The British Museum and Garrick Club Terracotta Busts of Shakespeare by Roubiliac (part 1). The Portrait of Shakespeare attributed to Borsselar.

 

The British Museum and Garrick Club

Portrait Busts of William Shakespeare

in Terracotta by Louis Francois Roubiliac.

It's Source -The Portrait of William Shakespeare 

by Pieter Borsselaer

 

 

This portrait, formerly in the possession of Philip Stanhope, Lord Chesterfield is to my eye the obvious source for the Roubiliac Garrick Club and British Museum terracotta busts of Shakespeare.

 The main difference is in the elaborate van Dyck style lace collar on the terracotta.

 

 

The Chesterfield Portrait of William Shakespeare.

Oil on canvas, 127.5 x 120 cm.

c. 1679.

This portrait of William Shakespeare, possibly by the Dutch painter Pieter Borsselaer (or Peter Borsseler, also Peter Bustler), was once owned by the Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield.

 Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

 

Provenance:

Halifax Collection until 1739/40;
Halifax sale, 1739/40, lot 13, bought by Earl of Chesterfield;
Chesterfield sale, Bretby, 1918, lot 2701 (?);
in various hands 1918 - 1949;
Christie's 2 December 1949, Lot 163; American Shakespeare Festival Theatre and Academy.

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The inscription 'F. Zuccaro' was uncovered by cleaning by James Roth in 1967. He wrote that it 'did not seem superimposed' in a letter to Dr Levi Fox of 12.12.1967 (Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Archive). However, this attribution is certainly wrong as Zuccaro was in England for perhaps six months in 1574/5.

George Vertue, when he saw the painting at the Halifax sale in 1739/40 thought it had 'a head new painted onto the posture, perhaps by Sykes' (a painter working in the first and second decades of the eighteenth century). This would imply that the painting had been made of someone else in the 1660's and then altered to represent Shakespeare around 1700.

However, restoration in 1962 showed no evidence of such a history. Like the Soest Portrait, this painting is also associated with the anecdote which originates from Vertue and appears in The Gentleman's Magazine in 1759 which relates that Clarges (the first owner of the portrait) commissioned a young actor who looked like Shakespeare to sit for the portrait by Lely. The current attribution of Dutch artist Peter Borsseler was made by Oliver Millar, a leading authority on seventeenth century painting. He notes that it is very close to that artists portrait of Sir William Dugdale.

Author - Dr Patricia Smyth.

 info from and see - http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=84563

 

 

For the portraits by Borsseler - see -

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/search/painted_by/pieter-borsseler_artists

 

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Lord Chesterfield sat to Roubiliac on several occasions. They were relatively near neighbours and Chesterfield was an ardent Francophile. Given the Baroque influences shown in both the painted portrait above and sculpted portraits it is hard to resist the obvious connection.

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It should also be noted that Michael Rysbrack and George Vertue were close friends  they were also both Catholics and would have attended the same church - Vertue's influence is plain to see on Rysbrack's busts of Shakespeare and is very obvious. When Rysbrack and Roubiliac depicted the same sitters they did so in deliberately markedly different ways.

 

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 The Lost Madame Boccage Bust of Shakespeare.

 Busts of Pope, Dryden, Milton and Shakespeare were sent to Paris in 1751 by Lord Chesterfield.

Katherine Esdaile makes a very good case that the four busts for Mme Boccage’s garden sent to France by Chesterfield were Roubiliac marble busts. Mrs Thrale saw them in her drawing room in Paris in 1775. If this is truly the case, then marble busts of Shakespeare, Pope, Milton and Dryden are still awaiting discovery or identification - perhaps hidden in a French Collection.

 

There are currently no marble or plaster versions extant of the British Museum and Garrick Club terracottas.

 

Of course it is possible that the Madame Boccage busts were made of plaster and that given the delicate nature of the material they were accidently destroyed.

 

See - Louis Francois Roubiliac by Katherine Esdaile. pub. Oxford 1929.

 

 

 Madame Boccage corresponded with Lord Chesterfield in 1750-52 and twelve of his letters to her were published by Dr Matthew Maty in Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, memoirs of his life, tending to illustrate the civil, literary and political history of his time, 2 vols, London, 1777, vol. II, pp.242-81, letters LXXXV-XCVI.

In the Chesterfield letters to Madame Boccage there are several references to him giving her the busts of Pope, Milton, Dryden and Shakespeare.

14 June 1750 - replying to her asking for a bust of himself he tells her that he will be sending her busts of Pope and Milton.
20 May 1751 - He is sending four ambassadors, Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden and Pope.
7 November 1751 - the bust of himself should arrive at Dieppe on the first good wind

 

She wrote to her sister

"Avant que de quitter le rivage que je vous décris,je viens de répondre au beau présent que Mylord Chesterfield m’a envoyé : ce sont les bustes des quatre plus grands Poëtes d’Angleterre, Mylton, Dryden, Pope, & Shakespear ; lisez mon remerciement, trop peu digne, par malheur de son attention flatteuse : […] Je reprochais vivement à ces bustes célèbres, d’avoir passé la mer sans le vôtre ; je préférois, leur dis-je, à la représentation de vous autres morts fameux, l’image de l’illustre vivant qui vous envoie […] Je crus […] que de demander votre portrait, étoit trop oser. Je me borne donc à vous faire mes très-humbles remerciements […] je les destine à l’ornement de ma petite bibliothèque de Paris."

 

Mrs Thrale Letter in the Rylands Library - Mrs. Thrale is  occasionally  very  severe on the French! 

This appears in  her account of a visit to dine with Madame de Boccage on October 5th 1775 :

" The Morning was spent in adjusting our Ornaments in order to dine with Madame de Bocage at 2 o'clock.  There was a showy Dinner with a Frame in the middle, and she gave us an English Pudding made after the  Receipt of  the Dutchess of  Queensbury.  We saw nothing particularly pleasing at this Visit but the beauty of Madame de Bocages niece, the Countess of Blanchetre, whose husband was so handsome too that being a Frenchman - I  wonder'd.  In the course of  conversation, however, he turned out an Italian, and  there was another Italian Noble - man who hailed Baretti and made himself agreable to us  all.  Nothing would serve him but attend us at night to the Colissee which, after leaving our Names with the Sardinian Ambassadress, we were willing  enough to permit.  In Madame de Bocage's Drawing room stood the Busts of Shakespear, Milton, Pope and Dryden, the lady sat on a Sopha with a fine Red Velvet Cushion fringed with gold under her Feet and just over her Head a  Cobweb of  uncommon  size & I am  sure  great Antiquity.  A Pot to spit in, either of  Pewter or Silver quite  as black &ill-coloured, was on her Table, & when  the  Servant carried Coffee about he put in Sugar with  his Fingers.  The House these people live in is a fine one but so contrived that we were to pass through  a sort of Hall where the Footmen were playing at Cards before we arrived at Madame's Chamber."

 Footnotes-

Horace Walpole wrote - 'There is come from France a Madame Bocage, who has translated Milton: my Lord Chesterfield prefers the copy to the original; but that is not uncommon for him to do, who is the patron of bad authors and bad actors. She has written a play too, which was damned, and worthy my lord's approbation'. Walpole not a fan of Madame Boccage!

Madame du Boccage published a poem in imitation of Milton, and another founded on Gesner's "Death of Abel." She also translated Pope's "Temple of Fame;" but her principal work was "La Columbiade."

 

 It was at the house of this lady, at Paris, in 1775, that (Dr) Johnson was annoyed at her footman's taking the sugar in his fingers and throwing it into his coffee. "I was going," says the Doctor, "to put it aside, but hearing it was made on purpose for me, I e'en tasted Tom's fingers."    

 

See my previous posting - http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.co.uk/2014_10_25_archive.html

 

A Bust of Shakespeare in the Royal Collection and it's variants and the Chandos Portraits.

A Marble bust of William Shakespeare.

attributed to John Cheere.

in the Royal Collection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

William Shakespeare.

White Marble Bust.

A fairly loose copy after the Peter Scheemakers bust in the Library at Trinity College, Dublin.

71.0 x 48.0 x 24.0 cm (whole object).

Attributed to John Cheere.

Royal Collection

The Royal Collection suggest an attribution to John Cheere (1709-1787), which seems reasonable, given the somewhat generalised features - but it lacks the subtleties of the busts of Roubiliac, Rysbrack and Scheemakers (see above), but seems to have been the most reproduced version - probably because of the plaster multiples emanating from the Cheere Workshop at Hyde Park Corner.

 Given that there is no provenance prior to 1806, it could well be a later copy. The inscription and socle is very similar to other busts in the Royal Collection such as Alexander Pope and Lord Ligonier by Roubiliac.

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Another version of the Royal Collection Marble bust of Shakespeare

Height 52 cms including Socle.

Currently with London dealers Historical Portraits.

 http://www.historicalportraits.com/Gallery.asp?Page=Philip-Mould

 

 

 

The Garrick Club Plaster Bust of Shakespeare.

 

 This bust is very close to marble of Shakespeare in the Royal Collection (above) attributed to John Cheere. Another version of the Trinity College Shakespeare by Roubiliac.

Almost certainly a cast either from a John Cheere plaster bust or Moulds from the Cheere Workshop.

 Library Photograph provided by Marcus Risdell, Curator at the Garrick Club.

Inscribed Shout on the back.

Height 64 cms, Socle 14.5 cms.

 

There is another version of this bust by Shout at Windsor Castle (Roscoe)..

 Presented to the Garrick Club sometime in the 1830's - it is not yet clear by whom. 

 For Robert Shout (1778 - 1827) and the Shout family of plaster statuary manufacturers see -

http://www.npg.org.uk/research/programmes/british-bronze-founders-and-plaster-figure-makers-1800-1980-1/british-bronze-founders-and-plaster-figure-makers-1800-1980-s.php

 http://217.204.55.158/henrymoore/sculptor/browserecord.php?-action=browse&-recid=2437

 

For a later version see the Sarti bust of Shakespeare at the Athenaeum Club, Pall Mall. (below).

Note particularly the base of the bust above the socle.

 

I am again very grateful to Marcus Risdell curator of the Garrick Club Collection for his help in providing images of the Garrick Club Portraits.

 

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The Athenaeum Club Plaster bust of Shakespeare

Purchased from Pietro Sarti - 1830.

 

The detail of the socle of this bust would suggest that Sarti either copied this bust from the cast by Shout or used his moulds. Robert Shout  

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Committee of the Athenæum Club.

Bought of P. Sarti

	£ s d
Jany 26th Figure of Diana Dressing	8. 8. 0
Ditto Venus Victorious	8. 8. 0
Feby 2 Moving repairing & painting to grecion archer	1. 4. 0 4
Bust of Sir Isac Newton	1. 10. 0
Ditto Shakespere	1. 10. 0
Ditto Milton	1. 10. 0
Ditto Lock	1. 10. 0
Ditto Dr Johnson	1. 1. 0
Ditto Dr Harvey	1. 10. 0
Ditto Lord Mansfield	1. 10. 0
Ditto Pope	1. 10. 0 [inserted]
Ditto Bacon	1. 10. 0
Moulding & casting Sir J. Reynolds	3. 3. 0
Adding drapery to ditto	1. 0. 0
Putting pedestal to the Bust of Burke	7. 0
Repairing & painting the Bust of Sir C Wren	12. 0
Painting the Names in the above Busts	19. 6
For taken down & putting twice the Apollo and altering four times the leaf	3. 10. 0
Bust of Garrick	1. 10. 0

All the Articles in this Bill

are correct. C Daly £42. 2. 6

Certified to be correct

Decimus Burton

24 April 1830

[Endorsed:] 1830

Casts Ordered for payment

Sarti Building Committee

26 April

Received 30 April of the Trustees of the Athenæum the sum of Forty two pounds two shillings and sixpence being the amount of my Bill for Casts supplied to the New Building to this time – £42. 2. 6

 

P. Sarti

 

The photographs and text above from -

 http://www.victorianweb.org/sculpture/athenaeum/catalogue.html

 

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The Chandos Portrait of Shakespeare.

 

 

 

 

 Associated with John Taylor

Oil on canvas, feigned oval, circa 1600-1610

126 mm x 85 mm. image size;

Given by Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere, to the NPG in 1856

NPG1

© National Portrait Gallery, London.

There was a contemporary copy of this portrait once owned by the painter Kneller, in the possession of Lord Rockingham by 1759.

George Vertue, writing on the Chandos Portrait in 1719 records -

 'The picture of Shakespeare ('the only' crossed out) one original in Posesion/ of Mr Keyck of the Temple. he bought for forty guinnea/of Mr Baterton who bought it off Sr W. Davenant. to whom it was left by will of John Taylor. who had/it of Shakespear.it was painted by one Taylor a player and painter contemp: with Shakes and his intimate friend. The name 'Richard Burbage' is crossed out in the margin. (later insertions in bold.

 Mr Betterton told Mr Keck several times that the / Picture of Shakespeare he had, was painted by one John Taylor / in his will he left it to Sir William Davenant.& at / the death of Sir Will Davenant - Mr Betterton bought / it & at his death Mr Keck bought it in whose / poss.it now is (1719 in the margin)'.

Despite this there is still some doubt - Betterton is known to have embroidered his relationship with Shakespeare for his own ends

For an fuller discussion on the subject of this portrait see -

Searching for Shakespeare, Tarnya Cooper, Yale University Press. 2006.

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The Roubiliac copy of the Chandos Portrait of Shakespeare.

 

 

 

 

A Copy of the 'Chandos' Portrait of William Shakespeare.

Government Art Collection.

They say by Roubiliac c.1758.

61 x 52 cms.

Presented to the British Museum on 1st February 1760 by Dr Matthew Maty along with a bust of The Rev Dr Clarke (perhaps by Guelfi - disappeared).

Purchased from the British Museum in June 1946 for £1.

 

 

 

A very good version of the Chandos Portrait of Shakespeare.

 

Possibly mid 18th century

Oil on canvas

57.2 x 45.1 cm.

Provenance -The North family, the Earls of Guilford, and by descent.

This portrait is also currently with Philip Mould Ltd.

 http://www.historicalportraits.com/Gallery.asp?Page=Philip-Mould

 

JT Smith in Nollekens and His Times 1828 II p.99 says that in the posthumous sale of Roubiliac there was a copy of the Chandos Portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds Reynolds, which was bought by John Flaxman I, the sculptor and caster of plaster figures John Flaxman RA's father, it afterwards belonged to Edward Malone who showed it to Reynolds 'who acknowledged that he had painted it for his friend Mr Roubiliac'

 

The portrait above is currently with Philip Mould Ltd.

 I felt it was worth lifting the entire text from his website -  written I suspect by Bendor Grosvenor.

 

http://www.historicalportraits.com/Gallery.asp?Page=Philip-Mould

 This important portrait is a faithful replica of the well known ‘Chandos’ portrait of Shakespeare [National Portrait Gallery, London], which is thought to be the only undisputed likeness of the playwright in oil. The present picture was probably painted in the latter half of the eighteenth century, and possibly about the time the original portrait came into the possession of the James Brydges, 3rd Duke of Chandos, who owned it from 1783 onwards.

 The validity of the Chandos portrait as showing Shakespeare relies mainly on its apparent early provenance. It has long been accepted as showing Shakespeare, and in the early eighteenth century was recorded by the art historian George Vertue as having belonged to the noted actor Thomas Betterton, and before that Sir William Davenant, who is widely thought to have been Shakespeare’s godson.

Unlike many copies of the Chandos picture, which are most often painted from engravings, this example must have been painted directly from the original portrait. As such, its fresh condition and vibrant colouring perhaps allows us to see what the original portrait may then have looked like, given that the Chandos picture is today so covered in discoloured varnish, over-paint and dirt.

The colouring of the present picture, with its vibrant whites of the collar and more animated modelling of areas such as the hair, gives an idea of how much brighter the Chandos picture must once have appeared. And perhaps more importantly, details of Shakespeare’s physiognomy, such as the outline of his nose, are seen here with greater precision.

 In the present picture, for example, the nose is presented as more prominent than it now appears in the original, since most of the dark glazes with which the artist first drew Shakespeare’s outlines have been much abraded. Similarly, comparison between the Chandos picture and the present picture, together with another even earlier replica [Private Collection] shows that the Shakespeare we see in the Chandos picture today has artificially long hair, for in the Guilford version it stops well short of his collar. Likewise, the Chandos Shakespeare today has a pointy beard, which is not evident in the Guilford example.

 We do not know who made such additions to the Chandos portrait, but we do know that in the mid-nineteenth century much was made of the fact that the Chandos Shakespeare seemed at odds with contemporary notions of Shakespeare’s image. One critic claimed that the picture showed a man ‘of decidedly Jewish physiognomy… with a coarse expression…’ It is likely, therefore, that additions such as the pointy beard and longer hair were added to the Chandos picture to make Shakespeare look more like the Bohemian playwright history has assumed him to be.

 

http://www.historicalportraits.com/Gallery.asp?Page=Philip-Mould

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William Powell (1735 - 69)

Actor and protégée of Garrick

With his bust of Shakespeare and his portrait of Garrick in the background.

Engraved by Samuel Okey (fl. 1765 -80) after Robert Pyle (1761 - 66)

Mezzotint

Circa 1765/70.

Royal Collection.

The Eighteenth Century Busts of Shakespeare - Scheemakers.

The Bust of William Shakespeare c. 1736.

by Peter Scheemakers (1691 - 1781). 

and it's three Companion Busts of Dryden, Spenser, and Milton

at Hagley Hall, Worcestershire.

 

This would seem like a good place to add some information on the various busts of Shakespeare by Scheemakers, Rysbrack and Roubiliac to this blog, and although only tangentially relevant to the understanding of Rysbrack's statuettes of van Dyck, Rubens and du Quesnoy, this page and the following pages should hopefully assist in adding to the knowledge of the creation of the statuettes and their relationship with other historicising portrait sculpture of the mid 18th century.

 

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 William Shakespeare.

White Marble Bust.

Peter Scheemakers (1691 -1781).

c.1736.

About half life size.

Height 46cms approx. with socle.

Hagley Hall. Worcestershire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The busts of Shakespeare, Spenser, Dryden and Milton by Peter Scheemakers in the broken pediments of the bookcases in the Library at Hagley Hall were given to Alexander Pope by Frederick, Prince of Wales; they were subsequently bequeathed by Pope, who died in 1743 to Lord Lyttelton. They were in the Library in the new house at Hagley in 1747/48.

Some time after buying Carlton House in 1732, Prince Frederick had commissioned two sets of marble library busts from Peter Scheemakers, one set for himself - which seems to have disappeared and the second set as a gift to Alexander Pope.

A bill for £107 4s was examined by William Kent as overseer and paid 22 November 1735, included the set of busts charged at £10 each (Duchy of Cornwall Household Accounts) it is unclear whether they were for the library at Carlton House or for Kents magnificent saloon in the Rotunda in the garden, built in 1735  -  (adorned with paintings and sculpture - Grub Street Journal, 2 September 1735)

 Prince Frederick, William Kent and the Garden Building at Carlton House have already been touched on in my blog entry of 12 August 2015, see -

http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/frederick-prince-of-wales-and-busts-in.html

A voucher in the Royal Household accounts, dated 8th November 1735, details 'for four small marble Busto's delivered to Mr Pope at £10-10 each 42-0-0' The bill was examined by William Kent on 22 November 1735 and paid without deduction. A receipt in the sculptors hand was added one week later (Duchy of Cornwall, Household Accounts of Frederick Prince of Wales, Vouchers October 1736 - June 1737, vol. VI, part 1, pp 307-08

 Ingrid Roscoe (Walpole Society Journal) suggest that the gift to Pope was probably prompted by George Lyttleton, who was the secretary to Prince Frederick, an active member of the Whig opposition, and who fostered the friendship of Pope and Prince Frederick in the hope that Pope might have a democratising influence on the Prince.

The busts prompted a letter to Dean Swift dated 17 May 1739 9 'the Pr. shews me a distinction beyond any Merit or Pretence on my part & I have received a Present from him of some marble heads of Poets for my libraryand some Urnes for my garden' - (Correspondence of Alexander Pope ed. Sherwin 1956).

 Ingrid Roscoe says - that the busts are ' weakly characterised frontal portraits' which I think is being rather unkind to them. I suspect that she hadn't inspected them closely - compared with the portrait in the Royal collection attributed to John Cheere (to follow on the next page) they exhibit a much higher degree of subtlety.

Much of this information has been culled from Peter Scheemakers by Ingrid Roscoe, Walpole Society Journal, vol 61, 1999.

 

I am very grateful to Viscount Cobham for allowing me the opportunity to visit Hagley and to take these photographs. I would also like to thank to Joyce Purnell of Hagley Hall who facilitated the visit for me, showed me around and made my visit so enjoyable.

 Please forgive the quality of these photographs - I was very much restricted by the height of the bookcases, the availability of light and the lens on my camera. It is my intention to return to Hagley some time shortly, when the busts have been taken down and to take more photographs. In the short term these images will have to do.

 

 

 

 

Dryden

Peter Scheemakers.

White Marble Bust.

c.1736.

About half life size.

Height 46cms approx. with socle.

Library, Hagley Hall, Worcestershire.

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Spenser.

Peter Scheemakers.

White Marble Bust.

c.1736.

About half life size.

Height 46cms approx. with socle.

Library, Hagley Hall, Worcestershire.

The use of the van Dyck collar should be noted. I believe this is its first appearance on an 18th century bust.

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John Milton

by Peter Scheemakers.

White Marble Bust.

About half life size.

Height 46cms approx. with socle.

Hagley Hall, Worcestershire.

 

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William Shakespeare.

by Peter Scheemakers.

White Marble bust 

c. 1743.

Trinity College Library, Dublin.

 

 

One of 14 Ancient and modern worthies which Scheemakers was contracted to supply for the Library at Trinity College Dublin. 

In 1743 £500 was left by Dr Claudius Gilbert, Vice Provost 'for the purchase of busts of men eminent for learning to adorn the library'.

 

I will write about the Trinity College Library busts in the near future made by Scheemakers with the assistance of Roubiliac from 1743.

 

 

Scheemakers Monument to Shakespeare of 1740 in Westminster Abbey.

Possible Plaster Statuette after Scheemakers sold by Fenwick Bull

 

 

Fenwick Bull.

Figures and Models in Plaster.

 

 

 

For Fenwick Bull and a plaster bust of Handel see - http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/asummary-of-researches-into-bust-of.html

Shakespeare after Scheemakers Kilmainham Dublin

A Statue of William Shakespeare.

 After the Original by Scheemakers.

 On Riversdale House, Kilmainham, Dublin. Ireland

Demolished 1969.

Unknown Date or Material

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Riversdale House, probably originally had Dutch Billy gables, and was constructed entirely in stone rather than brick. Constructed about 1725 by a Dublin lawyer called John Fitzpatrick who sold it shortly afterwards to a legal colleague, Simon Bradstreet.

The Bradstreet family resided in the mansion throughout the 18th century, tending the formal gardens that stretched out in front of the house up to a splendid wrought iron gateway fronting the highway at Old Kilmainham. The house became tenements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with most of the house demolished about 1965.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where is it now?

see -

http://archiseek.com/2014/1725-riversdale-house-kilmainham-dublin/