The Radcliffe Obsrvatory Sculpture - Part 4.
Some thoughts on the Artificial Stone Reliefs on the Ground Floor Facade.
This post was inspired by an e mail message from Geoffrey Walford discussing the Artificial Stone reliefs on the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford.
It had previously been assumed that the relief Panels and Paterae on the ground floor were made of Coade's Artificial Stone but Geoffrey Walford has suggested (given the uneven weathering) that they might have been supplied by another manufacturer.
I will go through some of the pros and cons but consider it iunlikely that they came from another manufacturer but it is not an impossibility! Messrs Smith and Bridges of Knightsbridge were producing Artificial Stone in the early 1770's before the business was subsumed by Messrs Coade - the Knightsbridge premises, machinery etc and remaining stock were sold off in December 1778 (Daily Advertiser).
https://georgiangroup.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GGJ_2000_10_TYACK.pdf
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The rectangular relief appears in the 1784 Coade Artificial Stone Catalogue of 1784.
No. 786 with sizes added in ink 4ft 11ins x 3ft 3ins. Price added in ink 5 guineas.
I have been using the annotated Coade Catalogue in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris available in excellent high resolution.
It is odd that the Catalogue Price and Size list finishes at no 778 (see extract below) when several pieces are illustrated in the engravings including our relief have later (786) stock numbers in ink.
I havn't inspected these pieces at close quarters - when I visited Oxford on a mission to photograph the two original lead figures (Carpentiere? not van Nost?) and another replacement from the Clarendon Building which were on display in the Weston Library - the Observatory was completely clad in scaffolding.
This has prompted me to return to the subject of Coade's competitors in the 1760/70s.
I am told that these four reliefs were manufactured as three separate pieces, two main sections and with small round flower petal paterae.
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The Paterae on the Radcliffe Observatory, no 334 in the Coade Catalogue of 1784.
Page from the Coade Catalogue of 1784. at the Bibliotheque Nationale.
The Engraving is dated Nov. 1777.
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Daniel Pincot (d.1797), John Bacon, Smith and Bridges of Knightsbridge and Artificial Stone.
John Bacon's Trade Card.
At Mr Pincot's in Paternoster Row, Spitalfields.
Presumably before the Pincot business removed to Goulston Square, Spitalfields
Image below courtesey British Museum.
John Bacon (1740 - 99), his relationship with Wedgwood, Nicholas Crisp
(1704 - 84) and Daniel Pincot (before the
annexation of his business by Eleanor Coade in 1769).
He was born in Southwark, London on 24 November 1740, the son of Thomas Bacon (1767), a cloth-worker, and Anne, née Greenwood, and was apprenticed to Nicholas Crisp of Bow churchyard, a jeweller and watchmaker, on 7 June 1755.
Crisp owned a porcelain factory in Vauxhall, where Bacon apparently first saw the models that inspired him to become a sculptor (Euro Mag 1790, 83-4).
By 1759 he had begun to make his own models and that year he
was awarded a premium by the newly-formed Society for the Encouragement of
Arts, Manufactures and Commerce for a figure of Peace
Bacon’s submission to the Society was no doubt encouraged by Crisp, who was one of its founders and a member of the award-giving committee.
Bacon won premiums again at the SCAMC in 1760, 1761 and 1764.
In July 1764 he left Crisp, who was now bankrupt, but he continued to enter works for Society of Arts prizes until 1778 (127, 130, 134, 216).
He later wrote to
the Society expressing gratitude for their encouragement, which had enabled him
‘to pursue those studies which a disadvantageous situation had otherwise made
difficult, if not impossible’ (Bacon/RSA).
He married Elizabeth Wade at St Saviour, Southwark on 2 March 1767, and their first child, Ann, was born in 1768.
That year Bacon exhibited with the Society of Artists, giving his address as ‘Mr Tucker’s, Cox’s Square, Spital Fields’ (Graves 1907, 18).
By 1769 he had moved from the
City to George Yard, Soho Square.
The first known record of his work for Wedgwood is a letter dated 21 March 1769 from Peter Swift, Wedgwood’s London agent:
‘Mr. Bacon hath brought a model of Apollo and Daphne which I have got a cast of - he asks for your futhur instructions since which I have found a paper with two drawings of vases and some references for modelling’ (Wedgwood MSS E5/30858, Swift to Wedgwood, 21 March 1769).
Between July 1769 and February 1771 he also received
payments totalling £104 9s 7d for models prepared for the Chelsea-Derby factory. (info Gunnis website)
Enrolling at the Royal Academy in 1769 enabled Bacon, at 28, to make the transition from a modeller in manufacture to a professional sculptor although it would seem that he was already modelling larger figures and pieces for Pincot.
I would suggest that the figure of the seated Druid was possibly modelled by Bacon whilst he was working for or with Daniel Pincot.
John Bacon won Royal Academy School's Gold Medal in 1769 befor Pincot commenced his (short lived association with Mrs Coade at Lambeth.
The foundation of the Royal Academy in 1768, with its focus
on teaching, saw many of the sculptors
who had begun their careers by exhibiting at the Society of Arts enrol at the
RA school. John Flaxman and Thomas Banks registered in 1769 and Joseph
Nollekens in 1770.
In 1767 Daniel Pincot (who is erroneously listed as
‘Pincat’ in Algernon Graves 1907, 199 and Gunnis 1968, 304) had a pamphlet printed (illustrated below) that he had set
up as an artificial-stone manufacturer in Goulston Square, Whitechapel.
He offered ‘all sorts of rich
carved Ornaments used in Buildings, viz. Tablets, Frizes, Medalions, Ionic and
Corinthian Capitals, Statues, Bustos, Vases, etc in several Compositions; some
resembling Portland Stone, but much harder and more durable, others still more
beautiful, approaching nearer to Marble; the Whole executed in a Manner far
exceeding any Thing of the like Kind that has hitherto been offered to the
Publick’ (Daily Advertiser, 31 Jan 1767 cited by Valpy 1986, 210).
Pincot made no reference to the Mrs Coade in this leaflet illustrated below and later he seems to have angered the Coades by taking certain business
transactions into his own hands, including an agreement to provide Borghese
vases for Stourhead and Kedleston.
The Borghese vase currently at Keddleston is indented Coade London Fecit.
The Stourhead Borghese Vase has no inscription.
Henry Hoare, Ledger 1770 - 85 - 8th October 1770 'Do Pincot my sbn to ye Borghese vase in part £5 5s.
It should be stated in Pincot's defence that it is possible that he had taken the orders from Keddleston and Stourhead prior to the take over of the business by the Coades in 1769.
Image below from - https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_Heal-106-19
The leaflet below here suggested as c 1767 - 68
George Davy of Goulston Square, Spitalfields.
George Davy, an artificial stone manufacturer, appears to have taken over the premises in Goulston Square, Whitechapel, London, formerly occupied by Daniel Pincot, some time between February and October 1767, when he advertised ‘a large Quantity of Goods of near 100 different Subjects, such as Figures, Busts, Tablets, Friezes, Medalions, Vases, Capitals of Different Orders of various Sizes’ for sale at his warehouse at 18 Long Acre, near Covent Garden.
It is not clear to me whether Pincot and Davy were in business together.
Davy claimed that these goods were ‘more durable and higher finished than natural stone’ and, furthermore, undertook to sell them at the same price or cheaper than any equivalent work available in plaster or wood (Daily Advertiser, 23 October 1767). using the same sales pitch previously employed by Daniel Pincot.
At the end of December 1767 there was a sale of artificial stone produced at Goulston Square over the last year, by Christie’s, perhaps including work by both Davy and Pincot.
The catalogue survives in the Christie's archive and shows that prices were considerably lower than those of comparable items listed in the catalogue of the Coade Factory of Lambeth, published in 1784.
In March 1768 Davy announced that a large quantity of his artificial stone had been sold by John Moreing at the Great Sale Room in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, adding ‘if due Encouragement is given to this Undertaking, the Proprietor intends to continue the Manufactory’ (Daily Advertiser, 23/24 March 1768).
Further sales at Moreing’s auction house and then at Blyth’s sale room
in Dean Street, Soho were advertised throughout 1768 and in 1770. The public
response appears to have been less than enthusiastic for Davy commented, ‘the
Proprietor has reason to think that many Gentlemen entertain a less opinion of
Artificial Stone by the Reports of some whose Interest it may be to deprecate
it’ (Daily Advertiser, 27 May 1768).
Davy’s last known advertisements appeared in April 1771 (Daily Advertiser, 29 April 1771) and by July 1773 he was financially ruined.
He wrote
to his patron, the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham requesting payment for four
medallions of Alexander and Hercules (6), explaining that they ‘were made by
your particular Order and at the Sale I bought them for your Lordship but am
now so poor that I cannot clare [sic] the lots therefore let me intreat your
Lordship to be so kind as to advance me the money or else the goods will be
resold and all the charges attending it will fall on me’. He also informed him
that if he had any further orders he should approach a ‘Mr Smith at
Nightsbridge’ who had bought all his moulds (Rockingham Vouchers, Sheffield
City Library, No 1, microfilm A314). In October 1773 Davy wrote a yet more
desperate letter to the Duke of Northumberland asking him to settle a bill for
£14 8s for various pieces of artificial stone (5),‘for I must Actually go to
Prison in a City Action if I can’t raise fifteen pounds by the 15th or 16th of
this month’ (Davy/Northumberland).
Rockingham bought reliefs, busts and statues after the
antique from Davy, as well as a statue of a druid (2) and charity children (7),
both subjects later produced by the Coade Factory. Some of Davy’s moulds may
still have been in use at Lambeth more than 50 years later, for it seems likely
that ‘Mr Smith at Nightsbridge’ was a predecessor or partner of Bridges of
Knightsbridge whose factory was bought by Mrs Coade in 1775. This suggestion of
a direct connection between Davy, Bridges and Coade is supported by the
production of large-scale statues of druids by all three businesses (see
Bridges, of Knightsbridge, 1 and Coade Factory, of Lambeth, 207).
Literary References: Valpy 1986, 210-5, 220-1; Coade 1990,
33; Penny 1990, 879
Archival References: Rockingham Vouchers;
Davy/Northumberland
Auction References: Pincot and Davy 1767; Davy 1768 (1);
Davy 1768 (2); Davy 1768 (3); Davy 1768 (4); Davy 1770.
Smith and Bridges of Knightsbridge.
Davy had informed his patron the 2nd Marquis of Rockingham that if he had any further orders he should approach a ‘Mr
Smith at Nightsbridge, who had bought all his moulds (Rockingham Vouchers,
Sheffield City Library, No 1, microfilm A314).
The Kedleston medallions (55cms) of Alfred and Ethelred were produced by the Coade They are derived from moulds produced by 'Bridges of Knightsbridge', an artificial stone manufacturer whose stock-in-trade was auctioned by Christies on 26 May 1775.
Lots 8 and 9 of
that sale were a pair of medallions of Alfred and Ethelred. (info National
Trust - https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/109000.
Bridges was an artificial stone manufacturer, whose workshop was in Knightsbridge, London.
On 26 May 1775, Bridge's stock-in-trade, consisting of
‘a great Variety of Statues, Vases, Bustos, and various kinds of Ornaments in
Artificial Stone’ was sold by Messrs Christie, on the occasion of his ‘quitting
that Branch of Business’ (Public Ad, 24 May 1775, 4). Among the lots sold were
medallions of the kings Alfred and Ethelred (8, 9); busts of Homer and Pitt (6,
7), statues of Ceres, Flora and Samson (2, 3, 5) and statuettes of Rubens and
Van Dyck (4). A number of the lots, including a statue of a druid (1), were
purchased by Eleanor Coade (see Coade Factory, of Lambeth). She also bought the
Knightsbridge factory itself, for in December 1778 she announced that she intended
to sell all the equipment of ‘Mrs COADE’s Manufactory at Knightsbridge ... the
Whole to be sold extremely cheap, on Account of clearing the Premises, the
Business being carried on at King’s Arms’ Stairs, Lambeth’ (Daily Ad, 24
December 1778). Some of Bridges’s moulds appear to have remained in use at the
Coade factory, including those for the statue of a druid, which Bridges himself
had probably acquired indirectly from George Davy.
The Bridge's of Knightsbridge Sale of 1775.
King Ethelred, Relief medallion.
The Keddleston Rondels
https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/Details/museum/107263
King Alfred, Relief medallion.
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Bust of Homer
Bust of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham - A version was sent to Harvard University, America by Benjamin Franklin. Another appears in the Coade Catalogue of the exhibits of the Coade's Westminster Bridge Gallery of 1799.
Ceres Statue
Flora Statue
Samson
A Druid.
Rubens and Van Dyck, statuettes (the pair of figures after the originals by Rysbrack) - no Artificial Stone versions have appeared. see this post
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2015/11/a-pair-of-statuettes-of-rubens-and-van.html and the following essays.
Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 61; Valpy 1986, 217-8,
222; Kelly 1990, 34, 44-5, 134
Auction Catalogues: Bridges 1775; Coade Factory 1779.
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