Roubiliac and Chesterfield at the Louvre.

 

The Bronze Bust of Lord Chesterfield.

Louis Francois Roubiliac.

Circa 1745.

 

 Height 48.2 cms.

 the Louvre, Paris.

Purchased July 2010.

They give the provenance as -

Executed shortly after 1745 and probably taken to Ireland by the sitter. 

Presented (?) to the Right Hon. Nathaniel Clements, MP, director of Phoenix Park, Dublin (1705-1777).

 His descendants. London, Christie's, 18 April 1991, lot 45.

London, Sotheby's, 15 December 1998, lot 150. 

Acquired by the Louvre at the London, Sotheby's sale of 14 July 2010, lot 132.

The resolution of these images is not great - Louvre please take a lesson from the Rijksmuseum!

https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010094099

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For the Roubiliac bronze bust of Lord Chesterfield at the V & A see -

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2016/07/bronze-bust-of-lord-chesterfield.html

Bronze Bust of Philip Dormer Stanhope.

Fourth Earl of Chesterfield.

Louis Francois Roubiliac.

 

Victoria and Albert Museum.

Purchased from dealer Simon Spero in 1959 for £90.

Photographs here taken by the author.

I suspect that the socle or at least the block behind the bust are replacements - the hexagonal nut on the supporting strap is a giveaway!

Hopefully the first two image here will convey some idea of the subtle chisel and punch work to the finish - particularly with the hair - the work should be compared with that on the bronze bust of Alexander Pope illustrated below.

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For the Roubiliac Bronze of Chesterfield at Dublin Castle see -

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-dublin-castle-bronze-bust-of-philip.html

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For the Roubiliac Bronze of Alexander Pope see -

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2018/02/a-bronze-bust-of-john-locke.html

This essay was an interesting exercise - the bronze bust of Locke was with dealer Jonathan Agnew who was at pains to state that a Roubiliac attribution had been ratified by a former curator at the V and A.

Whilst it is indeed possible that Roubiliac was responsible for the original - I would suggest those illustrated in the blog entry are from the Hyde Park Corner workshop of John Cheere - from my researches it is fairly obvious that Roubiliac had a long and fruitful relationship with both John and Henry Cheere.

For good measure I have also included photographs of the bronze busts of Isaac Newton (Fitzwilliam Museum) and Oliver Cromwell (private collection) by Michael Rysbrack

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For further smaller bronzes by Roubiliac see -

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2018/11/handel-in-bronze-by-or-after-roubiliac.html

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Alexander Pope.

Bronze.

Height 46.5 cms.

attributed to Louis Francois Roubiliac.

Photographs courtesy Sotheby's, Bond Street, London.

see - http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2007/european-sculpture-works-of-art-l07231/lot.136.html


For the 1740 Marble version of this bust see -

http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/4-themilton-fitzwilliam-bust-of.html

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The Small Bronzes by Roubiliac.

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A short and definitely not exhaustive list of  later 17th to mid 18th century larger scale English bronze statuary.

As one can see, a very limited number of these objects were manufactured.

1678/9 - Grinling Gibbons Charles II Royal Hospital Chelsea.

1686 - Grinling Gibbons - Standing Figure James II formerly in Whitehall now in Trafalgar Square.

made by Laurens Vandermeulen and Mr A. Dievot.

Grinling Gibbons - Bronze Equestrian statue of William III, College Green, Dublin - Destroyed.

1678/9 - Grinling Gibbons - Windsor Castle Bronze Equestrian Statue of Charles II cast by Josias Ibach of Stone Bridge, Hyde Park Corner.

1717 / 22 - The John van Nost II bronze Equestrian Statue of George I, now at the Barber Institute, Birmingham, formerly on the Essex Bridge in Dublin. Barber Institute Birmingham - subsequently reproduced several times in lead.

1719 - Bronze King Henry VI by Francis Bird in  Eton College, School Yard.

1733 - 35 - Michael Rysbrack's magnificent bronze equestrian statue of William III at Bristol. 

This statue was made to be seen from a distance so one would not expect the quality to be as good as a sculpture made to be seen at close quarters. There are records of visits to his workshop to see the founding of this statue.

https://english18thcenturyportraitsculpture.blogspot.com/2016/08/rysbrack-plaster-equestrian-statue-of.html

1737 - Edward VI by Scheemakers - St Thomas' Hospital.

1741 - Statue of Thomas Guy by Peter Scheemakers - Guys Hospital.

c.1745 - Bronze busts of Lord Chesterfield by Louis Francois Roubiliac. Dublin Castle, Louvre, and Victoria and Albert Museum.

Roubiliac also produced small scale bronze reliefs of Handel, Garrick, Conyers Middleton and Pope.

1753 - John van Nost III - Bronze Equestrian Statue of George II cast in Dublin put up on St Stephen's Green, Dublin  - destroyed. (this project was also tendered for by Roubiliac).

Undated - The Rysbrack busts of Newton and Cromwell sold in the studio sale of 20 April 1765.

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Of Tangential interest - the Making and Casting of a Bronze Equestrian Statue.

https://english18thcenturyportraitsculpture.blogspot.com/2016/09/how-to-cast-equestrian-statue-in-bronze.html

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Brass Sculpture and the Ideology of Bronze in Britain 1660–1851 - Sculpture Journal January 2005.

Greg Sullivan mentions of 26 people describing themselves as founders between 1660 - 1700  and 122 between 1700 - 1750 but this of course represents the whole trade from cannons to belt buckles - of which the casting of statuary was a minuscule part.

Sullivan also mentions a Richard Paulson, Brass Founder of St Martin's in the Fields whose will was proven in 1746 Prob 11/751