Jonathan Tyers and his bust by Roubiliac.

The Busts of Jonathan Tyers (1702 - 1767),

by Louis Francois Roubiliac.

(updated 3 August 2023).

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Interesting image from the V and A website probably taken in the 1920's showing the extent of the damage to the body.

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O77818/jonathan-tyers-bust-roubiliac-louis-francois/jonathan-tyers-bust-roubiliac-louis-fran%C3%A7ois/?carousel-image=2017KB3708

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Victora and Albert Museum.

The lumpy socle is a replacement.

They suggest a date of 1738.

This terracotta and the marble version in the Birmingham Museum were almost certainly commissioned by Tyers himself.  The two busts were recorded in the possession of the Tyers's grandson, and then passed by descent to the Reverend Jonathan Tyers Barrett of Brandon House, Suffolk.

The busts were sold at the Brandon House sale in September 1919.

The purchaser at this sale was Mr R. Levine of Norwich, whose son, Mr G. J. Levine, sold the terracotta to the V&A in 1927 for £50. 

The marble bust was sold at Sotheby's on 24 June 1927 (lot 77), but in 1956 it was acquired by the Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery from Sabin, a London dealer.

From a cursory inspection of these photographs (I have yet to examine the original) it is my guess that this marble bust might have been outside and exposed to the weather for a prolonged period. It has then been repolished. This would explain the somewhat generalised features and the high gloss appearance - the unfortunate result of a rather overzealous "restoration".  

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Bust of Henry Streatfield

Terracotta.

by Roubiliac

Photograph by the author.

There is an intriguing terracotta bust of Henry Streatfield (1679 -1747) in the Streatfield Mausoleum in St Marys Church, Chiddingstone Kent first pointed out to me by Matthew Craske in 2000.

It is inscribed on the socle H.S. Aet .60. 1739. The modelling of the clothing is extremely close to that on the bust of Jonathan Tyers. It has buttons on the waistcoat which are missing on the Tyers terracotta but can be clearly seen on the marble, indicating that there should be no doubt that the marble bust of Tyers is by Roubiliac.

The Terracotta Bust of John Ray in the British Museum.

Once again Roubiliac uses the same basic form for clothing on this bust of John Ray as on the bust at the Tyers and Streatfield busts. There is yet another variation of this clothing on a terracotta bust by Roubiliac of Alexander Small (d.1752) on a monument to James Andrews at St Marys Church, Clifton Reynes in Buckinghamshire. 

The monument is attributed to Scheemakers by Malcolm Baker (see below) I have not inspected this monument or seen photographs and this information needs to be confirmed. There is no mention of it in Roubiliac and the 18th Century Monument by Baker and Bindman Yale, 1995 or in Peter Scheemakers by Ingrid Roscoe in the Walpole Soc. Journal 1999.

Note: - this info from The Making of Portrait Busts in the Mid 18th Century: Roubiliac, Scheemakers and Trinity College Dublin. Malcolm Baker.

There are several other examples of the duplication of the clothing on Roubiliac busts, such as the bust of Plato at Trinity College Dublin and various busts of Alexander Pope, the bronzed plaster bust of Nicholas Hawksmoor c. 1735/6 in the Buttery at All Souls College, Oxford (a plaster bust at Christchurch Spitalfields) and the marble bust of William Wither d. 1733 at Wooten St Lawrence, Hampshire - these last two traditionally attributed to Scheemakers but perhaps by Roubiliac working under  Scheemakers. The Clifton Reynes and Wootton St Lawrence monuments along with the busts at Trinity College Library would suggest a close working relationship between Roubiliac and Scheemakers in the mid 1730's - I will return to the subject in due course.

It has been suggested that this is because Roubiliac used the same basic moulds for the bodies and draperies of these busts where the clay is pressed into the mould taken from a prototype clay model, and the head modelled and applied separately, it is equally possible is that he used some sort of pointing machine. 

John Ray.

Roubiliac.

Marble Bust.

Wren Library, Trinity College Cambridge.

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Jonathan Tyers and Family by Francis Hayman 1740.

National Portrait Gallery.

77.8 x 106.2 cms - purchased 1983.

Note the small bust of a man with  turban on top of the continued chimneypiece.

Jonathan Tyers with his wife Elizabeth, his sons Jonathan and Thomas, and his daughters Margaret and Elizabeth.

http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitLarge/mw08292/Jonathan-Tyers-and-his-family

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Portrait believed to be of Jonathan Tyers with his daughter Elizabeth and her husband John Wood.

Francis Hayman. c1750 - 52.

With Frame 118.1 x 104.1 cms.

see - http://collections.britishart.yale.edu/vufind/Record/1671064

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Margaret Tyers daughter of Jonathan Tyers senior with her husband the Welsh amateur painter George Rogers and his sister Margaret who was to become Mrs Jonathan Tyers junior.

By Francis Hayman. c. 1748 - 50.

Size 104.1 x 99.1 cms.

http://collections.britishart.yale.edu/vufind/Record/1669267

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Margaret Tyers and her husband George Rogers.

Painted by Francis Hayman c.1748 - 50.

Size 90.2 x 69.9cms.

http://collections.britishart.yale.edu/vufind/Record/1670987

Jonathan Tyers shown second on the right.

Engraving by George Bickham the Younger, 1741.

19.7 x 32.5 cms.

The central group is taken from the Adieu to Spring Gardens from Bickham's Musical entertainer.

Satire? on Vauxhall Gardens and its habitués, the central group copied from sheet 49 of the Musical Entertainer (see 1880,1113.5469). On the left, the book-keeper (perhaps named Block) points to his account sheet saying to the proprietor, Jonathan Tyers, "Your tickets, Sir, are all brought in/By Bunters full of filthy Gin" to which Tyers, leaning backwards, responds "Z-ds! Tis a damnable Disgrace/T'admit such in this noble Place" while holding out his left hand to deter John Lockman, a hack writer, from dipping into his pocket; Lockman holds a scroll and pen and says, "...and then/I'll puff and write, and puff again". Behind Lockman stands Edward Dawson, proprietor of the Vauxhall Glass Works, holding a drinking glass in one hand and his hat in the other, saying, "And to illuminate each Tree,/More Lusters you may have of me."; an elderly chaplain holds out his knife and fork; Robert Walpole turns towards the viewer, pointing to a gentleman on the right, says, "My Lord Bal[timo]re's very fond/But I think he'd better Abscond". In the centre, Frederick, Prince of Wales, sits at a table labelled "33" with another man and two women; he gazes at one of the women while she turns towards one of two gentlemen approaching from the right (evidently Lord Baltimore) and says, "My Lord I'll do't"; a waiter with a badge lettered "33" leans towards the other woman. In the right hand foreground, the master of ceremonies looks out at the viewer, saying, "Such Company". Groups of well-dressed men and women stroll in the background; many lamps illuminate the walks and the orchestra stand. lettering on the trees advertises beef, ham, horseradish and oil at high prices. On either side figures of horn-playing women emerge from the rococo frame. May 1741

Etching with stipple.

Engraving and description from British Museum Website.

Bickham Musical Entertainer.

The same group appear again in this engraving by George Bickham.

Bickham repeating the pose of Tyers in The Musical Entertainer, 1736 - 40.

A fine quality reproduction of this engraving can be purchased -

 see - http://www.panteek.com/index.htm

 Senesino the Castrato Opera Singer.

Departed from England in 1736.

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Engraving by George Bickham the Younger believed to show Jonathan Tyers. 

British Museum.

For the Will of Jonathan Tyers see -

  http://www.vauxhallgardens.com/vauxhall_gardens_jtyerswill_page.html

For more of Bickham's engravings from Bickhams Musical Entertainer see -

  http://www.panteek.com/index.htm

For Prince Frederick and Vauxhall Gardens and its political meanings see -

http://www.doaks.org/resources/publications/doaks-online-publications/bourgeois/bourgch4.pdf




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Description of Vauxhall Gardens in 1820 from the Ambulator,

A Description of Vauxhall Gardens in 1820.

 

From London and its Environs

or the General

Ambulator

or Pocket Companion.

 

This important and comprehensive description in the 12th edition Ambulator of 1820 appears to have been missed by most researchers into Vauxhall Gardens. I include it here because of the fullness of the description of the gardens in its twilight period, although it managed to survive for nearly another forty years. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Vauxhall Gardens by George Cruikshank

from the Comic Almanack

For July 1835.

 

 

 

 

 

A Plaster Bust of Handel after Roubiliac

at the Gipsformerei der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin.

Perhaps mid 19th Century cast by Aurelio Micheli.

 

 

 

 

A photograph of indeterminate age of a plaster bust of Handel after Roubiliac provided to me by Gipsformerei der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin.

Slightly shorter than the terracotta - no button on the collar.

 

This was the master from which the bust at the Handel Haus Museum in Halle Germany was cast from (see below). It was made for Handel-Haus in 1997 by the gipsformerei (plaster workshop) of the Stiftung Preutgischer Kulturbesitz in Berlin, and that plaster was cast after a bust in their collection bearing the signature of the German sculptor, Aurelio (Mark Aurelius) Micheli (1834-1908, fl 1860-70), who specialised in portraits of notable Germans, many of them composers, and whose works appear to have been issued in multiples produced by the plaster workshop of the Micheli Brothers in Berlin.

 

It is not clear whether this is a photograph of the original cast taken by Aurelio Micheli in the mid 19th century.

 

For the current catalogues of  the Gipsformerie catalogue see http://ww2.smb.museum/GF/index.php

 

 

 

The Grimsthorpe Terracotta bust of Handel

With a button on the collar - missing on the Berlin Bust.

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The Handel Haus Halle Museum plaster bust of Handel after Roubiliac which was taken from the mid 19th century Aurelio Micheli bust.

 

Below for comparison the Royal Collection marble bust by John Bacon with a slightly longer trunk.

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  An old photograph of the marble bust in the Royal Collection.

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The Gloucester Cathedral Plaster Bust of Handel 

At first glance this bust appears very similar to the busts above, but close inspection shows this bust 

has the head tilted downwards and slight differences in the folds of the clothing. No button on the collar

 

The plaster busts shown here all appear to derive from the same prototype but one cannot be sure if the prototype was the Grimsthorpe terracotta bust or another very similar missing terracotta bust.

 

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Marble Bust of Handel

Royal Collection

https://www.rct.uk/collection/search#/27/collection/11909/george-frederick-handel

 

No button on the collar

There is no direct evidence that this bust is by Roubiliac and it has been attributed to John Bacon.

Handel's most important patron was George III, who placed this bust of his favourite composer in a position of honour in Buckingham House, on top of the organ in Queen Charlotte’s Breakfast Room.

Provenance

Possibly acquired by George III.

I think this attribution to Bacon is unlikely 

The Roubiliac Busts of George Frederic Handel (1685 - 1759). 
A Brief Overview and Conclusions.

 

 

The Grimsthorpe Terracotta -

 

No record of when it entered the collection of the Dukes of Ancaster at Grimsthorpe.

First noted by John Mallet and Malcolm Baker in 1985.

 

It is my belief that this is the terracotta sold at the Roubiliac sale on the third day, Friday 14 May 1762.

 

If the following terracotta bust of Handel had been with the Tyers family, then this bust was the most likely bust in the collection of John Stanley, which was sold in auction along with Milton and Shakespeare, in 1786 (see Morning Post and Advertiser 22 June 1786).

 

The catalogue for a sale by Christies on 29 March 1805 'of ... Vases, Marbles, etc collected by a Man of Fashion during a recent visit to Rome and Naples', also included 'original models in Terra Cotta, by the celebrated Roubiliac, &c, &c.' Lot 118 was described as An original model of the bust of Handel, by Roubiliac, in terra cotta', and it was sold for three Guineas. The preceding lot, 117, was described as 'Tarquin and Lucretia, a singularly fine model in terra cotta, by the celebrated Roubiliac, undoubtedly, with a glass shade'. Lot 119 was described as an original model of the bust of Alexander Pope by Roubiliac.  All were consigned by someone named 'Belcher', Possibly a misspelling of Belchier, the consignor therefore possibly being a relative of the deceased Dr John Belchier (d 1785), who moved in artistic circles, apparently having an acquaintance with both Pope and Handel, and whose own bust Roubiliac had modelled (model or cast, Royal College of Surgeons).  The annotations to the right of the lot descriptions, where the auctioneer has recorded the result of the auction, are incomplete, and do not disclose the name of the purchaser of the bust of Handel, but they disclose that lot 119 (the terracotta bust of Pope) was acquired by one 'Rogers' for five Guineas. (David Wilson)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sotheby's Marble,

Possibly the ‘remarkable fine bust of [Handel], exquisitely modell’d by Roubiliac’ in a sale of 1766. (this ref needs confirming)
Possibly lot 35 on the second day (21 February) of the John Blackwood sale at Christie’s in 1778, ‘Roubiliac, marble busto of Handel, on a pedestal’. Bought Ashley.

In the Collection of Alfred Morrison (1821-97), at Fonthill House, Wiltshire, and 16 Carlton House Terrace, London, from c. 1860- 1897;

By descent to his widow, 16 Carlton House Terrace, London.

Sold Christie's London, lot 107, 10th February 1900.

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Gloucester Cathedral Plaster -

No history

 

 

Foundling Hospital Terracotta -

According to Brownlow (1858) it belonged to Barrett the proprietor of Vauxhall gardens (perhaps George Rogers Barrett who died in 1818, and then to the Bass singer James Bartleman (1769 - 1821) although it was not included in the Bartleman sale at Whites 20 Feb 1822. Offered for sale by H. Rodd of 9 Great Newport Street, London and subsequently acquire by Sir Frederick Pollock, 1st Bart (1783 - 1870) and given by him to the Foundling Hospital in 1844.

 

 

Royal Collection Marble -

Perhaps commissioned from Roubiliac by Handel himself. It was given by Handel to John Christopher Smith Senior (Johann Christoph Schmidt) (1683-1763); thence to his son, also John Christopher Smith (1712-1795); by whom given to George III, c.1772-4.

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Conclusion. 

 

A close comparison of these busts, of the so called life masks and the other busts and sculpture of Handel of the Roubiliac type, leads me to believe that they all derive from sittings by Handel to Roubiliac perhaps in 1737 but possibly considerably earlier if the two recently discovered plaster busts show a younger Handel.

 

They closely resemble the portrait by Balthasar Denner of believed to be of about 1727/8.

 

By the late 1740's when he was painted by Hudson good living had led to him gaining a great deal of weight. This is amply depicted in the caricature by Joseph Goupy probably not the way Handel wished to be remembered. Although the Hudson portrait of 1756 (NPG) commissioned for his patron friend and librettist Charles Jennens shows a relatively slim man so it is dangerous to make assumptions. This could of course be poetic licence on behalf of Hudson.

 

The monument in Westminster Abbey certainly shows a much younger Handel than the 74 year old man.

 

 

 

 For Handel his illness and possible stroke in April 1737 and visit to Aix la Chapelle (Aachen) in September 1737 for about six weeks see -
http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/19071/1/19071.pdf

Denner was living in Amsterdam from 1734 to 39.

The Sotheby's Bust of Handel.- Sale Result.

Bust of Handel at Sotheby's London. 9 July 2015. Lot 179.

Sold £209,000.

Despite negativity in certain quarters - the sale price would seem to vindicate the attribution to Roubiliac.

See my previous posts.

Some Engravings of Apollo - Possible Inspirations for the Roubiliac Vauxhall Gardens Statue

Engravings of Apollo -

A few possible inspirations for the Vauxhall Statue of Handel.

 

A Roman statue of Apollo Citharoedus (with lyre)in the Palazzo Altemps, Rome.

Head, hands, left leg and instrument are rather clumsy restorations of the 17th century

 

 

Engraving from Domenico de Rossi, Racollta de Statue Antiche e Modern ..... , 1704.

 

Marco de Ravenna - early 16th Century.

 

 

 

 Angiollo Falconetto after Guilio Romano - mid 16th century.

 

 

 

Salvator Rosa, mid 17th Century Apollo and the Cumean Sybil.

 

 

 

Engraving by J Sadeler after Jan van der Straet, Amsterdam. 1594.

214 x 281mm.

 

The pose of Apollo in this engraving is very close to that of the Vauxhall Handel

 

http://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/V0007569.html

 

 

 

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Nicolas Bonnart. after Robert Bonnart.
Early 18th century

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1460626&partId=1&people=20180&peoA=20180-2-70&page=1

 

 

 

Bernard Picart (1673 - 1733). French Huguenot, active in Holland from 1710.
I include this as much for the representation of sculpture as that of Apollo.

Apollo by Bernard Picart
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From Strype's Map of London. 1720.

Frontispiece to Handel's Apollo's Feast - Pub J Walsh & J Hare
engraved by Hendrik Hulsbergh, after Pierre Berchet. 1726.

 

 

Engraving of Apollo

Drawn and engraved by William Hogarth, pub. by Clark 1727.

British Museum.

There are plenty of other precedents for the image of the seated Apollo but Roubiliac created a very dramatic new version, almost certainly based on earlier engravings perhaps with helpful suggestions by Hogarth.