Thomas Worlidge (1700 - 1766) sometimes referred to as The English Rembrandt.
John Wicksteed (d. 15 Dec1754) Seal cutter of
Lyncombe, Bath.
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 was on the Corner of Orange Grove, Bath nearest the Abbey from c 1732 – 67.
The house survives although much altered on 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.
...................................
George Speren (1711 - 96).
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.
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
............................
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.
