The Monument to Robert Butts (1684 -1748).
Bishop of Ely (1738 - 48).
Henry Cheere.
Erected on the instructions of his widow Ann Green.
c.1748.
Robert Butts was linig at Old Palace Yard in 1737 ( St James' Evening Post - 10 December 1737) in close proximity to Henry Cheere at St Margarets Street.
In 1743 Cheere was made official carver for Westminster Abbey.
It appears that it has been moved - and the background obelisk is no longer extant -it was described as in the Presbytery in 1812.
Superb Rococo monument with some of the usual Cheere hallmarks.
Superlative design and carving with the use of coloured marble veneers.
The curved brackets on this monument were also used again on the Molesworth Monument at Egloshayle, Wadebridge Cornwall and the Harpur Monument at Calke, Derbyshire. (see images below).
But the vexed question of who actually performed the carved work and in particular the very fine bust of Robert Butts remains unclear.
I might be doing him a dis-service but currently I am of the opinion that Henry Cheere was no longer working "on the tools" after the early 1730's but had a team of in house and subcontract sculptors working for him.
This is not to take away the quality of the designs or workmanship which was of the highest order.
Only seven apprentices are recorded in the London Apprentice Records, (Sir) Robert Taylor in 1732, who had set up independently by the mid 1740's, but had property next to Cheere in Spring Gardens, Charing Cross. Richard Hayward (1728 - 1800) joined him in 1742 after previously working with Christopher Horsnaile I . William Collins (1721 - 93) worked with him supplying elements for chimneypieces, William Powell and William Woodman both subcontracted to him.
A Colbert Woods appears to have been his polisher - (Craske - Silent Rhetoric) but I cannot find any further references to him.
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The two preliminary drawings for the Butt Monument which are in the V &A are illustrated below.
see - Penny Evening Post, 2 Aug 1748.
The design is related to the monument of Sir John and Lady Catherine Harpur at St Giles Church, Calke, Derbyshire, which cost £200 and the monument to Sir John ,Jane and Barbara Molesworth at Egloshayle, Cornwall.
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The Preliminary Drawing for the Butts Monument at Ely.
Henry Cheere
Image courtesy Victoria and Albert Museum.
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O800298/design-cheere-henry-sir/?carousel-image=2009CB8852
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Another preliminary Design for the Butts Monument.
Attributed to Henry Cheere.
Image courtesy V and A.
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O800297/design-cheere-henry-sir/
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Engraving of the Butts Monument of 1764.
Showing the original obelisk background and acanthus leaf support.
The History and Antiquities of the Conventual and Cathedral Church of Ely : from the foundation of the monastery, A.D. 673. To the year 1771 / By James Bentham.
https://dia.pitts.emory.edu/woodcuts/1771Bent/00012137.pdf
Butts was twice married. His first wife was Miss Elizabeth Eyton, who died of consumption in 1734, at the age of forty-four, leaving two sons and five daughters. She was buried in the chapel of the bishop's palace at Norwich. He remarried to the daughter of the Revd Mr Reynolds of Bury, aged 23, by whom he had six more daughters. After his death in 1753, she then took as her second husband George Green, the receiver of the late bishop's rents, but they separated, and Mrs Green retired to Chichester, where she died 3 December 1781, at the age of sixty-nine.
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The Molesworth Monument to Sir John Molesworth of Pencarrow, 3rd Baronet (d. 1723).
and his wife Jane nee Arscott
and the wife of John Molesworth the 4th Baronet (d.1766) Barbara nee Morice.
who according to the undated inscription had the monument erected - c. 1740's?
The bust represents Dame Barbara Molesworth (1711 - 35).
St Petroc's Church, Egloshayle, Cornwall.
The inscription is confusing but I think I have interpreted it correctly!
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The Related Monument at Calke, Derbyshire.
Sir John Harpur 4th baronet (1680-1741) & wife Catherine (1682 – 1745).
Henry Cheere.
1746.
The socles are typical of those used by Henry Cheere.
The Monument is inscribed -
"Here lies the body of Sir John Harpur, bart, who died
ye 24th day of June (in ye 63 year of his age) 1741. In his character were
happily united the true patriot, the tender husband, the indulgent parent, the
worthy gentleman & the sincere friend The world pay'd this uncommon regard
to the greatest good nature & humanity, that he liv'd & died almost
without an enemy.
He marry'd Catherine the youngest daughter of the Rt
Honourable Thomas, Lord Crew of Stene in the county of Northampton, who
surviv'd him three years & six months, and lies interr'd in the same grave.
She was a lady of so rare a disposition, that it is hard to
say in wch of the duties of life she excell'd the most; She was eminent in
every one; In the profession of religion she was steady, in the practice of it
exemplary. She look'd upon her birth & station, not meerly as marks of
distinction, but as spurs to the noblest actions; She thought earthly greatness
received it's fairest lustre from virtue & piety. Though she was plac'd far
above want herself, yet affluence could never abate her humanity. She had the
most merciful feeling for the distresses of others, She made the miseries of
her fellow creatures her own. The poor found in her a sure patroness, the
orphan a never failing friend.
Thus they both liv'd happy in each other, and ornament to
religion, and honour to their Country, a blessing to this place, equally
belov'd & their loss was universally lamented").
Internet photograph.
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