of bas reliefs and bustos, made upon his original models / has the honour to acquaint the nobility and gentry, that they may be accommodated with casts at the shortest notice, Sundry samples of which with/ their prices may be seen at the above RICHARD PARKER’S /

N.B. These original casts can be had at no other place; and although it may happen/ that some figure makers may clandestinely make moulds of any of those casts, they can / produce at best but an impression void of every original touch’.

The reference to the various moulds .... Joseph Wilton is instructive. This might have include moulds etc purchased at the posthumous Roubiliac sale at St Martin's Lane in May of 1762.

Harris was still trading at the Strand address in 1794

In 1785 in Biographical Anecdotes of William Hogarth: with a catalogue of his works by John Nichols ... - Page 20 mentions, very much in passing a catalogue of the Statues, Bustos, etc of Richard Parker Statuary in the Strand is Hogarth’s Pug Dog Trump.. (below).

.........................

The Life of Josiah Wedgwood from his Private Correspondence ......Eliza Meteyard, 1866, Vol II Page 326. .

This is an invaluable resource and we must be grateful for Metyard's Meticulous research particularly useful here for the references to the plaster busts and figures supplied by the Parkers father and son, Mary Landre and Messres Hoskins and Grant.

For the purchase of a plaster "pug dog" (Hogarth's Trump) from Richard Parker see the extract below

page 326 below from Metyard.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-AkqAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=true

................

Wedgwood and John Flaxman 15 Jan. 1775.

Flaxman Snr's shop was first in New Street, Covent Garden, and he then moved to larger premises on the Strand.

Metyard page 322.

Wedgwood and Hoskins and Grant.

Metyard Page 324.

Wedgwood and Hoskins and Grant, Mary Landre and Richard Parker.

Metyard Page 325.

The first Edition - 1773 of the Wedgwood Catalogue is available on line at

https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_a-catalogue-of-cameos-i_wedgwood-and-bentley_1773/page/n51/mode/2up

..................................

Some references to Messrs Parker and Harris in the Strand from Westminster Archives.

1. - Their Ref 1366/05/02.

Ann Clark of St Mary-le-Strand, widow of Edward Clark decd.

Richard Parker of St Mary-le-Strand, statuary.

Edward Clark died intestate and letters of administration were granted to his widow. The lease of 26 Jun 1769 is now assigned to Richard Parker.

Enclosed 1770: Fire Insurance Policy issued to Richard Parker 25 Jun 1770 and thereafter assigned Jun 1770 to John Hotley of The Strand, baker and subsequently 23 Apr 1774 by ....Hotley to William Cobb of Duke Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields.

22 Dec 1769.

.................

2. Their ref. 1366/05/03.

Richard Parker of St Mary-le-Strand, Strand, statuary.

John Hotley of St Clement Danes, baker.

Mortgage in the sum of £150 of the lease dated 26 Jun 1769 of premises in The Strand abutting Somerset House.

.......................

3. Westminster Archives their ref. 1366/05/04.

3.1. John Hotley of St Clement Danes, baker.

2. Richard Parker of St Mary-le-Strand, statuary

3. William Cobb of St Giles, gentleman.

Assignment of the mortgage of £150, all interest to date having been paid.

4. Their ref. 1366/05/05.

1. William Cobb of St Giles, gentleman

2. Richard Parker of St Mary-le-Strand, statuary

3. Henry Hoare junior of the Royal Terrace, Adelphi, Esq

Further asignment of the mortgage debt, now in the sum of œ172. 9s.

ENCLOSED 31 Jan 1777:

Fire insurance policy issued in the name of Charles Harris on 162 The Strand stating that the two adjacent houses are now intercommunicating. On the reverse is a memorandum stating the policy shall be for the benefit of Henry Hoare junior as consideration for a loan based on the security of utensils and stock.

.........................

The Monument to 3rd and 4th Dukes of Ancaster.

.St Michael and All Angels Church. Edenham, Lincolnshire.

Charles Harris c.1777/8.

NB. the late use of the Craggs / Shakespeare pose first used by Guelfi.

Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke of Ancaster (1714-1778) married Elizabeth Blundell, and secondly Mary Panton (d.1793). Shown seated holding a cameo of the Duchess. Standing in roman dress is the 4th Duke, Robert Bertie (1756-1779).He never married, and died of Scarlet Fever.

Monument by Charles Harris of London.

For the remarkable group of monuments at Edenham see -

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2016/11/monuments-in-church-at-edenham1.html

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2016/11/monuments-in-church-at-edenham-2.html

.......................

John Flaxman Snr.

His shop was first in New Street, Covent Garden, and he then moved to larger premises on the Strand.

It was said that he had ‘kept a large shop in the Strand, for the sale of plaster figures, which was not then so hackneyed a trade, as it has now become by the large importation of Italians’ (Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. 97, 1827, p. 273)

.........................

Mrs. Mary Landré (fl 1766 - 74) - Plaster Figure Maker.

A few notes.

See Metyard extract above for objects supplied to Wedgwood

Wife of John Landre (d.1765) of St Giles Parish. .

Will proved - 23 December 1765. The National Archives' reference -PROB 11/914/414 - he left his house in Dublin to his wife and after her decease to the two daughters of his brother Francis.

..........................

Mary Landre - In 1766, supplied ornamental figures and vases to Duke of Bedford (Poole/Woburn Abbey).

from - https://www.northernceramicsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/DEALERS-LIST-November2022.pdf

The Trade Card of John Landre.

Image courtesy British Museum.

prior to 1765.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_Banks-106-18

For more on John and Mary Landre see -

http://english18thcenturyportraitsculpture.blogspot.com/2024/09/mrs-mary-landre-figure-maker.html

..........................

For the possibility of two plaster busts of Caracalla and Marcus Aurelius being supplied to the Foundling Hospital by Roubiliac see -

http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2024/11/plaster-busts-at-foundling-hospital.html

..........................

A few notes on Benjamin and his nephew Robert Shout.

For a very useful biography of the Shouts by Jacob Simon see -

http://www.npg.org.uk/research/programmes/british-bronze-founders-and-plaster-figure-makers-1800-1980-1/british-bronze-founders-and-plaster-figure-makers-1800-1980-s

Robert Shout (described as Mason) insured 12 Eagle Street, Red Lyon Square with the Sun Insurance Company I February 1791

Benjamin and Robert Shout described as Masons and Statuaries are noted as occupying a property behind 13 Eagle Street, Red Lyon Square 31 March 1792 in the records of the Sun Fire Insurance Company (London Metropolitan Archives -

From Biographical Dictionary of British Sculptors............... pub. Yale 2009.

https://gunnis.henry-moore.org/henrymoore/sculptor/browserecord.php?-action=browse&-recid=2437

Robert Shout must have been born around 1760, for in 1835 he gave his age as 75 (Shout/Peel) and he was probably the son of John Shout (1738-81), a mason of Stockton-on-Tees, and his wife Mary (†1814).

By 1785 Shout was working in partnership with his uncle, Benjamin Shout. Their tradecard, printed that year, describes them as ‘Sculptors and Masons’. Shout married his first wife, Lucy, in or around 1794 and their child, Charles Lutwyche Shout, was christened at St Andrew, Holborn, in December that year. Benjamin and Robert’s business was run from 18 High Holborn, where Robert lived, and from 13 Eagle Street, St Andrew’s, Holborn. They remained in partnership until Benjamin’s death in 1811.

Robert’s earliest known design, for an unidentified wall-monument with a sarcophagus in relief, dates from May 1795. The surviving drawings are all signed by Robert Shout alone and he may have been chiefly responsible for the firm’s designs. Neither they nor the works themselves are particularly noteworthy. Most are well-carved wall-monuments with the standard motif of a woman grieving over an urn or column and they often incorporate familiar neoclassical features, such as a sarcophagus with lion’s feet, strigil decoration or a tabula ansata (or winged board) .

By 1798, when Shout published his bust of Nelson (41), the partners were supplying works in plaster for the popular market. The venture appears to have been successful, despite competition from John Flaxman I, and later Humphrey Hopper. Among Shout’s products in plaster were architectural ornaments, particularly lamp-stands (52, 54-6), and busts, sold singly or as a series (43).

Benjamin Shout died in 1811, leaving instructions in his will that his half-share in the business should be sold to Robert, to provide financial support for his own widow and son. The enforced purchase does not appear to have had an adverse effect on Robert’s business, which he probably conducted alone until around 1820. He continued to produce monuments and casts of works by famous sculptors. In 1819 the Annals of the Fine Arts published a puff for the casts which Shout had recently produced of works by Antonio Canova (37-40). These were said to have been taken from the original works and were praised for the ‘delicate precision’ with which every detail had been reproduced. The article concluded by suggesting that Shout had given Canova’s admirers an ‘opportunity of gratifying themselves at a moderate expense’ (Annals of the Fine Arts 1819, 632).

The Shout Catalogue.

C. 1805.

Printed by Edward Spragg (fl.1794 - 1850), 27, Bow Street, Covent Garden.

Spragg was at 27, Bow Street by July 1801 (dated engraving The Quack Doctor's Prayer after Rowlandson in the Welcome Collection) still at Bow Street in 1819, he had left by 1824.