Tuesday, 2 December 2025

Monument to Francis Hooper from the workshop of Louis Francois Roubiliac - the bust by Roubiliac - the monument believed finished by Nicholas Read - at Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge and some further works by Nicholas Read.

 

This post updated with the Devizes and Probus Monuments 18th March 2026.
updated again 29 June 2026 with more info and photographs of the Niblett Monument at All Souls Chapel Oxford

         Francis Hooper (1694 - 1763). Doctor of Divinity, Senior Fellow.

Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge.

The Bust by Roubiliac - with the later type Roubiliac Socle.

 The monument possibly finished by Nicholas Read (c.1730 - 87).


A good excuse for posting here is to continue to explore the repetition the use of the Roubiliac late type socle and its variants and is a convenient opportunity to look at the work of Nicholas Read (1733 - 87) assistant to Roubiliac until his death in 1762.

For more onnthe Roubiliac late type socle see-

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-roubiliac-type-socle-some-mor.html



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Francis Hooper was Rector of Gallow and Brothercross Hundreds, Thorpland, Norfolk, from 1758 until his death in 1763. 

He published several books including a Latin thesis on the origin of the Jews, and a French edition of Propertius.

 

He was the Keeper of the Cheatham Library, Manchester.  In his will he bequeathed monies for Trinity's new bridge, built in 1765.  He also left an estate at Barrington to found three annual prizes for English declamations, and £1000 to rebuild or alter the combination room, and £180 for plate.












The monument is inscribed -

FRANCISCUS HOOPER S.T.P.

Hujusce Collegii, quod unicè amavit, Socius Senior

Post multos annos in eodem feliciter completos

Hic tandem voluit requiescere,

Donec de Morte ipsâ victor Resurrexerit.

 natus Jan. 10. 1694 obiit Maij 18. 1763


 Inscribed N. Read int et sct

Nicholas Read (d. 1787) was an apprentice and assistant to Roubiliac.


The list and limited biography below from

https://gunnis.henry-moore.org/henrymoore/works/recordlist.php?-action=find&-sortfieldone=List+Number&-sortorderone=ascend&sculptor_id=2230


A student and the self-appointed successor to Louis François Roubiliac, Read’s monuments are characterised by drama and excess. He was probably the son of James and Anne Read, born 1 April 1730 and christened at St Martin-in-the-Fields ten days later. He was the eldest of three or more children. Read was first a student at the St Martin’s Lane Academy and around 1746 he was apprenticed by his father to Roubiliac. 

A later account in the Gentleman’s Magazine  (GM, 1787, vol 57, pt II, 644). claims that Read became a favourite student of the French sculptor after covertly and successfully completing one of his master’s busts. ‘From that moment they continued inseparable friends ever after and all distinction was lost in the affection [Roubiliac] bore him’


George Vertue, who saw a drawing by Read of an ‘academy figure’ in 1750, recorded that it showed ‘great skill & fire & spirit extraordinary’ (Vertue, III, 152). 

Read is said to have worked on many of Roubiliac’s major commissions, including the famous skeletal figure of Death on the monument to Mrs Nightingale, and he was left in charge of the business whilst his master was in Rome in 1752. 

When Roubiliac died, early in 1762, Read took over the workshop, advertising within a few days that, having been with Roubiliac for the last 16 years ‘and executed great part of his most capital works’ he now meant to succeed him (Anecdotes 1937, 151). 

It seems likely that Read completed some of Roubiliac’s unfinished commissions, particularly the monument to Francis Hooper, which incorporates a bust by Roubiliac, and another to Lucretia Betenson at Wrotham, Kent. He repeated the Betenson emblem of a cut rose on the monument to John Kendall.




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Here seems a good a place as any to list the known works of Nicholas Read.

The list below from

https://gunnis.henry-moore.org/henrymoore/works/recordlist.php?-action=find&-sortfieldone=List+Number&-sortorderone=ascend&sculptor_id=2230


1. James Poole d.1785 - Funerary Monument  - Budworth, nr Nantwich, Cheshire.

2. Statue of Atlanta  - nd - Earl of Wemyss, Gosford, Lothian.

3. Models for unspecified monuments, including one ‘in a case’.Sculptor’s workshop, St Martin’s Lane, sold 1787, lots 56, 61-3, 91-2 - untraced.

 4. ‘A quantity of plaster busts, &c’ Bust in Sculptor’s workshop, St Martin’s Lane, sold 1787, lots 57-8, 98, 100 – untraced.

5. ‘A small [unspecified] monument complete’ Funerary Monument nd. Sculptor’s workshop, St Martin’s Lane, sold 1787, lot 70 untraced.

6. Unspecified bas-reliefs - Relief - Sculptor’s workshop, St Martin’s Lane, sold 1787, lots 89, 94, 96 untraced.

7. ‘A statuary shield and four ornaments’  Miscellaneous. Sculptor’s workshop, St Martin’s Lane, sold 1787, lot 108 untraced

8. A model for an unspecified monument, 1780. Exhib. Soc. of Artists, London, 209 -  untraced.

9. William Pitt, the Elder, Earl of Chatham (d.1778), model (the commission was won by John Bacon RA). Funerary Monument, 1779. Exhib. Free Soc, London, – untraced.

10. John Finch (d.Ist June 1736) MP for Maidstone and his wife Elizabeth - Funerary Monument after1767, St Leonards, Thrybergh, nr Rotherham, West Riding, Yorks.

John Finch married on 13th April 1726, Elizabeth, daug. and heiress of John Saville, of Methley in Yorkshire, Esquire (she died on 28th October 1767).

11. Francis Hooper (with the bust by LF Roubiliac - see above). Funerary Monument. 1763,  Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge.

12. Rear-Admiral Richard Tyrrell - Funerary Monument  after 1766  Westminster Abbey, London, nave, south aisle. The Pancake Monument.

In a window recess of the south aisle of the nave of Westminster Abbey is the enormous monument by Nicholas Read, to the memory of Rear Admiral Tyrrell who was buried at sea. It was unveiled on 16th June 1770.

'Sacred to the Memory of RICHARD TYRRELL Esqr / who was descended / from an Ancient Family in Ireland and died Rear Admiral / of the White on the 26th day of June 1766 in the 50th Year of his Age / Devoted from his Youth to the Naval Service of his Country and being found under / the Discipline and animated by the Example of his renown'd Uncle Sr. Peter Warren / He distinguished himself as an able and Experienced officer in many Gallant / Actions particularly on the 3rd Nov. 1758 when commanding the Buckingham / of 66 Guns and 472 Men. He attacked and defeated three French ships / of War one of which was the Florisant of 74 Guns and 700 Men / but the Buckingham being too much disabled to take possession of her / after she had struck the enemy under the cover of Night escaped / In this Action he received several Wounds and lost three Fingers / of the right hand. Dying on his return to England / from the Leeward Islands where he had for three Years / Commanded a Squadron of His Majesty's Ships / His Body according to his own desire was committed / to the sea with the proper Honours and / Ceremonies', 'The Sea shall give up her dead / and every one shall be rewarded / according to his works'



 This huge sculpture was severely truncated in 1882 and the figure of the Admiral rising up to heaven, together with clouds and cherubs, were removed. 

The figure of the Admiral is still in the Abbey collection and is now on show in the new Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries). Because of the many flat clouds it was known as the 'Pancake monument'.






















13. Elizabeth (†1765) and Stephen Niblett Funerary Monument after 1766 - All Souls College, Oxford.

The Mural Monument to Stephen and Elizabeth Niblett. It is attributed to Nicholas Read  in Biographical Dictionary... Yale 2009 - refs. Gunnis but gives no further info.

 

 It is the first and only memorial of a woman in the chapel - the unusual design is both bold and unique the unusual shape of the background - usually an obelisk was repeated albeit in a slightly different form on the monument to Henry Herbert, Lord Pembroke previously standing in the church at Wilton - the background has been removed, and also on the monument to Andrew Fountaine at Narford, Norfolk both by Roubiliac.

To the right of two lamps an academic gown is cast over a pile of books, all superbly sculpted in white marble.

 Niblett was elected Warden (head) of All Souls College, Oxford in 1726, a post he held until 1766.

 During his time as Warden of All Souls College, he was also Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University from 1735 until 1738.

 The Nibletts lived in the warden’s lodgings for forty years and died within fifteen months of each other.



Photographs below taken by the author and added 29 June 2026.




















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14. Lady Anne Morgan (d. 1764) Funerary Monument – 1767 - Kinnersley, Herefordshire (below).
















"Near this Place are deposited the Remains of Dame Anne MORGAN, Wife of Sir John MORGAN Bart. and youngest Daughter of Sir Jacob JACOBSEN Knt. and Anne his Wife, eldest daughter of Sir Gilbert HEATHCOTE, Bart.

She departed this Life universally lamented, September the 18th 1764, aged 50. In Respect to whose Memory, her Affectionate & Afflicted Uncle, Theodore JACOBSEN Esqr. (d. 1772) erected this Monument with the Consent of her Surviving Husband.

This Excellent Christian was distinguished by the most exemplary Piety towards God, & Love & Duty towards her Parents & Husband. Her good Sense & Sweet Disposition; her Humility & Affability engaged the Affections of her Relations & Friends & the Esteem of all her Acquaintance. To the Poor & Afflicted She Administer'd (with a liberal Hand) Comfort & Support. In Friendship, her Sincerity was perfect. & her Benevolence was universal.

In Short, she was a Shining pattern of Religion & Virtue, & an inestimable Ornament to human Nature. Few approaching so near to the Divine Perfection proposed for Our Imitation, by our blessed Lord him Self

Be Ye therefore perfect, even as Your Father which is in Heaven is perfect".

Jacobsen was a merchant in Basinghall Street, London. He was the London-born son of Sir Jacob Jacobsen, a north German merchant, of a family closely involved with the Hanseatic League, and their London base, the Steelyard. From 1735 Jacobsen ran the family business there.

Jacobsen designed the Foundling Hospital; the plan was approved in 1742, and was carried out under James Horne as surveyor. Jacobsen became a governor of the hospital.After a falling-out with Jacobsen in 1742, Thomas Coram, the hospital's founder, failed to be re-elected to its General Committee. Henry Keene did further work on the Foundling Hospital site, under Jacobsen's supervision.

Jacobsen became a Fellow of the Royal Society, the Society of Antiquaries of London, and the Society of Arts. He died on 25 May 1772, and was buried in All Hallows Church, Thames Street, London.

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15. Anne Simons - Funerary Monument d. 1769 - Lechlade, Glos.






16. Elizabeth, Duchess of Northumberland d. 5 December 1776 at Northumberland Hose, Strand, ( the monument designed by Robert Adam - drawing at the Soane Museum - not yet digitalised) 1778 -1782 - Chapel of St Nicholas,Westminster Abbey, London, 

It is inscribed -

Near this place lies interred Elizabeth Percy, Duchess of Northumberland, in her own right Baroness Percy, Lucy, Poynings, Fitzpayne, Bryan, and Latimer; sole heiress of Algernon, Duke of Somerset, and of the ancient Earls of Northumberland, She inherited all their great and noble qualities, with every amiable and benevolent virtue. By her Marriage with Hugh Duke of Northumberland, She had issue Hugh Earl Percy, Lady F. Eliz. Percy, who died in 1761, and Lord Algernon Percy. Having lived long an Ornament of Courts, an Honour to her Country, a Pattern to the Great, a Protectress of the Poor, ever distinguished for the most tender Affection for her Family and Friends, She died December 5th, 1776, aged Sixty; Universally beloved, revered, lamented.









17. Rev. George Legh, Funerary Monument 1776, and his two wives Frances and Elizabeth - John the Baptist Parish Church, Halifax, Yorks.

Vicar 1731-1775. A member of the Cheshire family of Legh, of High Legh.

He directed in his will that "a marble monumental inscription be fixed up in the Vestry Burial Place or Library in the Parish Church of Halifax recording the time of my two last wives burial there and mine, so as the expence thereof doth not exceed one hundred pounds or there abouts."


Near this Place in the same Vault, are deposited the Remains of the Rev. GEORGE LL.D. LEGH & his two beloved wives FRANXTS {sic) & ELIZABETH, to whose joint Memory this Monument is erected; he was Vicar of this Parish of Halifax above forty four Years ; during which Time he interested himself with laudable Zeal in the cause of religious Liberty & Sincerity, being the last Survivor of those worthy Men who distinguished themselves by their opposition to Ecclesiastical Tyranny, he defended the Rights of Mankind in that memorable Hoadlian Controversy the Bible he considered as the only standard of Faith & practice, to the poor & distress'3 & Public Charity^ he was a generous Benefactor, by his Will order Bibles to be given for the Benefit of the poor, he did Honor to his Profession as a Clergyman & christian, esteem when liveing, in Death lamented, he died compos? on the 6th  of Decerber 1775. in the 82? Year of his Age.

his Wife FRANCIS died December 9th 1749, ELIZABETH Feb' 8th1765.

 This Monument was restored from much dilapidation and decay by Mrs Stansfield of New Cross near Deptford, Kent. December 1829. (Elizabeth Milne, nee Robinson, widow of Samuel Milne, of Warley, and third wife of Timothy Stansfeld, of New Cross, was niece of Dr. Leigh. She died 21 Aug., 1838, aged 76.

 

The monument is inscribed N : READ. Sculp. St. Martins Lane, London. 1775.



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18. Nicholas Magens (d. 18 August 1764) - Funerary Monument. – 1766 - Brightlingsea, Essex.

The monument was erected by his widow Elizabet (died 30 August 1779, nee Dorrien). He became a British citizen in 1737 Director of London Assurance 1741 - 50.

The monument was described in the Ipswich Journal that November (5), is an overpowering assembly of motifs.

Magens was born at Neuendorff, Duchy of Holstein then politically linked with Denmark

In about 1725 he lived in Cádiz and traded with Veracruz. New Spain (Mexico). on the gulf of Mexico where silver was traded.

In 1741 he became one of the directors of the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation and was given the responsibility for the complaint negotiations by the Hamburg Senate. 

In 1759 he appears to have been appointed by the Bank of England as director.

Magens printed works -

The Universal Merchant: Containing the Rationale of Commerce, in Theory and Practice; an Enquiry Into the Nature and Genius of Banks, Their Power, Use, Influence and Efficacy. Nicholas Magens pub 1753.

Essay on Insurances pub 1755








19. John Kendall (d.1750) - Funerary Monument. c1765 - West Horsley, Surrey.

image below from - https://churchmonumentssociety.org/2018/09/03/surrey-tour-part-2





20. Actaeon and his dog. - Statue 1762 - Soc of Arts, premium (100 gns) - untraced.

21. Diana, out of water by a rock – Statue - 1764. Soc. of Arts, premium - untraced.

22. Sir Gilbert Heathcote - Funerary Monument - 1768 - Devizes, Wiltshire.

More details below.




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23. Elizabeth, Duchess of Northumberland (†1776) (designed by Robert Adam), with relief portrait of the deceased - Funerary Monument -1778-1782 - chapel at Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, untraced (lost during rebuilding of 1854-1865).

Along with the monument at Westminster Abbey, Adam was commissioned to design a sarcophagus for the chapel at Alnwick, dedicated to memory of the Duchess of Northumberland who had died suddenly on 5 December 1776.  Adam provided a new design for the lid of the sarcophagus in June 1781. The sculpture was undertaken by Nicholas Read  who was paid £240, and continued until at least 1783.

 

The design at the Soane Museum is the only surviving graphic evidence for the monument, taking the form of a Roman sarcophagus, with a paired portrait of the Duke and Duchess in the middle. 

The executed object was very large, measuring 9 feet long, 4 feet 2 inches wide, and 3 feet 7 inches high, and was placed under Adam’s stained glass window in the chapel at Alnwick. Written descriptions of the sarcophagus describe something a little different to this design, and it is presumed that Read executed the design with some alterations to this drawing. The monument was lost when the chapel was demolished under Sir Anthony Salvin in the 1850s.

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24. Lucretia Betenson (completing Roubiliac’s work?) she was the daughter of Martin Folkes - Folkes busts sculpted by Roubiliac (Wilton House) - Funerary Monument after1758 -Wrotham, Kent. 


My opinion is that although Read might have finished the monument the relief is so good that it is almost certainly by Roubiliac.

see my post - https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-monument-to-lucrecia-betensen.html

I would very much like to obtain some better photographs of this monument.

see the Kerridge Monument by Roubiliac at Framlingham Suffolk (illustrated below)






      "Sacred to the Memory

 of Mrs. LUCRETIA BETENSON the belov'd Wife of

RICHARD BETENSON Esquire only son of Sir EDWARD

 BETENSON of this County Baronet. Her early Death

 fix'd deep in the Breasts of her disconsolable Friends

 an inexpressible and lasting Sorrow, as she was an

 affectionate Wife, a sincere and steady Friend; ever

 compassionate to the Sorrows and bountifull to the

 Wants of her fellow Creatures; In a Word an amiable

 Pattern of every christian Virtue; she was Daughter &

 Coheiress of MARTIN FOLKES of Hillington in NORFOLK

 Esquire who was President of the ROYAL SOCIETY and

 distinguish'd by his extensive Learning, among the

 brightest Ornaments of the Age."

 "This Monument was erected by the Care

 and Direction of the aforesaid

 Richard Betenson Esquire."

 

 A Full Transcription of the will of Lucretia Betenson:

 (The National Archives of the UK: PROB 11/838/397)

 In the Name of God Amen.

 This is the Last Will and Testament of me Lucretia Betenson Wife of Richard Betenson of the Parish of Saint George the Martyr in the County of Middlesex Esquire being I bless God in my Perfect Sences and good memory but rather declining in my Health and knowing how transitory and uncertain this Life is and that may please God to call me hence suddenly I do in the humblest manner thereforegive praise and thanks to Almighty God for the many and great Blessings which he has in his Infinite mercy and goodness betowed [sic] upon me and trusting in him for the forgiveness of the many and great Sins I have in this mortal Life committed do with all Resignation and Humility render up my soul to him that gave it and my Body to the Earth from whence it was taken desiring that it may with as Little expence as Possible be Buried where ever my Dear and much beloved Husband Richard Betenson Esquire shall appoint or order.

 And now for the disposal of my Worldly Affairs which it hath pleased Almighty God to bless me with

 It is my Will if I dye without Issue to give my whole Fortune and every thing that I leave to my Dear Husband Richard Betenson Viz the Twelve thousand Pounds which is now in the hands of my Uncle William Folkes Esquire my two Houses in Queen Square all my Plate and Furniture of what kind soever whatever I have in the Funds my China and Pictures in Short every thing I have except One hundred Pounds Yearly which I Will and bequeath to my dear and ever sincere Friend Mrs. Helen Betenson to be paid her quarterly or half yearly as She shall desire and after her death for it to return to my dear Husband Richard Betenson to whom as before mentioned I give every thing to himand his Heirs for ever and for him to dispose of  just as he shall think proper I do hereby ratify and confirm this to be my last Will and Testament In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seal this Thirteenth day of May in the year of our Lord 1758 -

 Lucretia Betenson Signed Sealed and delivered in the presence of W: Heberden W: Watson John Girle.

 On the Sixteenth day of June in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and Fifty Eight Administration with the Will annexed of the Goods Chattles and Credits of Lucretia Betenson late of the Parish of Saint George the Martyr in the County of Middlesex deceased was granted to Richard Betenson Esquire the lawfull Husband of the said deceased and Residuary Legatee named in the said Will (for that no Executor is named therein) having been first sworn duly to administer. Exd.

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-monument-to-lucrecia-betensen.html

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The Monument to George Heathcote (died 1768).

Lord Mayor of London

Devizes. Wiltshire.

George Heathcote (7 December 1700 – 7 June 1768) was an English merchant and philanthropist and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1727 to 1747. He was sheriff of the City of London in 1739 and Lord Mayor of London in 1742.


He was born in Jamaica, the son of Josiah Heathcote, a West India Merchant of London, and his wife, Catherine, widow of Thomas Barrett of Jamaica. He was a nephew of Sir Gilbert Heathcote, 1st Baronet, Governor of the Bank of England and Caleb Heathcote, who served as Mayor of New York City. He was educated at Clare College, Cambridge and the Middle Temple (which he entered in 1720).

Heathcote was a member of the Masonic Lodge at the Rummer Tavern, Charing Cross and was known as the wealthiest commoner in England when he died in 1768 aged 67. 

He had married Maria, the daughter of John Eyles, MP, of Wiltshire; they had two sons and two daughters.

They resided at Southbroom House (in the Drew family until 1680). It was bought by John Eyles, a London merchant, who was Lord Mayor of London for part of 1688. The house was rebuilt in 1773 by Edward Eyles.


https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/heathcote-george-1700-68

Margaret Whinney (correctly) ascribed this monument to Nicholas Read - she had failed to note the inscription hidden beneath the grey marble apron.


The monument to my eyes is another Read work which is not entirely successful - the lion is clumsily realised, but the carving of the dress is exquisite and the portrait relief is very fine.









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The Monument to Thomas Hawkins.

After 1766.

St Probus and St Grace Parish Church Probus, Cornwall.

Nicholas Reade.

I have visited many churches over the last few years and photographed many 18th century monuments but I have to say that this is probably one of worst examples of a monument.

It is a failure in many ways - the head of the grieving female is particularly bad - the divebombing angel is also particularly misconcieved - was it completed whilst the balance of his mind was disturbed.

















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A Brief Biography of Nicholas Reade (c.1730 - 87).

Culled from the on line version of A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851 pub Yale 2009.

This entry was compiled by Greg Sullivan.

.

https://gunnis.henry-moore.org/henrymoore/sculptor/browserecord.php?-action=browse&-recid=2230


A student and the self-appointed successor to Louis François Roubiliac, Read’s monuments are characterised by drama and excess. He was probably the son of James and Anne Read, born 1 April 1730 and christened at St Martin-in-the-Fields ten days later. He was the eldest of three or more children. Read was first a student at the St Martin’s Lane Academy and around 1746 he was apprenticed by his father to Roubiliac. A later account in the Gentleman’s Magazine claims that Read became a favourite student of the French sculptor after covertly and successfully completing one of his master’s busts. ‘From that moment they continued inseparable friends ever after and all distinction was lost in the affection [Roubiliac] bore him’ (GM, 1787, vol 57, pt II, 644).

George Vertue, who saw a drawing by Read of an ‘academy figure’ in 1750, recorded that it showed ‘great skill & fire & spirit extraordinary’ (Vertue, III, 152). Read is said to have worked on many of Roubiliac’s major commissions, including the famous skeletal figure of Death on the monument to Mrs Nightingale, and he was left in charge of the business whilst his master was in Rome in 1752. When Roubiliac died, early in 1762, Read took over the workshop, advertising within a few days that, having been with Roubiliac for the last 16 years ‘and executed great part of his most capital works’ he now meant to succeed him (Anecdotes 1937, 151). It seems likely that Read completed some of Roubiliac’s unfinished commissions, particularly the monument to Francis Hooper, which incorporates a bust by Roubiliac (2), and another to Lucretia Betenson at Wrotham, Kent (1). He repeated the Betenson emblem of a cut rose on the monument to John Kendall (3).

In March 1762 Read published an advertisement offering casts of several busts by Roubiliac including representations of Alexander Pope, Isaac Ware and David Garrick. These were to be had ‘considerably cheaper than their usual price’ since the contents of Roubiliac’s studio were to be sold in May (Anecdotes 1937, 151-2). 

Nicholas Read, for sale to "Any persons who are related to the said gentlemen, or holding them in esteem". They were to be supplied "considerably cheaper than their usual price" before the moulds were disposed of by public auction.

By this date Read was evidently an accomplished marble sculptor for on 27 April 1762 he won a premium of 100 guineas from the Society of Arts for his life-size figure of Actaeon. 

He married Mary Simmonds at about this time, and their child, Thomas James, was christened in December 1763. 

On 27 April 1764 he won another prize of 140 guineas from the Society of Arts for a figure of Diana out of water by a rock. These were the largest premiums for sculpture ever offered by the Society, and his achievement won him notices in the Press.


An anecdote by J T Smith (Nollekensand his Times) relates that Read had once declared that when he finished his apprenticeship to Roubiliac ‘he would show the world what a monument ought to be’ (Smith 1828, vol 2, 240-1). His early independent works indicate that he aimed to make an impression with his innovative designs and powerful dramatic effects. 


His monument to Nicholas Magens, 1766, which was described in the Ipswich Journal that November , is an overpowering assembly of motifs. A statue of Fame with inappropriately large outstretched wings stands with a globe and cherub, in front of a Breccia marble pyramid. They are surrounded by emblems of trade, bales of merchandise, an anchor, rope and a bursting cornucopia, which pours forth a flood of fruits of the earth intermixed with golden guineas. The pyramid is encrusted with ice-cream clouds and numbers of twisting putti who threaten to overwhelm the figures below.

Soon after completing the Magens monument Read won the commission for Admiral Tyrrell’s monument in Westminster Abbey (6), a Resurrection scene. This was partly dismantled in the 19th century when the figure of the Admiral was put into store, which is regrettable, for the work has received ridicule and high praise in equal measure. Its swelling clouds earned it the sobriquet ‘the pancake monument,’ and J T Smith considered it the vilest work in the Abbey. On the other hand, Mrs Esdaile later described the remaining figures as ‘very beautiful’ and the relief of Tyrrell’s ship, the Buckingham, as ‘technically among the most amazing things in English art’ (Esdaile 1928, 214).

Although few in number, Read’s monuments are ambitious and varied. The Northumberland memorial, designed by Robert Adam, is built around the family vault in Westminster Abbey and consciously echoes the Elizabethan and Jacobean surroundings, despite the obvious neoclassicism. Read departed from Adam's design in several particulars, most notably the incorporation of a delightful naturalistic relief of the Duchess as Charity giving alms. The monument to Mrs Simons is an asymmetrical variant on a standard type, the portrait-medallion on a draped pyramid. The Finch monument incorporates two unusual urns  and Lady Margan’s memorial, an x–shaped composition, has a figure of Fame with her head falling backwards in an ecstasy of grief (8).

In 1779 Read submitted an unsuccessful design for the monument to William Pitt, Lord Chatham, presenting Chatham standing on a sarcophagus in an oratorial pose, surrounded by figures of Learning, Eloquence and History (12). Like his friend John Cheere, who left him a small bequest to buy a mourning ring, Read appears to have had a high public profile, but he won little recognition amongst artists. He appears not to have sought any connection with the Royal Academy, unlike his co-apprentice in Roubiliac’s studio, William Tyler RA, and he exhibited on only a couple of occasions at the Free Society.


The paucity of Read’s known work supports Smith’s claim that the mainstay of his business was not sculpture but property development. According to Smith, who clearly disliked Read intensely, the sculptor was able to increase his means tenfold by ‘the trade of purchasing old houses, fitting them up, and then letting them at an immense increase of rent’ (Smith 1828, vol 2, 240-1).


He died on 11 July 1787 at his house at 65, St Martin’s Lane. His obituary noted ‘his faculties were, from his great studies, impaired at a time of life when other men’s are in their prime, and he became totally deprived of reason a short time before his death’ (GM, 1787, vol 57, pt 2, 644-5). 

His will, proved that month, left all his ‘real and personal estates’ to his wife Mary, and an annuity of £100 per annum to his son, Thomas James. Further annuities went to three other family members. A sale of his stocks of marble and clay, his casts, tools and utensils was held at his workshop by William Booth on 2 August.


The Gentleman’s Magazine claimed that Read ‘received the highest wages given to any of his profession’ (GM, 1787, vol 57, pt 2, 644-5). His contemporary success has not been matched by his posthumous reputation. John Thomas Smith, whose father Nathaniel Smith also served his apprenticeship in Roubiliac’s workshop, regarded Read’s frequent self-promotion as the heir to Roubiliac as immodest and presumptuous. 

Other accounts, not coloured by personal antipathy, treat Read’s sculptural bombast as an anticlimactic appendage to Roubiliac’s career and a final and outdated flourish of the baroque tradition. The Gentleman’s Magazine commented in 1818 that Read ‘displayed more of concetto than his master, without his judgement or taste’ (GM, vol 88, I, 597).


In 1775 Nicholas read subscribes to 

A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Perspective. Daniel Fournier. 

Wherein the principles of that most useful art, as laid down by Dr Brook Taylor, are fully and clearly explained, by means of moveable schemes, properly adapted for that purpose. The whole being designed as an easy introduction to the art of drawing in perspective, and illustrated with a great variety of curious and instructing examples. printed for the author, at his House in Wilde Court, near Great Queen-Street, Lincoln’s-Inn-Fields: and sold by Mr. Nourse, facing Catharine-Street, in the Strand; and by Mr. Lacey, the Corner of St. Martin’s Court, St. Martin’s Lane. 1761.

4to. pp. viii (including list of subscribers), 68, and 39 engraved plates (plates III, V & VI with movable flaps, & 2 plates double-page). With a list of subscribers, including architects (James Gandon and Edward Stevens); painters (James Caton, Charles Hue, and Williams); sculptors (John Barrell, Thomas Carter, and Nicholas Read); engravers (Robert Clee, Thomas Chambers, Charles Hall, Probyn, James Perkins, and Richard Sharp); miniature painters (Brewer, Beauvais, and Merger); fellow drawing masters (Jacob Bonneau, and John Muller); two surveyors Mr Peacock and John Wolf, and medallist Louis Pingo.


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of Tangential Interest.

The Kerridge monument in Framlingham, Suffolk

Inscribed by Roubiliac. 

and erected by William Folkes, Martin Folkes' younger brother. 

"Jane Kerridge widow of Thomas Kerridge of Shelley Hall in this county esquire, daughter and heir of Richard Porter 1744. And also Cecilia her only daughter and heir who died 8th day of June 1747 William Folkes esquire (husband of Cecilia) hath caused this monument to be erected"

 L E Roubiliac fecit.

Cecilia dying without heirs left her right to the manor of Shelley to husband William Folkes, of Chancery Lane, London and of Hillington Hall, Norfolk who sold it in 1756 to Samuel Rush of Benhall.

William m 2 Mary heiress daughter of Sir William Browne 1774 parents of Sir Martin Browne Folkes 1st bart. 

Above is Jane's funeral hatchment - (Jane daughter and heir of Richard Porter who married 1704 Thomas Kerridge of Shelley Hall , and died 5 Sep 1744 in St Marylebone; he died Apr 1743 Sable on a pile argent a caltrap sable (Kerridge) In pretence: Sable 3 bells argent a chief ermine (Porter) Cherub’s head above).


The monument to Folkes' daughter, Lucretia (d. 1758), at St George, Wrotham, Kent, (see description and images above) was erected by her husband Richard Betenson has been attributed to Roubiliac but John Physic attributed it to Nicholas Read?? 





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Huguenot artists designers and craftsmen in Great Britain and Ireland. 1680-1760. Murdoch, Tessa Violet.

https://files01.core.ac.uk/download/pdf/30695656.pdf





Friday, 28 November 2025

The Monument to Bowater Vernon at St Mary's Church, Hanbury, Worcester and the monument to George Cooke in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

 

Under construction - updated 10 December 2025.

I am not entirely happy with the photographs here but they will have to do for the time being.

The statues haver both recently been ascribed to the Westminster workshop of Henry Cheere.

I cannot pretend that the contents of the notes below on Roubiliac and repetition are my own discoveries but these notes build on the researches of Malcolm Baker particularly those published in his Figured in Marble pub V&A 2000 pages 70 - 84.


It is currently my belief that both statues emanate from the workshop of Louis Francois Roubiliac.

For me the argument that only Roubiliac reproduced/repeated the dress on busts of various of his subject and he appears to have used the same method of reproduction on the two statues depicted here, seems to confirm that these two statues are both works from the Roubiliac workshop - probably collaborations with Henry Cheere.

The busts of Streatfield,  Ray and Jonathan Tyers are good examples - also the busts of Nicholas Hawksmoor at All Souls, the bust of Thomas Missing at Crofton /Stubbington, the bust on the Gounter Nichol Monument in the church at Racton and that of William Wither at Wooten St Lawrence are further examples of the repeated use of the drapery.

Another of my recent discoveries is the drapery on the bust on the monument dated 1737 to James Lawes in the church at Halfway Tree, Kingston, Jamaica (the monument is inscribed by John Cheere) that matches the drapery on the anonymous very fine bust in  the V and A. On these busts even the hat is repeated.

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/04/a-monument-inscribed-by-john-cheere-in.html



The Monument to Bowater Vernon (died 1735).

St Mary's Church, Hanbury, Worcestershire.

here attributed to the workshop of Louis Francois Roubiliac or made under his supervision perhaps in the workshops of Henry Cheere.

note - Roubiliac did not move into his house and workshops on the North East side of St Martin's Lane, until Christmas 1740 (St Martin's rate books) - it has in the past been frequently suggested that Roubiliac had his workshop in a building in Peter's Court on the west side of St Martin's Lane (which also housed the St Martin's Lane Academy) but I remain doubtful. I suspect that until 1740 he was working from a property belonging to Henry Cheere - either at Palace Yard or (Church Street?) Millbank, Westminster or Spring Gardens, just South of Charing Cross.


The location within the Vernon Chapel in the Church at Hanbury is very dark and I don't like using a flash.

The monument has not been inscribed by the sculptor.

Pevsner is fairly damning stating that it is by Roubiliac but "not one of his best". Which seems a little harsh! I suspect that Pevsner was not a great fan of 18th century sculpture.

The earliest reference I can find to Roubiliac / Hanbury is in the 1860's in -

Noake's Guide to Worcestershire By John Noake. pub. 1868. A reprint of various articles which had previously appeared in the Birmingham Daily Gazette.

I have touched on the subject already see -

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-statues-of-henry-cheere.html

.............

Esdaile only mentions it in passing  - Life and Works Roubiliac. pub. Oxford 1928.

Matthew Craske  refers to  the Cooke monument frequently in - The London trade in monumental sculpture and the development of imagery of the family in funerary monuments of the period 1720-1760.

https://files.core.ac.uk/download/30695800.pdf

Malcolm Baker is also silent on the subject in Roubiliac and the 18th Century Monument - pub. Yale 1995, or in the Marble Index pub Yale 2009. but goes into the subject of Roubiliac and his collaboration with Henry Cheere in some depth in his Figured in Marble pub. V &A  20000.



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The two statues shown here for comparison.

There are obvious differences in that the Ashmolean statue is carved in the round - the Hanbury statue is made to be viewed only in 180 degrees and is roughly chiselled on the back. and the Putto and portrait relief are missing on the Ashmolean version

There are other subtle differences which are not immediately obvious but on close inspection the detailed carving on the Ashmolean version is of better quality.

It is obvious on the creases in the stockings and breaches and also in the musculature and veins on the arms and hands and the  carving of the detail of the hair.





The statue of Sir George Cooke (1675 - 1740) in the Ashmolean. Circa 1749.

Marble Statue.  320 cm by 122 by 107cm.

See the images below.  Photographs here taken by the author.

In the past this statue has been attributed to Sir Henry Cheere (1703 - 81). I am, as Pevsner and others currently leaning towards Roubiliac. It is not inscribed!

There are 58 separate components to this work.

It is currently in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford having previously been exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

See the two essays by Malcolm Baker - I suspect that he might have altered some of his views since writing these pieces but there is much of relevance.

 Georgian Group Journal 1984 -

  

https://georgiangroup.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/GGS_1984_11_Malcolm_Baker.pdf

 

Georgian Group Journal 1988 - page 21.

 https://georgiangroup.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/GGS_1988_Symposium_03_Baker_0001-2.pdf

It is not clear in this article whether he thinks that these statues came from the workshop of Henry Cheere but it is mentioned along with the drapery on the busts of Nicholas Hawksmoore and Thomas Missing at Wooten St Lawrence which have the same dress -

and the bust of Sir Justinian Isham on the monument at All Saints Church, Lamport which is not really relevant but it certainly should be considered as a work by Roubiliac.


.................

Bowater Vernon - some biographical notes.

Thomas Vernon (1686 - 1721) amassed a fortune as an eminent Chancery barrister for 40 years, as well as becoming Whig MP for Worcester in 1715. He married Mary Keck in 1680 but they had no children, so the estate was passed to his second cousin, Bowater Vernon.  

Thomas Vernon's success as a barrister enabled him to substantially increase his family’s estates, which by his death in 1721 amounted to around 7,000 acres, giving him an income of over £5,000 a year, and included land in Hanbury, Dodderhill and Feckenham in Worcestershire and further estates in Warwickshire, Shropshire and Lincolnshire. 

Thomas and Mary had no children, and in his will he made his second cousin Bowater Vernon (1683-1735) his heir. However, there was a dispute over his will, as his closest relation was his sister Elizabeth, whose husband Roger Acherley, an unsuccessful lawyer, claimed he should be a substantial beneficiary. Acherley managed to protract the case for several years, but was unsuccessful, and Bowater continued to enjoy the fruits of his inheritance,


Bowater Vernon was born 21 May 1683, 1st Son of William Vernon of Caldewell, Worcs. by Phoebe, daughter. of Rev. Samuel Bowater of Shrawley, Worcs.

He married his first wife 1721, Mathia (d. June 1721 ‘three weeks after her marriage’) daughter. of George Wheeler, under-treasurer of Inner Temple, 

He married his second wife Jane Cornwallis (1703 - 1760) daughter. and coh. of Thomas Cornwallis of Abermarlais, Carmarthen. 11 December 1732 at Fulham. She was sister of Francis Cornwallis MP.

His wives and children are recorded on the monument

His son Thomas was born 7 June 1724, daughter Jane Emma b. 29 June 1732 d. 6 May 1740, and Letitia born 8 September 1734 (d. May 1757).


Bowater Vernon divided his time between his London home in New Bond Street, Mayfair, and Holt Castle in Worcestershire during the life of Thomas’s widow Mary, who continued to live at Hanbury Hall until her death in 1733. 

Finally arriving at Hanbury Hall, only two years later Bowater Vernon died from a stroke, leaving a son and a daughter. 

His son Thomas (1724-71) inherited the estate, and when only 22 served as MP for the City of Worcester for 15 years. He married Emma Cornewall, a lady 13 years older than himself, and  had two children, one of whom died young. 

His only surviving child was Emma (1754-1818), who inherited when her father died, like his father, from a stroke when only 47, and after he died was brought up mainly in New Bond Street by her mother. 

On inheriting the fortune of Thomas Vernon, Bowater Vernon stood for Bishop’s Castle, announcing that ‘he had brought down money to carry the election if that would do it’. 

Described as a ‘South Sea man’, who was resolved to outbid the Duke of Chandos, ‘let him offer what he will’, he was returned after a contest as a government supporter. After sitting for four years he was unseated on petition, the elections committee finding that all but one of his 52 voters had been bribed, at a total cost of nearly £700. He did not stand again, dying 30 Nov. 1735.

 Bowater Vernon was recorded as a spendthrift, who managed to run through his inheritance in record time, and lived a riotous life of parties and gambling.















































































































...........................

The John Vanderbank (1694 - 1739) Portraits.

Vernon Bowater and his wife Jane nee Cornwallis.

Courtesy Art uk website.














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https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/vernon-bowater-1683-1735#:~:text=On%20inheriting%20the%20fortune%20of,if%20that%20would%20do%20it'.

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As far as I know there is no documentary evidence of who sculpted it..

 Provenance - The Cooke Estate at Belhackets, Middlesex (demolished), until 19th century

 By descent to the Vernon family, Stoke Bruerne, Northamptonshire.

 Acquired by Sir Elton John. 

Lot 223 - Sotheby's, London (December 12, 2003).

 see - http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/lot.223.html/2003/european-sculpture-and-works-of-art-900-1900-l03233


The monument was commissioned by George Cooke's eldest son and heir the notable M.P. for Middlesex, George Cooke (jnr). It was erected some time after his inheritance of the property. William Vernon, who owned Belhamonds in the mid-nineteenth century, stated that this monumental statue originally stood in a grove 'close by the house at the South end of the terrace"


 

The Quote below from Sotheby's Catalogue written by Dr Matthew Craske.

He makes no reference to the Bowater Vernon Monument at Hanbury.

 

"The statue of George Cooke, the elder, made by Henry Cheere, is a complex and subtle work. It is, in the simplest terms, a commemorative statue. The initial function of the piece laid somewhere between that of a household bust, funerary monument and decorative garden statue.

 

A church monument, probably? by Cheere, was set up to Cooke in Hayes church in Middlesex. This statue, then, probably represents a second phase of commemoration, closer to home. Payments to Cheere in the bank account of the deceased’s son, George Cooke, the younger, dated 1744 and 1749 probably represent these two commissions.  As it is likely that the church monument was erected first, this suggests that the statue is to be dated, 1749'

 

English ancestral ‘images’ of the eighteenth century were seldom set up in gardens. They were very rarely full length portraits. Rather, they were generally bust images that were displayed inside the house. Such works preserved the Roman tradition of setting up shrines, containing images, in the halls of their homes. Occasionally, a Georgian connoisseur with a particular regard for the art of sculpture commissioned a full length tribute.

 

A fine example is Rysbrack’s statue of the attorney, Ralph Willet (c. 1758),  (image below) which stood at the base of the staircase of the now lost architectural gem, Merely Court in Gloucestershire. The only other surviving example of a commemorative statue erected in a garden of this era is Rysbrack’s impressive figure of the first Earl Strafford which was set up within a sham medieval ruin at Wentworth Castle in Yorkshire in 1741. The beautiful model for this figure is in the Victoria and Albert Museum'.




 

'The Elizabethan resonances of the piece were probably intended to lend a political meaning. They refer to a noted contemporary cult of nostalgia for the days of that Queen; days when Britain was believed to be truly great, as it had ceased to be under a Whig ministry of Robert Walpole and his successors the Pelham brothers. 

 

George Cooke, the elder, and his son and namesake who commissioned this work, were politicians in opposition to the Whig ministry. It was perhaps  no coincidence that Cooke, snr, had purchased an estate next door to that of Lord Bolingbroke, at Dawley Farm, the latter being the greatest literary and philosophical proponent of the opposition. 

 

The English inscription to this piece includes a substantial, unacknowledged, quote from a poem by Bolingbroke’s celebrated friend, Alexander Pope: in specific his Epistle to Lord Burlington, On the Use and Abuse of Riches. 

Pope’s political poem was intended to vaunt the ideal of the retired and modestly tasteful gentleman who spent honestly acquired riches in an honest and discrete manner. This type was intended to the ante-type of the government minister who made his fortune from corruption and spent it upon vast tasteless projects'.


Malcolm Baker notes similarities in the reliefs with those on later Roubiliac monuments including that of the Duke of Argyle in Westminster Abbey. 

 

For the installation of the George Cooke statue at the Ashmolean see

 https://plowden-smith.com/installation-consultancy/