William Kurtz Wimsatt.
The Portraits of Alexander Pope. Yale 1965.
The starting point for anyone interested in the Iconology of Alexander Pope.
William Kurtz Wimsatt and the collection of the Pope busts by Roubiliac. 1961.
Thursday, 16 January 2014
The Victoria and Albert Museum Marble Bust of Pope Attributed to Roubiliac.
8. Alexander Pope.
The Victoria and Albert Museum Marble Bust.
The Victoria and Albert Museum Marble Bust.
attributed to Louis Francois Roubiliac.
Marble.
Height 19 ins?
Eyes Cut, draped.
On a square tapered socle.
Not signed or dated,
based on the Barber Institute terracotta bust.
see -
http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2014/01/6-thebarber-institute-terra-cotta-bust.html
Victoria & Albert Museum.
When inspected in 2002 there
was a later cement fillet between the bust and socle giving the bust a
pronounced forward lean.
Supposedly
formerly in the collection of Lady Neave, Dagenham Hall, Essex.
(see Wimsatt,
61.3 page 250.
V.&A. Archives).
Bought
from the dealer Bert Crowther, and sold to Dr. W.L. Hildburgh, who
presented it to the museum in 1947.
The provenance provided by Crowther is perhaps not entirely reliable.
A few notes -
Dagnam Park, Romford, Essex was occupied by the Army during the 2nd World War. Demolished 1948. The areas known as Harold Hill and Noak Hill are now housing estates.
It would appear that the Richard Neave first leased Dagnam in around 1749.
He was a wealthy London
merchant, trading between London, Sierra Leone, and the Americas, he
owned plantations on Nevis, the Leeward Islands and Montserrat.
In 1772 Dagnams was
purchased by his son also Richard Neave (d.1814). who demolished the
old house and built a splendid new mansion with gardens designed by
Humphry Repton.
Richard Neave was Chairman of the Society of West Indian Merchants, Director of the Hudson Bay Company and became Governor of the Bank of England in 1780, Sheriff of Essex in 1794, and was created Baronet in 1795.
He was also in business with a Mr Neate, perhaps Anthony Neate.
Neave and Aislabie shipped provisions to Dominica, Jamaica, etc., a matter of £26,493. House of Commons Journal, Vol. 41, p. 339, and Vol. 43. In July 1788, Neave and Aislabie sent provisions to the West Indies for £20,636.
Major Sir Thomas Lewis
Hughs Neave, 5th Baronet b.1884 - died on 12 May 1940. He was
succeeded by his son Sir Arundell Neave who sold the estate to the
L.C.C. and moved to Anglesey.
_____________________
The Yale Marble Bust of Alexander Pope by Roubiliac
7.
The
Yale / Rosebery Bust of Alexander Pope by Louis Francois Roubiliac.
Marble,
19.2 ins.
Eyes cut.
Yale Centre
for the Study of British Art.
Signed and dated 1741.
Signed and dated by chisel under sitter's shoulder, proper
right: "Anno Dom. | MDCCXLI. | L.F. Roubiliac | Scit. Ad vivum"
Inscribed, chiseled on front of socle: 'POPE'; on proper
left under sitter's shoulder: 'ALEX. POPE. Nats. LONDINI, | die 8o. junii anno
MDCLXXXVIII. | Obiit in vico Twickenham prope | Urbem, die 8o. maii
MDCCXLIV"
Inscribed
on the Left hand side ALEX.
Pope nats.
LONDINI, die 8 junii anno MDCLXXXVIII. Obiit in vico Twickenham
prope Urbem, die 8 maii MDCCXLIV.
Inscribed
on the right Anno Dom. MDCCXLI. L.F.Roubiliac Sc it. ad
vivum.
This
is the version of the bust most closely related to the Barber
Institute Terra cotta bust described in the previous entry.
See
Wimsatt, 61.1 page 244.
Although
signed and dated ad vivum 1741, there is an inscription in the same
manner, recording the death of Pope at Twickenham on 8th May 1744,
suggesting that this bust was
carved and
completed posthumously but based on Popes sitting for the terra cotta
in 1741.
Pope visited the studio of Roubiliac in July of 1741, and reported to
Ralph Allen in Bath on the progress of busts for his library.
See Popes
Correspondence.
According
to tradition,
this bust was commissioned by Lord Bolingbroke, who was
a very close
acquaintance of Pope, although as far as can be ascertained there is
so far no documented proof
of his ownership.
It
would seem that Bollingbroke
spent most of his time in France between 1739 and 1743.
Notes - There is another link, however between Lord Bolingbroke, Pope and Roubiliac:
10
February
1738/9. Roubiliac
supplied plaster
versions of busts of
Pope
and Bollingbroke
to the Earl of
Marchmont ( Victoria & Albert, National Arts Library, Ms 1578 -
1939. The Household Accounts of Hugh Campbell, 3rd Earl of Marchmont
1737- 1746. Press No. 1737-1746 National Arts Library).
Note - The Temple Newsam Marble bust is dated 1738 but the cutting of the hair is quite different to this bust - There are no plaster versions of the Temple Newsam bust that I am aware of.
There two other busts of Pope of unknown material possibly marble which have not been identified.
1. The Madame Boccage Bust of Alexander Pope. Busts of Pope, Dryden, Milton and Shakespeare were sent with 3 others to Paris in 1751 by Lord Chesterfield..
Mrs Esdaile makes a very good
case that the four busts for Mme Boccage’s garden sent to France
were Roubiliac marble busts. Mrs
Thrale saw them in her drawing room in 1775
2. Lord Bruce bust of Alexander Pope. Charles, Lord Bruce,Viscount of Tottenham, d.1747. -Tottenham Park, Wiltshire. Inventory of 14 Nov.1744. (10 poets heads on painted and gilt brackets, one ditto Mr Pope). Charles, Lord Bruce a friend of Pope, m. Lady Julianna Boyle, sister of Lord Burlington in 1720. Burlington provided plans for Tottenham Park between 1730-40. (drawings at Chatsworth). The fact that the Pope bust is particularly noted is instructive. Although not stated as a Roubiliac marble bust, he is the most likely candidate for its authorship. A gilt bracket from Tottenham Park is in the V&A.
I know of no other
versions by Rysbrack or Scheemakers in any material which might be
this bust. Of course it could have been a plaster version by
Roubiliac.
The Pair of carved wood painted and gilded corbel brackets from Tottenham Park and
now in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Possibly designed by Lord Burlington or William Kent. Most likely the latter if supplied with the busts of poets.
Lord Bruce’s Papers are in
the Ailesbury Collection at Wiltshire Record Office. Chippenham.
......................
This bust was bought from an unknown source by Joseph Browne, of Shepton Mallet and sold before 1791; it then
passed to James Bindley, was sold 1819, by Sothebys, to Watson
Taylor, and again sold in 1832 to Sir Robert Peel, sold again in
1900 in the Peel Heirlooms sale for 510 Guineas to Thos. Agnew and
Son, acting on behalf of the Earl of Roseberry.
Sold
Sothebys 1990, £930,000.
Now at Yale Centre
for the Study of British Art, New Haven. Conn. U.S.A.
Bronze attrib. to Roubiliac - 23.75 x 21.25 inches (60.3 x 54 cm)
Yale Paul Mellon Centre, They suggest c 1755.
The Barber Institute Terracotta bust Of Alexander Pope by Roubiliac
6,
The
Barber Institute Terracotta Bust of Alexander Pope
by Louis Francois Roubiliac.
The original Terracotta prototype for the third type of Roubiliac Pope bust, height 24.5 ins. inc. socle. Barber Institute of Arts, University of Birmingham. ex collection Christopher Murray, Sold Sothebys, lot 47, 19 June 1970, Ill. Art at Auction 1969/70. P. 326/7. Ex Samuel Rogers, St James Place, Ex. Collection, Mrs Copner, Elton Hall. Huntingdon. Now At Yale, Paul Mellon Centre.
Sold by Christies 29 March 1805, lot 119 for £5 to Samuel Rogers (1763 - 1855), banker and poet laureate, sold by Christie's 28 April 1856.
See
Wimsatt, 57.1 page 229.
This
bust is the terracotta prototype on which the later two signed marbles
busts of Pope the Garrick bust and the bust at Yale, Paul Mellon Centre for British Arts and the Poulett bust and the three unsigned marble busts
are
based.
The Poulett bust must date from 1740 - 41 if it the same as mentioned in the Gentlemans Magazine as Being in Wiltshire's Assembly Rooms in Bath in February 1741. This would date this terra cotta to 1740 or before.
The Poulett bust must date from 1740 - 41 if it the same as mentioned in the Gentlemans Magazine as Being in Wiltshire's Assembly Rooms in Bath in February 1741. This would date this terra cotta to 1740 or before.
Rear View of the Barber Institute Tera cotta Pope by Roubiliac
A terracotta version, which might be this one, is mentioned in the sale catalogue of the contents of Roubiliac's studio at his late dwelling house in St Martins Lane by Langfords, Lot 76, third day of sale, Friday 5 May 1762 but it is possible that this lot may have been a different and lost terracotta version of the earlier busts.
According to Kerslake ( Early Georgian Portraits, National Gallery, 1977) sold to surgeon and collector John Belchier 1706 - 85. (who was also portrayed by Roubiliac circa 1750.
The terra cotta bust of Belchier by Roubiliac is at the Royal College of Surgeons), information from Christies Archives.
Belchier bequeathed the bust of Newton by Roubiliac to the Royal Society.
The David Garrick bust of Alexander Pope signed by Roubiliac
5. The David Garrick Marble Bust of Alexander Pope by Roubiliac.
Marble,
16.5 ins.
Eyes uncarved.
Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead. Tyne and Wear.
Signed and dated on the back.
on the left L.F.ROUBILIAC SC. AD VIVUM MDCCXLI
and on the right A.POPE AETis LIII.
Originally
in the collection of David Garrick, sold in his sale of 1823
bought
by W. Seguier 1827,
thence to Earl of Durham;
Bought by G.L.Collins
at the Lambton Castle Sale in 1932,
Presented 1937.
This
bust appears to be the first version of the third Type of Roubiliac bust of Pope, and perhaps predates the terra cotta at the Barber Institute, Birmingham University (see next entry).
The pronounced curl on top of his head is missing from other marble versions. Wimsatt notes two other versions in plaster, one with bookdealer Kulgin Duval in Falkland Fife Scotland in 1964, the other at Felbrigg Hall Norwich, Norfolk.
The pronounced curl on top of his head is missing from other marble versions. Wimsatt notes two other versions in plaster, one with bookdealer Kulgin Duval in Falkland Fife Scotland in 1964, the other at Felbrigg Hall Norwich, Norfolk.
First
noted in a Garrick inventory in 1777.
This is the first mention of an identifiable Marble bust of Pope by
Roubiliac recorded in the eighteenth Century.
This bust appears to have been recently repolished.
See
Wimsatt, 60.1 page 241. and 60.2
Plaster bust of Alexander Pope at Felbrigg Hall, Norwich
Wimsatt states that it is slightly different size to the marble -
this is probably due to mismeasurement as the detail appears to
replicate exactly that of the Garrick Marble.
Lead version of the Garrick bust - appears to have been taken from the same mould as the plaster at Felbrigg,
Sold Christie's Dec. 1987, now at Marble Hill House.
____________________________
Wednesday, 15 January 2014
The Milton Fitzwilliam bust of Alexander Pope signed by Roubiliac
4,
The
Milton / Fitzwilliam Bust of Alexander Pope by Roubiliac
and a Bronze bust of Pope of the same Pattern sold at Sotheby's London in 2007.
Inscribed
on the back. A. Pope Ae is 52, L.F.Roubiliac, Sc it, ad vivum 1740.
Now confirmed as the bust of Pope originally at Kenwood, belonging to Lord Mansfield.
Now confirmed as the bust of Pope originally at Kenwood, belonging to Lord Mansfield.
Inscribed on front edge - Uni Aequus Virtuti Atque ejus Amicus.
See
Wimsatt 59.1 page 237.
These notes are the results of information supplied to me by the Archives at the Estate Office, Scone Palace, family seat of the Earl of Mansfield in 2002.
A
bust of Pope at Kenwood is mentioned in Lysons “ Environs of
London” 1795, as being ‘in the Breakfast Palour’.
This
bust was not sold
in 1922 sale. The
contents of
Kenwood
were sold in 1922,
by C.B. King & Co. Sale catalogue at English Heritage, Saville
House, Saville Row. London W1.
Lyson,
(Environs
of London, 1795) mentions
the bust of Lord Mansfield by Nollekins in the
Library, he
mentions another bust of Mansfield when young by Rysbrack in the
hall,
(now at Scone Palace but without socle) and also one of Sir Isaac
Newton and the Homer.
Pope
was friend and mentor of William Murray, the First Earl of Mansfield,
(1705-93).
There is a bust of Lord Mansfield, by Joseph Nollekins R.A. (1737 - 1823), ( sold in the 1922 sale and now returned,) at Kenwood with the family motto ‘Uni Aequus Virtuti’ (faithful to virtue alone), carved beneath the drapery. (Noted as being at Kenwood in the Morning Herald in 1781).
It is perhaps not a co-incidence that the Milton / Fitzwilliam Bust of Pope has carved beneath it ‘Uni Aequus Virtuti Atque ejus Amicus’. A quotation from Horace.
There is also a full length portrait of Mansfield at the National Portrait Gallery. By John Singleton Copley exhibited at the R.A.in 1783, in which, pictured on the door case behind him is a bust of Pope, undraped and with the back cut away as the bust at Milton. It would seem most likely that this is the bust from Kenwood rather than the Temple Newsam version which has a solid back?
The
copies by Nollekins of the Roubiliac bust of Pope are all of the type
at Milton with undraped shoulders.
The cutting of the individual locks of hair also closely conform.
See
later entries detailing Nollekins busts of Pope at the Metropolitan
Museum, New York, The Bedford Museum version and the version found in
Ireland recently (May 2000) with its companion bust of Sterne.
It would seem most likely that for his busts of Pope, Nollekins would have had access to the Milton Bust through Lord Mansfield, and made copies of it, although the Nollekins version are also very close to the Barber type.
Mansfield acquired Kenwood in 1754 from John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, his Political Master. Mansfields town house at Bloomsbury Square along with his library and most of his personal papers was burnt down in the ‘No - Popery’ Gordon Riots of 6 June 1780. The bust of Pope was therefor probably at Kenwood before 1780.
There are inventories for Kenwood available at Scone Palace and whilst the information is not very detailed, it gives a some idea of the portrait sculpture in the house from the end of the eighteenth century until the sale of the contents of the house in 1922.
Mansfield appears not to
have been a collector of antiquities like so many of his
contemporaries.
Alexander Pope bequeathed to him a marble bust of Homer with square socle in dark marble, which Pope believed to be by Bernini, ( now at Scone Palace, the replacement now at Kenwood is by Joseph Wilton), he also left him a stone bust of Isaac Newton by Guelfi (also now at Scone).
Pope also left his busts of Milton, Spenser, Shakespeare and Dryden all by Scheemakers and given to him by Frederick, Prince of Wales, to the 1st Lord Lyttleton of Hagley Hall.
The Kenwood House Inventories.
Information supplied by the Archives at the Estate Office, Scone Palace, family seat of the Earl of Mansfield in 2002.
1796. Inventory-
The Great Hall, 4 white
marble busts on black pedestals over the doors.
(see illustration Lord Mansfield by
Copley Singleton N.P.G.).
The lumber room over the
Portico. 2 Cases containing Popes belongings.
Perhaps bust of Pope by Roubiliac, bust of young Mansfield by Rysbrack, bust of lady Mansfield by Roubiliac, and bust of older Mansfield by Nollekins
1841. Inventory-
Breakfast Room, Marble
figure on oval plinth,
6 large busts on
bookcases.
1898. Inventory-
Breakfast Room.
Marble bust of a gentleman on a black pedestal, and another bust of a
gentleman and 4 plaster busts.
Library - marble
bust of a youth (visible in photographs in Country Life, 22 Nov.
1913) on marble plinth, and a marble bust of a gentleman on a
scaglioli pedestal.
1905. Inventory - Breakfast room, 6 plaster busts on bookcases.
1910. In the Great Room or Library no. 285 a White marble bust of a gentleman.
Conclusion: Not a great deal of care seems to have been taken with these inventories, but the four busts with black pedestals (socles) mentioned in 1795 are almost certainly -
1. Bust of Pope by Roubiliac (now at Milton?).
2. Bust of young Lord Mansfield by Rysbrack. (Now at Scone Palace, inscribed, 1743, W. Murray).
Lady Mansfield by Roubiliac.
Note Black and Gold Marble Socle.
3. Bust of Lady Mansfield
by Roubiliac, (now back at Kenwood).
____________________
Lord Mansfield by Nollekins 1779 inscribed Uni Aequus Virtuti.
that translates as 'Faithful Unto Virtue Alone'. The motto is taken from Horace's Satires.
Noted at Kenwood in the Morning Herald. 1781.
Black and Gold Marble Socle.
4. Bust of Lord Mansfield by Nollekins ( now back at Kenwood)
1,3,4, still retain their veined black marble socles. Socle of No. 2 has disappeared.
See also Photographs in
Country Life, 22 November 1913.
There is a rather tenuous
connection between the Fitzwilliams and William Murray. Mary Finch
the wife of Thomas Watson Wentworth, first Marquis of Rockingham,
(d.1750) whose estates were inherited by the Fitzwilliams, was the
sister of Elizabeth Finch the wife of William Murray, Lord
Mansfield.
Exhibited Museum of London, The Quiet Conquest.( The Huguenots 1685 - 1985, T. Murdoch ed. 1985).
Exhibited London Royal Academy Winter 1955-56. English Taste in the Eighteenth
Century. No 139.
_______________________________
Reputedly the Plowden-Wardlaw family at Castle Craigie, Ayrshire; by descent to Margaret Spurway, née Plowden - Wardlaw; by descent to the present owner.
This could be a bust by Roubiliac but it could also be by Nollekins who made at least two marble versions paired with Lawrence Sterne. One pair in the Metropolitan Museum, New York.
The Metropolitan Museum bust of Pope by Joseph Nollekins
after the Milton/Mansfield Roubiliac bust.
The Hughenden Manor Plaster Bust of Pope
The Hughenden Roubiliac Plaster bust of Pope.
Either taken from the Milton Mansfield Marble (which seems most likely) or from an original terracotta now disappeared.
_____________________________
Bust of Alexander Pope signed by Roubiliac at Temple Newsam
3. The
Temple Newsam Marble Bust of Alexander Pope
by Louis Francois Roubiliac.
1738.
Marble,
14.5 ins.
At Temple Newsam,
Leeds.
Eyes cut.
Eyes cut.
Signed and dated
A.POPE. AE. 50.
L.F.Roubiliac. Sc.
it. Ad vivum 1738.
Inscribed at front Qui Nil Molitur Inepte
from Ars Poetica of Horace
See
Wimsatt, 58 page 235.
Temple Newsam Bust with the Seward Bust
There
is no provenance for this bust before 1932.
Bought from Hans Calmann, London, 1942,
The theory that it came originally from Lord Mansfield’s collection at Kenwood House, Hampstead, London now seems unsustainable. See my next blog entry.
In 1932 it was in the collection of G.D.Hobson, a director of Sotheby's auction house, sold at his sale at Sotheby’s on 17 Nov. 1933. to R.H.Muir of Unilever House, see Country Life, 1932. Vol. LXXI.
__________________
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