The Bronze Busts of Venetia, Lady Digby Part Three.

The Bronze Busts of Venetia, Lady Digby (1600 - 33).

Part Three.

The Digby 'Monument' Bust. 

The suggestion here is that the unsigned bust of Lady Venetia Digby (pictured below) now paired with the bust of Lady Digby signed G Larson (both in a private collection) is the bust from the Digby Monument at Christ Church, Newgate Street which was destroyed in the Great Fire of London.


see (Rev. William) Coles' notes on Gothurst sent to Horace Walpole c. 25 Sept 1762.
Referring to the portraits at Gothurst

"......Mr Wright supposed it might be Lady Venetia Digby, but I could not discover the features of her in it, as represented in that by Van Dyke, no more than in two very fine busts of copper gilt, or brass, standing in Mr Wright's study, on two elegant pedestals of black and white marble. It is by no means improbable but the bust put up for this lady by her husband Sir Kenelm in Christ Church without Newgate in London was cast in the same mould with one of these: that bust and monument were destroyed in the Fire of London. One of these busts' is dressed in a loose and light habit, but in a fine taste, and with her hair rather more flowing than the other, which is frizzled out and curled, and ribbons behind; the figure is larger and fatter, and is habited after the Van Dyke manner with a large laced handkerchief"

Horace Walpole in Anecdotes of Paintings in England: with Some Account......

"Sir Kenelm erected for her a monument in black marble with her bust in copper gilt, and a lofty epitaph, in Christ Church without Newdate; but it was destroyed in the fire of London. Lodges Peerages of Ireland vol IV p.89. There are two busts of Lady Venetia extant at Mr Wrights at Gothurst in Buckinghamshire with several portraits of the family of Digby. The house belonged to Sir Kenelm and was purchased  by Sir Nathan Wright ( the bust which was placed upon the sarcophagus is said to have been extant, and seen by Mr Pennant( Journey to London)".

There is a passage in Athenae Oxoniensis by Anthony Wood (1632 - 95).

"about 1676 or 5 as I was walking through Newgate Street I sawe Dame Venetia's bust standing at a stall at the Golden Cross, a braziers shop. I presently remembered it but a fire had got off the gilding: but taking notice of it to one who was with me, I could never see it afterwards exposed to the street. 

They melted it downe. How these curiosities would be quite forgot, did not such idle fellows as I am put them downe".

This account is very close to that of John Aubrey (1626 - 97) in Brief Lives. Aubrey almost certainly aided Wood in the compilation of his work.

Extract above from John Aubrey - My own Life by Ruth Scurr, pub. 2016. Lifted from Google Books. 

The vignette of the Digby monument from Aubrey's manuscripts at the Bodleian Library???

This needs to be checked!

This might suggest that the bust survived the great fire of 1666, was recovered and sold and adds credibility to the speculation that the bust here is the bust from the monument at Christ Church, Newgate Street.

For my first thought on these busts see my previous post -
This was posted before meeting the current owners and taking the photographs

https://english18thcenturyportraitsculpture.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/bust-of-lady-venetia-digby-gothurst.html


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Monument to Venetia, Lady Digby.
Probably that formerly at Christ Church, Newgate Street.

The author of the Christchurch bust of Venetia Digby must remain open to speculation for the time being. Comparison of the 'Monument' bust with the bust of Lady Digby, which is signed G Larson suggests to me that they are by different sculptors.

See my previous post for photographs of the Georg Larson bust.

Isaac Besnier (fl. 1631 - 42) was possibly responsible for the manufacture of the black marble sarcophagus of the Digby Tomb which is closely related to that on the memorial to Ludovic, Duke of Lennox and Richmond in Westminster Abbey (see engraving below from the Westmonasterium by John Dart - 1728) where the bronze was possibly by Hubert Le Sueur. Adam White suggests that Besnier may have been involved with this monument, which seems to have been in existence in 1628, although Besnier is not known definitely to have been in England until 1631.

Info. ref.  Besnier from A Biographical Dictionary of London Tomb Sculptors... Adam White, Walpole Society Journal, 1999

Engraving of the Monument to Venetia Digby
From the Antiquarian Repertory
1808.

This engraving is based on an illumination in The Digbiorum Pedigree of 1634
A large folio book on vellum.
Now with the Wingfield Digby family at Sherborne Castle, Dorset.

I have contacted the archivist at Sherborne but unfortunately the Winfield Digby family do not wish to have their possessions illustrated on the internet.

see - https://archive.org/details/familyhistoriesg12sali
Pages 458/459

The engraving of the Digby Tomb from -







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Monument to the Duke of Buckingham.
Engraving  by J Cole. 
from the Westmonasterium 
 John Dart - 
1728.


This engraving included to show the marble work by Isaac Besnier which is very close to that on the monument to Venetia Digby (pictured above) particularly the black marble sarcophagus.

The effigies and bronze caryatids canopy and figure of Fame by Hubert le Sueur - the marble work by Isaac Besnier

see my next post for much more on Isaac Besnier




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The above views show that the bottom of the bust is made of separate plates that have been riveted to the underside of the bust.

This is quite different to the construction of the base of the previous bust signed by Larson which is integral to the structure.

The difference in the manufacture might suggest that this bust is not by Georg Larson but by a contemporary - Francesco Finelli (fl 1640) has been suggested but White does not accept this.


On the other hand the detail of the chiselling of the eyes is very similar on both of these busts. Adam White has suggested that the bust from the tomb (if this is that bust) might have been damaged when it was removed from the church after the fire and repaired with the plates which have been rivited to the undersides .

Horace Walpole attributes both of the busts to Fanelli or Le Sueur. The attribution to Le Sueur seems unlikely to me, given the general woodeness and lack of sensitivity of most of his portraits, but the bronze effigy of the Earl of Portland of 1635 - 46 (see my next post) if it is indeed by Le Sueur shows that he was certainly capable of very good work.

Close up distinctly showing the fracture below the right hand proper side of the mouth and the rectangular patch.This could point to the fact that this is the gilded bronze bust that survived the burning of Christ Church without Negate in the great fire of London of 1666 (rebuilt to a design by Sir Christopher Wren in 1687), I am reliably informed that the damage did not occur in the lifetime of the present owners

Photographs by the author, with very grateful thanks to the owners.


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Anonymous Bronze  Bust.

Attributed to George Larson.
Height with socle 49.8cms.

Provenance -
Christie's London, Ist July 1997 - lot 35.

Lot 71, 13 June 2017
Christie's Paris

Catalogue entry -

Previously associated with the work of Hubert Le Sueur, a Frenchman who became Court Sculptor to Charles I of England, the freely handled hair of the present bust is closer to the only documented work of his contemporary George Larson (private collection, England, F. Scholten, 'The Larson Family of Statuary Founders: Seventeenth Century Reproductive Sculpture for Gardens and Painters' Studios', Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art, vol. 31, no. 1/2, 2004-2005, p. 56).

The latter bust of Lady Digby is signed by Larson, who was clearly an astounding metal caster, and displays an affinity to the work of Le Sueur, but with less rigidity in the forms of the hair. This type of head can also be paralleled among Van Dyck's English sitters.

see - http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/buste-en-bronze-representant-une-jeune-femme-6083823-details.aspx