Thomas Worlidge (1700 - 1766) sometimes referred to as The English Rembrandt.
John Wicksteed (d. 15 Dec1754) Seal cutter of
Lyncombe, Bath.
First Draft. - A series of loose notes and images.
The origins of the Wicksteed family remain obscure. There were several Wicksteeds working in London in the 18th Century who might have been related.
The name appears to have originated from Cheshire.
John Wicksteed’s wife Sarah Wicksteed had the shop that was on the Corner on the South side of Orange Grove, Bath nearest to the Abbey from c 1732 – 67.
The house survives although much altered to the frontage in the early 20th century (see photographs below).
Most of the retailers in
business and selling fancy goods in Orange Grove in the 18th century can also be
identified.
The shop on the parade at Orange Grove with the shop closest to the
East end of the Abbey Church and the first to have a bow-fronted display
window, was John Wicksteed's, toyman, china-dealer and seal-engraver.
His wife Sarah probably tended the shop from c.1727 while he
himself managed the water-powered jewelling-mill ('Wicksteed's Machine') that
he had set up in Lyncombe in about 1729.
A signboard over the
door in Orange Grove advertised 'Stone Seals', meaning the coats-of-arms,
crests and ciphers he engraved on Brazilian pebblestone at this mill and set in
gold mounts.
I suspect that some intaglios previously attributed to Burch, Marchant and Tassie are in fact by Wicksteed.
I am as yet unaware of any intaglios that can be positively identified with Wicksteed's productions but given the length of time that he was in business I am hopeful that some of his products well reappear.
............................
Some notes John Wicksteed of Bath -
here adapted from Bath
Commercialised by Trevor Fawcett. 2002.
The Seal Engravers.
The chief use of a seal was to authenticate documents,
though there was snob value too in wielding a personalised seal that bore a
family device or coat of arms. Moreover, the mechanical craft of seal engraving
shaded off into gem engraving with its pleasing overtones of Classical
Antiquity.
Both aspects, utilitarian and aesthetic, were present in
this specialist Bath trade datable to c.1732 when John and Sarah Wicksteed
opened a 'toyshop' in Orange Grove which offered the additional service of
bespoke intaglio seals. John Wicksteed's workshop may have remained in
Bathampton at this point, but in about 1729 he re-sited it in Lyncombe Vale
just off Ralph Allen Drive on the rout to Prior Park House.
This proved an
inspired move, for 'Wicksteed's Machine' - named after his water-powered
'jewelling mill' - soon became a favourite spot to visit, a curiosity of the
neighbourhood out of which a tea garden, the Bagatelle, would eventually
emerge. Orders could be placed at the Orange Grove shop, whose prominent sign,
'STONE SEALS', announced the engraved 'Brazil pebble' insignia set in gold
which were still the main product.
.........................
John Wood I, the Bath
Architect and John Wicksteed.
"The
Art of Engraving Seals was brought to Bath, about seventeen Years ago [c.
1725], by Mr John Wicksted; and he fixed his Machine at Hamton, (Bathampton) removing it
afterwards to the Junction at the lower Parts of Widcomb and Lyncomb, where it
now remains in a small Building, for which I made a Design on the 15th of
August, 1737, every Way suitable to the Vaste and Spirit Of our Artist; but a
Proposal by his Engineer, and others, to erect it with common Wall Stone to be
first Plaistered; and then Painted to imitate Brickwork; was such an Instance
of whim and Caprice, that when I got the Draughts I had made into my
Possession, I never parted them again. This was to have been two and thirty
feet square, of the Dorick order one storey high and covered with a pyramidal
roof in the vertex of which the funnels of the chimneys were to rise up” –from Wood’s An Essay towards a description of Bath,
423.
The land on
which Wicksteed’s Mill and house were located were leased for 99 years from
1729 from Mr Phillip Bennet of Widcombe Manor – See - A Survey of the the
Parish of Widcombe taken by order of Vestry Augst 22d :1737.
However, on
John Wicksteed's death in 1754, his son James Wicksteed (d.1824) seems to have
branched out, first exploiting the more creative vein of cameo miniatures, and
later (1769) developing a small spa and the Bagatelle garden on the Lyncombe
site.
Subsequent
events were dictated by a family quarrel. James Wicksteed sold the Bagatelle
property in 1773 and departed for London, working as an engraver at Mays
Buildings in St Martin’s Lane in 1779 and later 30 Henrietta Street Covent
Garden abandoning the seal business in Bath to his estranged son Edward (d. 1778).
Then for
eight years (1778-86) Edward’s widow Mary, with a young family to support, kept
the firm going in premises (still dubbed 'Wicksteed's Machine') at the New
Bridge (Pulteney Bridge).
Here she
employed several skilled men and sold through the toyshops - all in the face of
bitter competition from her father-in-law, James Wicksteed, who had returned to
the Bath fray.
James
Wicksteed lived briefly at 39 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden with the painter
George Stubbs where he worked as an engraver and gem engraver.
Both
Wicksteeds, though, had died by summer of 1787 leaving the field open to
Anthony Vere, a London seal engraver equipped likewise with a 'machine' as well
as a collection of heraldry books for reference. (See Bath Chronicle 20 Dec
1787), Vere “engraver of seals at his home opposite the Pump Room & his
collection of heraldry may be inspected” In 1763 his address was in Maiden Lane,
Covent Garden (Mortimers Directory).but was probably spending the Winter season
in Bath.
Vere had
worked during the Winter season at Bath since c.1779, and besides sculpting
cameos, engraving metallic, jewelled and figured seals, and setting gems, he
accepted copperplate commissions for bookplates and visiting cards.
The Bath
printer-engraver William Hibbert was retailing black cipher seals in 1776.
…………..
The Handbill Dated
1741.
Referring to the Mill
on the Road leading to Prior Park the House of Ralph Allan.
....................
Advertisement in the
Bath Journal - 2 April 1761.
Note the reference to
likenesses taken.
September 1761.
...................................
George Speren (1711 - 96) spellings vary.
At the Fan and Orange, Orange Grove, Bath.
Orange Grove, Bath,
looking South 1737.
The Wicksteed’s shop
is on the far right with the bay windows.
.................................
Orange Grove c. 1733 - 34.
Here is image of a fan leaf engraving by Jonathan
Pinchbeck of 1737.
Pinchbeck at The Fan and Crown, New-Round Court, Strand, London.
'June 3, 1738.
This day is Published on a Fan Mount (Fit for the Second Mourning or in colours) An accurate and lively Prospect of the celebrated Grove at Bath, whereon the rural Pleasures and exact Decorum of the company are curiously represented, with some cursory Observations on the Behaviour of Sundry Persons, particularly the famous B. N.
' Likewise the rural Harmony and delightful Pleasures of Vaux-Hall Gardens. Also the Royal Repository, or Merlin's Cave ; being an exact Emblem of that beautiful Structure erected by the late Queen in the Royal Gardens at Richmond.
'Sold wholesale or retail at Pinchbeck's Fan Warehouse, etc., by Mr. Crowbrow, at the India House on the Walk and at Mr. Dalassol's and Mr. Weakstead' Shops in the Grove at Bath.'
Image courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Marked No. 8 in series; inscribed "Published by I
Pinchbeck according to Act of Parliament.
https://dn790002.ca.archive.org/0/items/historyoffan00rhea/historyoffan00rhea.pdf
.............................
Here is another image of a fan
leaf engraving by Jonathan Pinchbeck of 1737.
at The Fan and Crown, New-Round Court, Strand, London.
View of Orange Grove looking East to Nassau House.
The Wickstead's Shop is nearest to the viewer on the right
The follwing paragraphs adapted from the essay publiahed by Trevor Fawcewtt and Martha Inskipp in the Journal of the history of Bath - available on line at -
Building on the narrow strip of land to the east of tyhe abbey facing north to Orange Grove started in earnest in 1705.
Masters sold out to a milliner, John Cornish, who proceeded to extend the premises. Two more plots
were taken on his east (sites 21-20) where the goldsmith Philip Hayes and the saddler Walter Chapman, another councillor, built on either side of the entrance to St Peter's Gate, which now led to the first properly paved walk in Bath, the origin of Terrace Walk. Closer to the Abbey Church, Councillor Richard Morgan, a maltster who had obtained William Long's plot, and the clothier Councillor George Trim likewise built onto the lengthening row of shops (sites 24-5). The terrace was then completed with a final shop (site 26 later the Wicksteeds shop), put up in 1707 by Councillor Henry
Townsend, landlord of the Bear Inn. By now all the row
except Walter
Chapman's had upper storeys and two had overhanging eaves.
Early in
1708 the majority gained extra space by digging out cellars
under Gravel
Walks ten feet beyond their frontages. Another line of
sycamores must
have been sacrificed, but the gain included a broad parade,
paved almost
certainly in limestone flags, that ran before the shops and
linked up with
the embryonic Terrace Wall<. The final touch came around
1709 when
Walter Chapman added upper rooms to his property by the city
wall and
joined with his neighbour Philip Hayes in bridging over
StPeter's Gate
leaving only a passageway beneath (between sites 21 and 20).
Next door to Wicksteed's shop was Ditcher's millinery shop which was still there in 1731, it seems, but eventually the toyman George Sperring (or Speren) took the tenancy. It is tempting to think this may have happened about 1737 when Sperring published a fan view of Orange Grove similar to that of Thomas Robins, only this time taken from the north with the parade of shops deliberately highlighted as if for publicity.
The Sperrens (Sperrings) traded here until the mid -1780s, and though they never owned their shop they did eventually acquire the adjoining premises (site 24) after its long tenure with John Jacobs (the plasterer who built it) and his widow Elizabeth. This shop had a variety of tenants. In the 1730s and 1740s it was occupied by a jeweller of likely Huguenot descent, Peter Goul(l)et, who took several apprentices at this period.
The next house along the terrace (site 23) held a milliner, Ann Walton, by 1736, but seems to have been sublet for a time to a toyman and jeweller, John Pyke, before reverting to the Waltons in the 1750s. It was associated with dress and fashion for the rest of the century. Beyond it the most spacious shop in the row (site 22) belonged to the milliner John Cornish until c.1727, but then assumed the role it retained into the nineteenth century with the arrival, almost certainly at this address, of a bookseller, James Warriner, son of a coffee-house-keeper and originally apprenticed to that trade. Whether he followed Leake's example in launching a circulating library is unrecorded, but his successor about1740, William Frederick, certainly did and also like Leake embarked on publishing. Frederick's and Leake's were the 'two excellent booksellers shops' mentioned by the philosopher and physician David Hartley in 1742 as he tried to tempt a friend to settle at Bath.
The use to which the neighbouring house eastward (site 21) was put in the first half of the century remains curiously obscure considering its prominent position at the entry to Terrace Walk. Owned but not occupied from 1724 by the milliner John Cornish, it may have been a small tavern, but this is only to judge from the sign of the King's Head that hung outside in 1748 when a jeweller, James Tilly, lodged there and perhaps used the small rooms over the passage. These would be suitable for such a craft, as they were for the well-known watchmaker Richard Laurence when he first started up in Bath about 1753.
On the other side of the passage between 21 and 20, the Chapman property had ceased to be a private house and probably had commercial tenants, a wigmaker and a hatter-and-hosier eventually among them.
............................
From Ansteys New Bath Guide, first published in 1766.
This is written in rhymed epistles, and deals with the adventures of the B—r—d Family at Bath, with the Consultation of Physicians, the Gaming Rooms, the Balls, the Bathing, and the Public Breakfasts.
Young
“B—r—d,” who commences Man of Taste and Spirit,” describes his costume in the
following lines :
“ I ride in a Chair with my Hands in a Muff,
And have bought a silk Coat, and embroidered the Cuff.
But the Weather was cold, and the Coat it was thin,
So the Taylor advised me to line it with Skin.
But what with my Nivernois Hat can compare,
Bag-wig and laced Ruffles, and black Solitaire
And what can a Man of
true Fashion denote.
Like an Ell of good Ribbon tyed under the Throat.
My Buckles and Box are in excellent Taste,
The one is of paper, the other of Paste,
And sure no Camayer (cameo) was ever yet seen,
Like that which I
purchased at Wickstead’s machine.
My Stockings of Silk arc just come from the Hozier,
For to-night I'm to dine with the charming Miss Tozer."
...............................
Thomas Robins at Bath.
Robins advertised in the Bath Journal on 30 October 1752
that he was a 'Painter' who taught at Mr Sperin's Toy-Shop in the Grove, Bath,
gentlemen and ladies at reasonable rates 'The Art of Drawing and Painting in
Watercolours: Where his Drawings and Paintings may be seen. Likewise Perspects
and Prospective Views of Gentlemens Seats in the correctest Manner.
..............................
....................
Some Early Photographs of the Wicksteed’s shop in Orange
Grove Bath c. 1890, prior to the Edwardian refronting of the whole block and
the demolition of the East end which had been the fashionable Leake’s bookshop
in the mid18th Century.
The Terrace or Parade
was originally constructed in about 1706.
The view below the rear of the terrace on the South side of Orange Grove . The house on the left with gable is the rear of the wicksteeds premises.
.......................
………………
The Diary of Thomas
Parsons (1744 - 18.
Aged 25.
Stonemason/ carver of Claverton St, Widcombe,
(Witcombe), Bath.
Extracts from An Eighteenth-Century Stone
Carver's Diary Identified', Susan Sloman, The British Art Journal, vol.7, no.3,
2007, p.7).
Much more on the Parsons, Greenways and
the tangled links between the families in Bath etc to be found at
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-parsons-of-bath-18th-century-stone.html
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-parsons-of-bath-18th-century-stone_16.html
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-parsons-of-bath-18th-century-stone_64.html
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-parsons-of-bath-18th-century-stone_52.html
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-parsons-of-bath-18th-century-stone_48.html
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-parsons-of-bath-18th-century-stone_15.html
I am very grateful to the archivists
at Bath Archives for allowing me access and to take the photograph here of the
illustrated manuscript of Thomas Parsons.
........................
The Journal Entries from January
1769.
26 January
1769:
In the afternoon went with young Wicksteed (James) to see Worlidge's performances,
consisting of etchings mostly, very curious and exquisitely and delicate some
of 'em are - but our modern Painters and engravers seem to shun pieces of
history and groups of figures except in loose etchings - Worlidge gives great
spirit to his pieces his shades are dark which gives his heads an animated
appearance and vivacity and life - he seems to affect a vulgarity in his
subjects a beggar - poor old Men and women Turks heads heads, Boars heads etc -
as if genius lay in copying nature under the greatest disadvantages - tho' some
of his heads and one figure in particular (the anatomical figure) are exceeding
soft and fine as if drawn with india Silk, instead of being etch'd.
20 March:
Was busy in
the tard today… went to Wicksteed’s in the evening am amazed at his
extravagance in pasting those exquisite fine etchings of Worlidge’s against the
wainscot which is (illegible) ground – besides the expense they are too minute to
look well at such a distance and have by no means a good effect - it will cost him more than a hundred pounds
I dare say and I fear twill not equal his expectations neither for the reasons
just mention’d.
21 March:
Work’t all
day sat up last night until after 12 looking over Worlidge’s gems- got up at
six found my spirits better than usual.
Wicksteed’s Machine
at Lyncombe, Bath Journal 31 May 1762.
To be SOLD,
by Private Contract, THE Following LEASEHOLD PREMISES, viz.— All those Two New-
built Messuages, with about an Acre of Garden thereto adjoining and belonging,
in which is a Canal, and also a valuable Spring of Mineral or Chalybeate
Water.— Also all that small Messuage, Tenement or Summer- House lying
contiguous thereto, in which is an Engine or Machine for engraving Stone Seals
: Together with the laid Engine or Machine, and the Appurtenances thereto
belonging; which said Premises are situate and being in the Parish of Widcombe
and Lyncombe in the County of SOMERSET, near the City of Bath, and are commonly
called or known by the Name of Wicksteed's Machine, or the Bagatelle. The above
Premises are in good Repair, very pleasantly situated, and are lett to Messrs.
Wicksteed and Bowers, at the yearly Rent of £100. The whole of the above
Premises are held by Lease for the Remainder of a Term of 99 Years absolute,
whereof 76 Years are unexpired, subject to the yearly chief Rent of J2I. Also
to be SOLD with the above Premises, an OR- CHARD of about three Acres and a
Half, adjoining thereto, for the Remainder of a Term of 21 Years, whereof 10
Years are unexpired, subject to the yearly Rent of 7I. 10s. For further particulars
(as to the Sale of the Premises) apply to Mr. Samuel Woodhouse, at the White-
Hart Inn, Stall- Street; and for a View of the fame to the said Mr. Wicksteed.
Mr. Bowers
seems to have been somewhat a showman himself. An advertisement of Sept 1770
tells that the healthy and cheerful situation of the Bagatelle at Widcombe in
the road of Prior Park has induced Mr. Bowers to have public breakfasts.
“ At the
same spot visitors may amuse the selves by seeing seals cut by the Wicksteed
water machine. Coffee, tea, dinners, the best wines”. Bath Journal 6 April 1772.
...........................
Another
advertisement tells that there, in
“The air serene, tabours play,
We breakfast, dance, and dine,
And, with innocence, crown the day,
Midst flasks of noble wine”.
But success
does not seem to have come as on 6th May 1773 (Bath Chronicle) was again offered
for sale in the parish of Widcombe and Lyncombe, a valuable spring of mineral
water and the Wicksteed machine and Bagatelle &c as let to Messrs.
Wicksteed and Bowers.
.......................
The Bagatelle to be sold.
........................
January 1780.
......................
Elizabeth Sheridan’s
Journal -
(10 July
1786)) ... we set out to a House [and pleasure garden] call'd St James's Palace
beyond where the Bagatelle was formerly; that House is now quite forsaken and
the garden overrun with weeds. When we arrived a little Girl inform'd us thro'
the gate that we could not be admitted as it was Witcombe revel [Widcombe Fair]
- on those occasions they shut up all public places here so fearful are they of
anything that might promote mirth. She would let us in but no tea was to be
had. Mrs F. is neither young nor very light so even a seat was acceptable and
we stroll'd round the gardens which are really very pretty.
Sheridan
(E.), Journal, p.93, June-July 1786.
……………………
The Worlidge Engraved
Self Portrait.1.
Thomas Worlidge (1700
– 1766) - A Brief Biography.
Worlidge was
born in Peterborough of Roman Catholic parents, his father was a lawyer. He studied
art in London as a pupil of the Genoese refugee Alessandro Maria Grimaldi
(1659−1732).
Worlidge
painted portraits of his master Grimaldi and his master's wife in about 1720.
He married Grimaldi's daughter Arabella, later he was assisted by George Powle and
his master's son Alexander Grimaldi - they remained on close terms for the rest
of his life.
Both were
involved in the last great Worlidge project to publish the 182 engravings of
gems proposed 1n 1766finally published as a whole in 1768.
Subsequently,
he received instruction from Louis Peter Boitard (d.1758). In about 1736
Worlidge and the younger Grimaldi are said to have visited Birmingham, where
Worlidge reintroduced the art of painting on glass. Worlidge returned to London
in the mid-1730s to study under the engraver Louis Pierre Boitard. During a
trip to Flanders and Holland in the company of Boitard the artist became
acquainted with the work of Rembrandt,
From about 1740
Worlidge was working both in Bath during the Winter Season and in London in the
neighbourhood of Covent Garden, he lived and worked from 'the little Piazza,
the Corner of James Street, Covent Garden' the Great Piazza, Covent Garden'
Later he was
in King Street Covent Gardenin 1740.
He was a
contributor in early public art exhibitions at the Society of Artists in 1761
and 1765 (where his address is recorded as Bedford Street, Covent Garden –
Sometime
later in 1765 he moved into Thomas Hudson's old house in Great Queen Street)
and at the Free Society in 1762 and 1765–6.
Around 1754
he also copied paintings and prints attributed to Rembrandt in the collections
of the Duke of Argyll and Thomas Hudson.
These may
well have been included in the exhibition of paintings and prints in Worlidge’s
house in Stall Street in Bath in 1758, which were described in his advertisement
for his prints after Rembrandt’s etching Christ with the Sick around Him (1647-49,
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam) (also known as The Hundred Guilder Print - so-named for
the price Rembrandt was able to command for it.
……………..
The Thomas Worlidge
Self Portrait of 1754.
Engraved for the Worlidge / Wicksteed Book on Antique Gems.
A Select Collection of Drawings from Curious Antique Gems : most of them in the possession of the nobility and gentry of this kingdom; etched after the manner of Rembrandt / by T. Worlidge, painter.
Printed by Dryden Leach, for M. Worlidge of Great
Queen St, Lincoln's-Inn-Fields; and M. Wicksteed, Seal-Engraver of Bath,
MDCCLXVIII [1768].
For M (Mary) Worlidge Great Queen Street, Lincolns Inn Fields and M Wicksteed Seal engraver at Bath
Vol II available on line at -
https://archive.org/details/selectcollection02worl/page/n9/mode/2up
…………….
Worlidge and
Rembrandt - The Hundred Guilder Print.
(Bath Advertiser, dated 7 October
1758).
Being an
exact copy of that Celebrated Etching of Rembrandt,
(Which
represents CHRIST healing the Sick, and contains above 40 figures)
Now in the
Possession of Edward Astley Esq.
Is just
Finished
By THOMAS
WORLIDGE, PAINTER, in BATH,
AND ON THE
SAME SIZE OF THE Original; and will be ready to deliver to the Subscribers in
ten Days, Subscriptions will continue to be received one Month after this Time
at Two Guineas each, the Price to Non-Subscribers will be Three Guineas, and
for no less will any be sold, there being but very few to be taken off more
than subscribed for;
Subscriptions
are received by Mr. WORLIDGE at his house at the Golden-Head in Stall-Street;
by Mrs. WICKSTEAD, in the Grove; and Mr. LEAKE and
Mr. FREDERICK, during that Time and no longer.
The Original
Print was sold for 30 Guineas.
Mr. WORLIDGE
has by him a curious Collection of Pictures, from the best Masters, which may
be seen at his House. (Presumably his house in at the Sign of the Golden Head, Stall
Street.
…………………….
Worlidge – The
Engraving of the Installation of the Earl of Westmorland (1761).
Worlidge’s
entrepreneurial approach to his artistic practice is further underlined by his depiction
of the ceremony in the Sheldonian Theatre for the installation of the Earl of Westmorland
as Chancellor of Oxford University in 1759 see https://wellcomecollection.org/works/ursc8jm7/images?id=p9n7j393
For this venture, his largest and most
elaborate work, the artist advertised for subscriptions (priced at one guinea),
in London, Oxford, and Bath and invited those wishing to have themselves
depicted in the scene to give him an extra five guineas for the privilege.
(London Evening Post, dated 18 -22 June 1759, Jackson’s Oxford Journal, dated
14 April 1759 and the Bath Advertiser, dated 21 April
1759)
The
subsequent print saw Worlidge depicting nearly two hundred faces and including
a self-portrait (we can see him sketching between the right pillar and the
print’s edge) Worlidge continued to divide his time between London and Bath
until he settled in Hammersmith, Middlesex, a few years before his death in
1766.
In 1762
Worlidge still had the premises at the Sign of the Golden Head in Stall Street,
Bath (Giles Walkley, Artists' Houses in London 1764-1914 (Aldershot, 1994), p.3)
James Ayres,
The Artist's Craft, A History of Tools, Techniques and Materials (1985), p.33;
Boddely's Bath Joumal, 5 April 1762.
In 1763 he moved
to Great Queen Street, Covent Garden into a large and prestigious house
originally built by Inigo Jones, adjoining the later site of the Freemasons'
Tavern. This house was previously the residence and studio of the portrait
painter Thomas Hudson.
Worlidge later became obese and a drinker in later life and suffered from gout.
He made his
will in 1764 from his address in Bedford St leaving everything to his wife and
at her death to be equally divided between his sons Thomas and Rubens.
Horace
Walpole states that in his latter years he spent part of the year in Bath.
In his last
years he spent much of his leisure in a country house situated in Messrs.
Kennedy & Lee nursery-ground at Hammersmith. There he died on 23 September
1766 and was buried in St Paul's Church in Hammersmith.
For much on
Lee and Kennedy see - Lee & Kennedy / Vineyard Nursery Hammersmith –
Olympia now stands on the site of the Nursery
– see https://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=18.11566
[From The history and antiquities of the parish of Hammersmith, by Thomas Faulkner, 1839, p. 42-43:] Lee's Nursery is situated on the north side of the Great Western road, and near Hammersmith turnpike. Mr. James Lee, who established this nursery, was born at Selkirk, in 1715. When he first came to London, he was employed at Syon, and afterwards at Whitton, by the Duke of Argyle. About the year 1760, he entered into partnership with Mr. Lewis Kennedy, gardener to Lord Bolton, at Chiswick, and commenced a nursery in what was called the Vineyard, at Hammersmith. About the middle of the last century, this vineyard produced annually a considerable quantity of Burgundy wine. A thatched house was built in the grounds, the upper part was used as a dwelling house, and for selling the wine, and underneath were the wine cellars. This house was formerly occupied by Worlidge, the celebrated engraver, and here he executed the most valuable and admired of his works. Mr. Lee was patronized by the Earl of Islay, afterwards Duke of Argyle, the planter of Whitton, who died in 1761, and other noblemen; he corresponded with Linnaeus, and composed an "Introduction to Botany," according to his system, published in 1760, which for many years was in the highest repute. He died in the year 1795, at the age of eighty years; his partner, Mr. Kennedy, having died previously, the nursery was carried on by the sons of the two founders, till 1818
A plain
marble slab, inscribed with verses by William Kenrick,
was placed on the wall of the church; it is now at the east end of the south
aisle.
Kenricks portrait had been engraved by
Worlidge (NPG).
His sales in
1764 and 1767 (Langford's). An annotated copy in British Museum gives a short
biography (shelfmark SC A.1.11)
For the
broadsheet catalogue of his prints published by his widow, see P&D library
Cc,5.30 (formerly placed as D 2 12); the numbers given in this are found on
later states of his plates.
His
copperplates were sold from the estate of William Rawle (d 1789) on 13 February
1790 by Hutchins (copy in P&D) Rawle was an executor of his will - Rawle
was described as an Accoutrements Maker, of Castle Court in the Strand (supplying
uniforms, hardware etc to the military).
The Thomas Worlidge Auction
Sales by Abraham Langford of the Piazza, Covent Garden. 5 April 1754 and the
Posthumous Sale of March 1767.
In April
1754 Worlidge had a large collection of his works sold by public auction. The
printed catalogue bore the title, ‘A Collection of Pictures painted by Mr.
Worlidge of Covent Garden, consisting ‘of Histories, Heads, Landscapes, and
Dead Game, and also some Drawings.’
"A
Catalogue of a Collection of Pictures Painted by Mr. Worlidge, Of
Covent-Garden, Consisting of Histories, Heads, Landscapes and Dead Game and
also some Drawings; Which, Together With A large and fine Picture of Orpheus
and Eurydice, by Guido, Brought over from France by the late Mr. Samuel Paris;
A View of Versailles, by Patel, And a large Family Picture, by Jordaens of
Antwerp, Will be sold by Auction, By Mr. Langford, At his House in the Great
Piazza, Covent Garden, On Friday the 5th of this Instant April 1754."
The highest
price fetched was £51 15s. 6d., which was given for a ‘fine head’ after
Rembrandt.
See - https://piprod.getty.edu/starweb/pi/servlet.starweb#
More than
sixteen hundred prints and more than thirteen hundred drawings by Worlidge were
later sold after his death by Abraham Langford in March 1767 by order of his
widow.
Many
engravings by Worlidge were included in the posthumous sale of the goods of painter
and dealer Arthur Pond (1705 -58) of Great Queen Street by Langford - 27 March
1760 – 19 days – suggesting close links between the two. Certainly Worlidge
would have had access to Rembrandts etchings which he had copied assiduously
from the early 1750’s
………………………………..
As the
contemporary cleric and author William Gilpin, writing in 1768, noted, ‘Among
the imitators of REMBRANDT, we should not forget our countryman WORLIDGE; who
has very ingeniously followed the manner of that master; and sometimes improved
upon him. No man understood the drawing of a head better.’
____________________
A Select Collection of Drawings from Curious Antique Gems:
Most of Them in the Possession of the Nobility and Gentry of this Kingdom:
Etched after the Manner of Rembrandt (London: Printed by Dryden Leach, for M.
Worlidge … , 1768.
Thomas Worlidge (1700-1766).
It had
probably originally sold in parts from about 1754.
The first edition
dated 1768 is available on line but in low resolution at - https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_a-select-collection-of-d_worlidge-t-thomas_1768/mode/2up
The second edition
also dated 1768 is available on line at the Wellcome Trust website in an excellent
high resolution format at -https://wellcomecollection.org/works/k4kxnnsu/items
Below is the
frontispiece to the first Edition – the second Edition leaves out any mention
of Wicksteed.
From about
1740, Thomas Worlidge had several addresses in the Covent Garden area of London.
He was a successful portrait artist of miniatures, but after about 1750 as an
etcher working “after the manner of Rembrandt”. This refers to his drypoint
technique of drawing with a sharp needle directly into the surface of the
copper plate. It also alludes to Worlidge’s admiration for Rembrandt the man,
such as in this frontispiece self-portrait, which is a clear imitation of a
Rembrandt self-portrait.
When
Worlidge died in 1766, he was in the middle of a massive project etching a
series of 182 drypoint portraits. Princeton University owns several variant
editions of the collection. The following is a description of the project taken
from the Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 21:
The series
was published in parts, some of which seem to have been issued as early as 1754
but Worlidge died before the work was completed. It was finished by his pupils William Grimaldi and George Powle, and was published
by his widow Mary in 1768 at the price of eighteen guineas a copy.
In its
original 1768 shape the volume bore the
title, A select Collection of Drawings from curious antique Gems … printed by
Dryden Leach for M. Worlidge … and M. Wicksteed, Seal-engraver
at Bath.
The
frontispiece, dated 1754, shows Worlidge drawing the Pomfret bust of Cicero;
behind on an easel is a portrait of his second wife, Mary. No letterpress was
included originally in the volume, but between 1768 and 1780 a few copies were
issued with letterpress.
After 1780 a
new edition in quarto, deceptively bearing the original date of 1768, appeared
with letterpress in two volumes at five guineas each. The title-page omits
mention of M. Wicksteed’s name, but is otherwise a replica of the first.
………………………..
Arabella Worlidge nee Grimaldi,
First Wife of Thomas Worlidge. (c. 1709 – 1740),
They had one son Samuel (1726 – 66).
Arabella was
16 when she married Thomas Wicksteed at the Fleet Prison on 24 August 1725. In the register he
is described as an engraver on glass. I suspect that the couple had absconded
and that she was probably pregnant at the time.
She was the
daughter of Alessandro Maria Grimaldi (Genoese) (1659 – 1732). Thomas Worlidge had
received his initial artistic training from his master Grimaldi.
Image courtesy -
Mary Ashley, nee
Wicksteed (c1720 -1790), Second wife of Thomas Worlidge.
The Sister of John
Wicksteed.
Mary Wicksteed Married Thomas
Worlidge in Bath Abbey, 12 June 1743.
Mary Wicksteed / Worlidge/Ashley,
Pastellist (c.1720 - c1790).
His second marriage
produced Sally (baptised 6.V.1744 in Bath Abbey), Thomas ( Oct 1745, Bath
Abbey), Giles Edward (3 Sept. 1748, Bath), Frances (1750, St Paul’s Covent
Garden), Rosealba (1752 St Pauls Covent Garden buried 1 June 1761), Francis
Corregio (27th Jan 1756 Bath – Buried 23 August 1757 at Widcombe), David
(buried at Widcombe 13 October1756), Thomas James King (b. 1757, baptised in Bath
Abbey 2 March 1759), Rubens ( 2 March 1759 Bath).
The fact
that his children were buried at Widcombe suggests that the Worlidge family was living at Widcombe for part of the time,
perhaps with the family of John Wicksteed
Mary Wicksteed
was born [c1720] in Widcombe, Bath, daughter of John Wicksteed (or Wickstead) the
seal engraver, toy-man and china-dealer, John and wife Sarah, who kept the Toyshop
probably run by his wife with bow fronted window, fronting onto Orange Grove,
Bath next to the east end of the Abbey.
Stone seal
engravings (including some perhaps designed by Thomas Worlidge) were crafted on
Brazilian pebble-stone at his water powered jewelling-Mill in Lyncombe using
‘Wicksteeds Machine.’
Mary
Wickstead became the second wife of widower Thomas Worlidge in Bath, 12 June
1743.
Mary
produced pastels and drawings, and her work appeared to be particularly
acclaimed after her second marriage to James Ashley junior with works that
included a likeness in crayons of Christian VII, King of Denmark, 1771.
Mary Ashley appeared
as an honorary exhibitor at The Society of Artists and the Free Society from
1765-1772 under the name of Mrs. Ashley. These works included portraits,
landscapes, still life in oil, crayon and needlework. One drawing was annotated
in 1768 by Walpole ‘widow of Worlidge the Painter and remarried to Ashley who
kept the London Punchhouse on Ludgate Hill. She was again widowed in 1771. She later
remarried again a Captain Robinson and kept the 'Star and Garter' at Richmond.
……………………………
From Anecdotes of Painting in England by Horace Walpole, Vol
IV.
The
following compliment to Worlidge’s wife, on seeing her copy a landscape in
needle-work,
was printed
in the Public Advertiser ;
At
Worlidge's as late I saw
A female
artist sketch and draw,
NOW take a
crayon, now a pencil,
NOW thread a
needle, strange utensil !
I hardly
could believe my eyes,
TO see
hills, houses, steeples rise ;
While crewel
o'er the canvass drawn
Became a
river or a lawn.
Thought I—it
was not said thro' malice,
That
Worlidge was oblig'd to Pallas ;
For sure
such art can be display'd
By none
except the maid !
To him the
prude is tender hearted—
The
paintress from her easel started—
Oh ! Sir,
your servant—pray sit down :
My husband's
charm' d you're come to
For, wou'd
you think it my life,
Twas all the
while the artist's Wife.
Mezzotint c 1750s - 60’s
NPG.
George Powle after the original Thomas
Worlidge.
(228 mm x 171 mm).
George Powle was pupil of Thomas
Worlidge. Worked in London, Hereford and Worcester. Exhibited portrait
miniatures at the Society of Artists 1769 and 1770, and at the Free Society
1764, 1766 and 1768.
................................
James Ashley (1698 –
1776).
Of the London Punch
House, Ludgate Hill.
The Second Husband of
Mrs Mary Worlidge.
Engraved by Thomas
Worlidge.
“The
dining-room of that gentleman was filled with several of his [Worlidge’s] best pictures,
and might indeed, without impropriety, have been called his exhibition; for he
was allowed, whenever he completed any great design, to hang it up there for public
inspection... “(Anon. (‘LIBRA’) “ Biographical Anecdotes of Thomas
Worlidge”, Monthly Magazine and British Register: John Aiken, (Ed.) (London)
(April 1796) Vol.1, no.3,p.217
In Artists
and their friends in England, pub. 1928, Vol 1 p.162 William Whitley states
that Worlidge also drew Ashley’s wife and son and his bar-keeper Mrs Gaywood.
After the
death of Worlidge and the subsequent marriage of Ashley to his widow, Ashley is
recorded as paying rates on the Worlidge house in Great Queen Street in 1768.
This house
had been previously occupied from 1746 by the famous portrait painter Thomas
Hudson the former master of Joshua Reynolds.
In 1774, the
premises were occupied for a short time by Mary Robinson (née Darby),
afterwards known as "Perdita," who had just got married. Perdita's
own account of the matter is as follows: "On our return to London after
ten days' absence, a house was hired in Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn
Fields. It was a large, old-fashioned mansion, and stood on the spot where the
Freemasons' Tavern has since been erected. This house was the property of a
lady, an acquaintance of my mother; the widow of Mr. Worlidge, an artist of
considerable celebrity. It was handsomely furnished and contained many valuable
pictures by various masters. I resided with my mother; Mr. Robinson continued
at the house of Mr. Vernon and Elderton in Southampton Buildings."
…………………….
A Thomas Worlidge
engraving of John Ford the Statuary at Bath?
Where is it??
Mentioned here to illustrate the Worlidge
connections with Bath stone and marble masons.
Noted in A
Catalogue of Engraved British Portraits, from Egbert the Great to the ... By
Henry Bromley 1793.
John Ford I
(1711 - 67). Described as John Ford of Walcot (Parish of Bath), the Mason on
the Titan Barrow documents.
Master Mason
responsible for Titan Barrow House, Bathford, designed by John Wood I in 1748
drawings and documents, King Edwards School Broad Street, Bath.
Died 6
September 1767 and is buried at Colerne (nr Bath).
His epitaph
reads "his abilities and enterprise in business in great measure
contributed to the erection of the handsome buildings and streets of Bath"
he was succeeded by his son John Ford II (1736 - 1803).
For much
more on the Stone and Marble Masons of Bath in the 18th Century
including the Parsons, Greenways, Prince Hoare and Plura most of whom were near
neighbours to the Wicksteed Mill living in the Parish of Widcombe on the South
side of the river Avon see the post –
…………………………
A carnelian intaglio, mounted in a metallic seal. Portrait Bust of Alexander Pope (1688-1744).
with fur collar.
This is based on one of several etchings by Jonathan Richardson.
With Auctioneers Bartolami of Rome.
They suggest Edward Burch.
https://bertolamifineart.bidinside.com/en/lot/39988/a-carnelian-intaglio-mounted-in-a-metallic-/
Of Tangential
Interest.
The Early
18th century had seen a renewed interest in the collecting of classical gems or
intaglios, which meant that faceted stones were no longer the most fashionable
trend.
For example
master engraver Samuel Rogers operating his turning machine. He did public
demonstrations for one shilling, and promoted the capabilities of the machine
to create carved medals, gentlemen's cane handles, eggs, bezels for snuff
boxes, toothpick cases and more.
An 18th Century Gem Cutter: Solomon
Hyams Lapidary.
A brief look
at the life of Gem Cutter Engraver and Lapidary Solomon Hyam.
According to
his trade card he set up shop at 127 Pall Mall, which was three doors down from
Carlton House, the mansion where the Prince Regent lived (Hyams 1780).
According to Ancestry.com family legend says that Solomon's father Moses was a
soldier in the Polish army who fled to Ireland after banishment for his
revolutionary activity in defence of Polish freedom.
In Dublin,
Moses married Judith Isaacs of Germany and a year later she gave birth to their
oldest son, Solomon. Around 1765, the family relocated to London. Solomon was
12 at the time and it seems likely that, after a few years in London, he would
have started an apprenticeship at around age 14. By 1780, when Solomon was 27
years old, he was advertising his services (again, see Figure 14). He was
buying and selling many kinds of rough and cut gem materials, including
bloodstone, carnelian, topaz, amethyst, aquamarine, garnet and turquoise, as
well as rough diamond. He was slicing, cutting and polishing gem materials, as
well as teaching the art of cutting for a reasonable price. In addition, he
supplied opticians with 'the very best Brazil Pebble [rock crystal] for
Spectacles' and also provided carvers with agate burnishers.
Solomon's
trade card depicts him using the same machine that Randle Holme described in
1688. Although the image shows him slicing a stone on the side of a slitting
lap, it is likely that he used a quadrant handpiece for the actual faceting and
polishing of his stones. According to Ancestry.com (2), Solomon had an address
in Whitechapel in 1791 before moving his shop to 254 Strand, and he moved again
around 1801 to 6 Pall Mall. All four shops were generally along the route
between the financial district in the City of London and the government
district of Westminster--a route that London's wealthiest patrons would have
travelled regularly. Sometime after closing his shop on Pall Mall, he emigrated
to the United States and, later, died at age 84 in Charleston, South Carolina.
Solomon's
life provides a quintessential example of British gem cutting in this period. A
Jewish immigrant to London, he was trained with a skillset that likely
developed during a previous generation in Lisbon, went into business as a
successful gem cutter and merchant, and ran several shops in prominent
locations around London before retiring. Along the way, he passed on his skills
to his apprentices, which allowed his foreign skillset to become naturalised as
it was adopted by the next generation of London-based gem cutters.
Extracts from the Bath Chronicle ref. Wicksteeds.
James Wicksteed
13 September, 1770. "The
Bagatelle" in road to Prior Park at Wicksteed's Machine, open winter &
summer for public breakfast & dinner (if ordered). Best wines, coffee, tea,
jellies. The Chalybeate water at the machine is free for drinking every day.
13 December, 1770. Auction - h/hold furniture etc, of
effects of Mrs Wicksteed, decd & Mrs Johnson, decd. Inc shop drawers, 160
piece set of table china. At Exhibition Room in Bond St on 17 Dec et seq by [Mr
Evatt]
23 May 1782, Bath Chronicle Leisure: benefit for Mr Bonnnor
- "The Rivals", with ballad-farce "Love at First Sight" at
Theatre Royal Bath on 25 May. Tickets Mr Bonnor at Mr Wicksteed's, seal
engraver, opp Gallaway's Bldgs.
10 June, 1784. Proposal for publishing by subscription,
"The Principles of the French Language" a French grammar by Chevalier
[Mr] Goguel, presently residing at Mr Wicksteed's, seal engraver, in Gallaway's
Bldgs, Bath, where subscription book kept.
13 January, 1785. - for sale - "Genealogical table,
Adam to Richard IIIrd" at Wicksteed's seal engravers, opposite Gallaway's
Bldgs, Bath. Was offered 300 guineas.
2 March, 1786. Notices: the "Wicksteed's Machine"
for engraving seals at foot of New Bridge, Bath is an imposition & injures
reputation of the original seal engraver. The original Wicksteed owned the real
water machine in Allen's Rd, genuine article only from the shop opp. Gallaway's
Bldgs
9 November, 1786. Wicksteed, original seal engraver,
Gallaway's Bldgs, Bath has finished new design intended for Honourable Society
of Freemasons.
26 July, 1787. - It is Mr Wicksteed, seal engraver who has
left Bath & not Mr Vere (who remains at his shop opposite the Pump Room
where he engraves gems etc & keeps his book of heraldry as he did in
London).
In 1787 James Wickstead published the engraving "The Black Joke" giving the address as 30 Henrietta St, Covent Garden
Thu, 24/03/1785 Auction - artwork belonging to Mr Beach,
portrait painter (moving to London) - busts, casts, framed prints (Ruben's
Luxemburgh gallery, & Worlidge's gems). On his premises Westgate St, Bath
on 28 March by William Birchall (of Queen Sq, Bath).
Some Refs.
For an
extremely useful introduction to the subject of antique and more recent
intaglios see Engraved Gems from Antiquity until the Present Edited by B.J.L.
van den Bercken & V.C.P. Baan –PALMA: Papers on Archaeology of the Leiden
Museum of Antiquities (volume 14) - available on line
https://www.sidestone.com/openaccess/9789088905056.pdf
………………
Sketch of
the Life of Thomas Worlidge, Etcher and Painter, with a Catalogue of his
Works', by Charles Dack. Pub Peterborough, 1907.
Artists
Picture Rooms in Eighteenth Century Bath by Susan Legouix Sloman.
The Journal
of Gemology. Vol.37, no 7, 2021.
https://gem-a.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2021_37_7.pdf
Trevor
Fawcett also brought out in a limited edition a 10,000 word study, The
Bagatelle and King James’s Palace: Two Lyncombe Pleasure Gardens (with notes on
Lyncombe Spa and Wicksteed’s Machine).
“Following
this essay there should be no further confusion between Lyncombe Spa, the
Bagatelle Gardens or King James’s.
Having
identified the Ragg as the site of the Bagatelle’s extra gardens, Trevor does
not agree with the local belief that they were in the grounds of Widcombe House
(Manor). In suggesting they might be, the Survey was influenced by local folk
memory, but also by the canal in the Widcombe Manor gardens, seeming too
elaborate for a private residence. It is possible however the canal was erected
by John Thomas, purchaser of Widcombe House, who was connected with the Kennet
and Avon Canal”.
Sothebys
Sale - https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/small-wonders-early-gems-and-jewels?locale=en
No comments:
Post a Comment