Bust of the Architect Isaac Ware (1704 - 66) 

by Roubiliac at the National Portrait Gallery.

A good enough reason as any to include these busts at this point in this blog is the similarity in dress of the bust of Ware to that of Handel - one is the reverse of the other. Why did Roubiliac do this - was it showing off? - it cannot have been easy - he must have used some sort of pointing system and reversed all the measurements.

This text below was lifted from NPG Website - Originally published in John Kerslake, Early Georgian Portraits, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1977 (and now out of print). The information is out of date - it was written before the purchase of a similar bust by the Detroit Institute of Art originally described in an inventory of 1773 of Sir John Ingilby at Ripley Castle, Yorkshire and by descent to the family of Sir Thomas Ingilby, Ripley Castle until 1987. 

Isaac Ware (d.1766)
Architect; of humble origin, sent to Italy to study; on his return closely connected with Lord Burlington's circle; from 1728 Ware held several posts in the office of works, and from 1736 was secretary to the board; built Chesterfield House, 1748-49 (destroyed 1934) and Wrotham Park, Middlesex, 1754, built for the unfortunate Admiral Byng; published The Complete Body of Architecture, 1735, and the translation of Palladio, 1738, dedicated to Burlington; he was a member of the St Martin's Lane Academy. Ware married (1) Elizabeth Richards, by whom he had a son Walter James, and (2) Mary Bolton, by whom there were two daughters. [1]
4982 By Louis François Roubiliac, c.1741
White marble bust, 27 in. (675 mm) high, including grey veined marble socle; head turned to right and tilted slightly, own short hair, pupils not incised, concave cheeks, dimpled chin, square jaw; large cap with tassel, shirt open at the collar, loose coat buttoned at the top.
Incised on the front of the socle in gold capitals: ISAAC WARE.

George Vertue notes, probably after a visit to the sculptor's studio, between 2 June and October 1741: 'Mr. Rubbilac Sculptor of Marble—besides several works in Marble—moddels in Clay. had Modelld from the Life several Busts or portraits extreamly like M^r. Pope. more like than any other Sculptor has done I think M^r. Hogarth very like.—M^r. Isaac Ware Architect M^r Handel—&c and several others. being very exact Imitations of Nature—'. [1] Both terra cotta and marble busts of Pope (q.v.) and Handel (q.v.) survive, but of Hogarth only a terra cotta (q.v.) is known. Vertue does not specify what he saw of Ware, but the wording strongly suggests a sitting. Roubiliac would first have taken a clay or clays ad vivum which was probably fired subsequently. A mould was in Roubiliac's sale, possibly indicating the production of a plaster cast, but no clay or terra cotta is now known. The NPG portrait is the only extant version. On stylistic grounds it is unlikely to have been made late in Roubiliac's career.

The situation is complicated by a reference found in Smith's Life of Nollekens, which could imply a date not earlier than 1755. The author refers to Ware's account of his own humble beginnings as the son of a chimney sweep which 'narrative my father heard the Architect himself relate, while he was sitting to Mr. Roubiliac for his bust'. [3] Later Smith again mentions the work: 'Early in life, I engraved a very indifferent plate of Ware's bust, which was one of Roubiliac's best performances'. [4]

Unfortunately he gives no location for the bust which he engraved, and while the engraving is similar in some respects to NPG 4982, it is not absolutely certain that it is the same bust. There are some small differences. In the engraving the pupils are incised, there are two buttons on the neckband of the shirt, the cap and coat are shaded, and the shirt is left white. This led Mrs Esdaile to conclude that the engraving was of a coloured bust, like that of Colley Cibber (q.v.), now attributed to the Cheere workshop, but which she believed to be by Roubiliac. Noting that it was not until 1755 that Smith's father became Roubiliac's apprentice, Mrs Esdaile also concluded that Vertue's reference of 1741 must apply to some other bust now lost, [5] but both on stylistic grounds and on apparent age—the sitter looks a little younger than in the portrait by Soldi of c.1754 (see Iconography)—there is nothing against a date of c.1741 for NPG 4982.

Smith's reference seems too circumstantial to be dismissed as a mistake. If correct, it must either predicate a full second sitting, or the touching up from the sitter of a marble based on an earlier model. It is a matter of opinion, but NPG 4982 may be thought to contain a smaller element of realism than persists in Roubiliac's marbles of Pope and Handel in relation to their terra cottas. This suggests that it may have been produced without direct reference to the sitter and may not be the bust mentioned by the elder Smith.

Condition: the head, the tip of the nose, and the fold in the coat on the sitter's right shoulder had been broken and skilfully repaired prior to acquisition; the socle is modern.
Collections: bought 1974 with the help of the National Art Collections Fund; from the collection of Major Richard Wellesley, of Buckland House, Berkshire, Christie's, 4 December 1973, lot 159, bought Cyril Humphris, and according to the sale catalogue, previously in the collection of Lady Fitzgerald.

A marble bust of Isaac Ware is mentioned in an 1861 [6] inventory of Buckland House and in 1912 under the heading 'Staircase and Hall'. Major Wellesley's grandmother, Lady Fitzgerald, wife of Sir Maurice Fitzgerald, 20th Knight of Kerry, acquired Buckland House and some furniture from the Throckmortons in 1908; [7]NPG 4982 may thus have descended in the Throckmorton family. An expensive object like a marble bust is not likely to have been commissioned by the sitter. The obvious patron is Chesterfield, or perhaps Byng. However there seems to be no record of NPG 4982 in such ownership, and a connection with the Throckmortons is not apparent.

Engraved: the type was engraved by J.T. Smith (unsigned), published J. Richardson, 1802, 'From a Bust by Roubylliac' and issued in Illustrations for the Rev. Mr. Lyson's Environs of London, 1811 (pl.88).
Exhibited: 'English Taste in the Eighteenth Century', RA, 1955-56 (147).
Literature: H.M. Colvin, 'Roubiliac's Bust of Isaac Ware', Burlington Magazine, XCVII, 1955; J.T. Smith, Nollekens and His Times, ed. W. Whitten, 1920.

Iconography
The only other portrait is the oil attributed to Soldi in the RIBA. This probably dates from c.1754 as it shows an elevation of Wrotham Park, which is seen in construction in the background. It includes one of the sitter's two daughters or possibly his second wife. [8]

Notes
1. Colvin, pp.649-51; Sir John Summerson, unpublished information.
2. Vertue, III, p.105.
3. Smith, II, p.143.
4. Ibid.
5. Esdaile, pp.51, 108.
6. Information kindly supplied by Miss Thompson, archivist at Coughton Court.
7. Information kindly communicated by Major Wellesley, 1 May 1974.
8. Connoisseur, vol.186, 1974, pp.180-81.

Buckland House was designed by Bath Architect John Wood senior, it was substantially  altered by his son John Wood Junior and appears in Vitruvius Britannicus of 1767.

By coincidence the marble bust of Alexander Pope which was owned by Burford antiques dealer Roger Warner (currently April 2015 with London Historic portrait dealer Phillip Mould) was bought at the same sale of the conrents by Christies

see http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw06594/Isaac-Ware?LinkID=mp04707&role=sit&rNo=0

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Bust of Isaac Ware at The Detroit Institute of Art.

Terracotta bust of Handel at the Foundling Museum shown here to illustrate the use of the same coat but reversed.

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Originally described in an inventory of 1773 of Sir John Ingilby at Ripley Castle, Yorkshire and by descent to the family of Sir Thomas Ingilby, Ripley Castle until 1987. Sold by private treaty to the DIA. Eyes Incised.

Engraving of 1806 of a bust of Isaac Ware by Roubiliac. J.T. Smith (unsigned), published J. Richardson, 1802, 'From a Bust by Roubylliac' and issued in Illustrations for the Rev. Mr. Lyson's Environs of London, 1811

Portrait of Isaac Ware by Andrea Soldi c.1754, Oil on canvas, 110 x 93 cm.

Isaac Ware (1704–1766) was a protégé of Lord Burlington and a leading member of the second generation of Palladian architects who combined elements of the rococo in their work. The architect holds his design for Wrotham Park, Middlesex, made for Admiral John Byng. The girl is almost certainly his youngest daughter Mary, who stayed with him until his death. 

Isaac Ware's principal works included Chesterfield House, Mayfair (1748–1749) and Wrotham Park, Hertfordshire (1754), while he is most remembered for his publication 'The Complete Body of Architecture' (1756) and his scholarly translation into English of Andrea Palladio’s 'Four Books of Architecture' (1738).

Andrea Soldi, though originally from Florence, began his career as a portrait painter working for British merchants in Turkey. He arrived in London in 1736 and was an immediate success but an extravagant lifestyle led to the debtors prison in 1744 and his career never really recovered.

Collection: The Royal Institute of British Architects’.

              Oval Plaster Relief of Handel at the Soane Museum.

 

The plaster relief of Handel at the Soane Museum, Lincolns Inn Fields, London since before 1837

26 x 23 inches. Although there is no concrete evidence, this has been I believe fairly safely ascribed to Roubiliac.

 

This fine relief of Handel in contemporary dress appear to be based on the facial features of the portrait bust of Handel by Roubiliac at Gloucester cathedral, although the dress is quite different.

 

Note particularly the curl by the ear and the parting in the hair. The Gloucester Cathedral plaster appears to be closely related to the Grimsthorpe Castle terracotta but until I can obtain good photographs of that bust it is impossible to make true comparisons.

 

 

 

 

 

Profile photograph of the plaster bust of Handel currently in the Bridge Chapel at Gloucester Cathedral.

 

 

 

 A silver pass, Handel Centenary Festival,1784, bust of Handel bare-head profile left, COMM. G. F. HANDEL/ MDCCLXXXIV, rev. SUB. / AUSP. / G. III, within oak wreath border, 33 mm.

 

 

The medal was struck on the centenary festival in commemoration of the birth of Handel, held in May and June 1784 in Westminster Abbey and at the Pantheon. The medal figures on the frontispiece of Dr Burney's Account of the Festival, published in 1785.

 

The catalogue  by Jacob Simon for the 1985 Handel Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery gives the following explanation for these passes, seventeen of which were made from the original die with the initial G omitted before Handel's name "eight in gold went to the King and Queen, the five directors and the conductor, Joah Bates, while the remainder in silver were given to the eight sub-directors and the architect, James Wyatt. A further five hundred medals, from a new die, were given to the principal performers". Only one of the original seventeen specimens has been traced and is in collection of the British Museum.

 

Image and description lifted from the excellent website of London dealer Timothy Millet

see - http://www.historicmedals.com/index.php

 

This medallion is based on one of the recently discovered plaster busts of Handel perhaps by John Cheere based on an early bust of Handel perhaps by Roubiliac, sold by me and now at the Handel Haus Museum in Halle, Germany . See below and earlier entries in this Blog

 

 

Bust of Handel here ascribed to John Cheere, but based, perhaps on a slightly earlier version by Roubiliac circa 1740.

 

 

 

George Frideric Handel by Francesco Bartolozzi, after Edward Francisco Burney engraving, 1784.

 

 

 

 

 

    Another Rediscovered 18th century plaster bust of Handel.

 The bust of Handel now in a private collection (January 2015)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Series of photographs of the plaster bust of Handel taken with an I phone in poor light

 

 

 

 

The two plaster busts of Handel for comparison - the black painted version is probably a later reworked version of the white painted bust - note incised sculpting of the embroidery of the waistcoat, otherwise the detailing is the same. The form of the socle is also one used on busts of the mid 18th century and later, popularised by Cavaceppi and much used by Nollekens.

 

 

 

It is now clear that the photograph in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, and in the Coke Collection at the Foundling Hospital of the bust belonging to John Bishop of Cheltenham in the 19th century was of the same type as the black painted bust with the worked waistcoat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                     Pulteney Bridge, Bath.

   As a bit of light relief - I understand that the Post Office is to issue stamps of English Bridges.

"The Bridges stamp issue celebrates the leaps in engineering that have seen the UK’s bridges evolve   from humble stone crossings to dramatic symbolic landmarks conceived by progressive architects".

Completed to designs by Robert Adam in 1774, part of the bridge collapsed and had to be rebuilt after the floods of 1799 /1800.

       To celebrate, I include here, an experimental photograph taken with my new i- phone 6.

                        Engraving of Pulteney Bridge by Thomas Malton, 1785

The Gloucester Cathedral Plaster bust of Handel by Roubiliac

                                 

The Plaster Bust of Handel at Gloucester Cathedral.

More on the Roubiliac Busts of Handel.

It has been known since the 1980's that a life size plaster bust of Handel existed - stored away in Gloucester Cathedral. There is a file on it in the Heinz Archives of the National portrait gallery dated 1986.

I had foolishly assumed with the publication of the Marble Index by Malcolm Baker in February of this year, that we would see the definitive researches into the subject of the Roubiliac busts of Handel - I was wrong.

When I contacted Christopher Jeens, the Archivist at the cathedral in December 2014, it appeared that nobody at the cathedral knew where the bust was located, or even that it existed. It seems to have been locked away since the 80's.

Shortly afterwards Chris Jeens was able to locate it in the Bridge Chapel by the Whispering Gallery, above the nave of the Cathedral and I was invited to visit on 5th of January and photograph it in the chapel.

This wonderful bust was slightly the worse for wear - it had suffered minor damage to the clothing (see following photographs) and several coats of paint but fortunately all the facial features remained intact.

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The Marble bust of Handel in the Royal Collection. 

In 1817 it was at Buckingham House where it was placed above the organ in the Queens Japan Room shown in an engraving by Pyne. David Wilson has convincingly ascribed this bust to John Bacon the Younger who sent an account dated November 1806 for a marble bust of Handel placed over the organ in the Brighton Pavillion £105 and also for a plaster while the marble was being made.

Total cost £112.18s.9d.

Information from "By Heaven Inspired" by David Wilson from The British Art Journal Vol. X no.1 and verbal communications.

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The Gloucester plaster bust of Handel with the Grimsthorpe terracotta for comparison.

The so called life mask recently exhibited at the Handel House Museum in Brook Street, London  with the Gloucester plaster bust for comparison.

An amusing photograph of David Coke and almost certainly not the life mask, but a cast taken from a version of the Handel bust without a hat.

Three more not very good photographs above of the Grimsthorpe terracotta from the Heinz Archive at the National Portrait Gallery.

Plaster busts of Handel in The Harris Correspondence of the 1740's.

Handel's friend James Harris (1709-80), who seems to have been involved in procuring from Roubiliac plaster busts of Handel for the Countess of Shaftesbury (Lord Shaftesbury, another friend of Handel, was Harris's cousin); for Charles Jennens, the wealthy patron of the arts, librettist for four of Handel's oratorios (including Messiah), and the composer's friend; and possibly for Harris himself. It is not known whether these busts were plaster versions of the rediscovered Sotheby's bare headed bust (which would therefore date it to 1741 at the latest) or of another bust of Handel by Roubiliac, such as that now in the Royal Collection (the latter dated 1739) the one with the hat. The letters (from which extracts are quoted below, as they are written, but with the addition of punctuation) are included in the James Harris archive, which itself is part of the wider Malmesbury collection at the Hampshire Records Office. (96) Some of the letters are from Roubiliac to Harris, and some are between Harris relatives and refer to the plaster busts of Handel by Roubiliac.

In a letter written from London and dated 16 April 1741, Roubiliac informed James Harris in Salisbury that a plaster 'busto' of Handel was finished and ready to be sent wherever Harris should direct, enquiring further whether Harris would like him to leave the bust white or 'put a coluor upon it' (ie a patina). On 21 April, James's brother, Thomas (a friend also of Handel and the recipient from him of a legacy of 300 [pounds sterling]), wrote to James from Lincoln's Inn that he had visited Roubiliac that evening and seen the bust, 'and like it very well. What he [Roubiliac] mean't by colouring was only making the whole of a light dun colour, as the original you saw is: and that he says will keep clean better, and I think it looks handsomer. If therefore you approve of that, write him word that you would have it colour'd as the original is, and he says he'll do it immediately.' On 18 June, Thomas again wrote from London to James in Salisbury, 'I called at Roubilliac's to day about the bust for Lady Shaft[esbury] but found it was not coloured yet, so it cant be sent till the carrier that sets out next week.' On the 27 June 1741, Lady Shaftesbury wrote, probably from St. Giles's, to James Harris in Salisbury, 'Thursday I received the busto of Hendel and am very thankfull to my cousin Thomas Harris for negociating this affair for me[.] I have dispos'd of it in a place of highest eminence in my room and please my self with thinking you will approve of it[.] I hope soon to have an opportunity of reimbursing my cousin T. Harris for this and the expences attending its coming down.'

 

On 10 July 1741, Roubiliac wrote in reply to a letter he had received from James Harris: 'I have receiv'd your obliging letter, and in answer I shall acquaint you that Mr Hendel's busto shall be near ready to morrow, so I hope you will be pleas'd to send how to direct it. You know I have Mr Popes busto which I have likewise made after life. I have also Milton's and Newton's[,] so in case any of your friends should want you will be pleas'd to reccomend them[;] but bustos being works by which there is little to be got but reputation [,] I desire you will let your friends know that my chief talent is marble works, such as monuments, chimneys, tables, all which I hope to do, to the satisfaction of those that will do me the honour to employe me.'

With reference to another bust of Handel that was intended for Jennens, on 24 July 1741, Jennens's cousin, Lord Guernsey, at Powderham in Devon, wrote to James Harris in Salisbury, As soon as I can inform myself, who is Mr Jennens's carrier, I shall beg the favour of you to give Roubillac directions how to send the bust'.

from "By Heaven Inspired" by David Wilson British Art Journal