The Busts of Venetia, Lady Digby Part Two.

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

By G (Guillaume or Willem) Larson (d.1660). 

Part Two.

The most up to date study of the Larson family of Sculptors can be found in -

 'The Larson Family of Statuary Founders: Seventeenth Century Reproductive Sculpture for Gardens and Painters' Studios',  F. Scholten, in Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art, vol. 31, no. 1/2, 2004-2005, p. 56).

This can be found at the Jstor website - http://www.jstor.org/stable/4150578

This is a pay per view website but it is possible to obtain three articles per month for free if you register with them 


For a first look at these busts see my previous post -

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

Illustration from Pennants Tour from Chester to London
James Basire II
Engraving 
228 x 153 mm.
1786.

Believed to be Venetia Lady Digby

Peter Oliver

Miniature on Vellum

64 x 50 mm.

Victoria and Albert Museum

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Lady Venetia Digby (1600 - 33) 
Henry Toutin 
signed H Toutin Fecit 1637
Paris
1637
Enamel Portrait Miniature.
12.5 x 8.3 cms
Walters Art Museum

This portrait, signed and dated 1637, was completed after her death and is based on an earlier miniature painted in opaque watercolor by Peter Oliver (1594-1648). 

An inscription in Latin on the back describes the grief felt by her husband: 

"He tries to snatch a ghost from the funeral pyre and fights a battle with death, exhausting the skills of the artists. Everywhere he searches for thee - O, the bitterness of it - on piece of metal." 

Kenelm Digby was in Paris in 1635-36 and probably commissioned the piece at that time. 

The stunning frame by Gilles Légaré (d. 1663) exemplifies a further aspect of French enamel work of the period.

Henri Toutin was the first artist to exploit a new technique for painting with enamel developed by his father in 1632 that permitted both more refined detail and translucent colors on a white ground, suggesting the qualities of a delicate watercolor portrait.

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The Strawberry Hill Miniature Portraits

Sir Kenelm Digby, his wife and two sons

The Digby Family

Portrait Miniatures of Sir Kenelm and Lady Venetia Digby, and Their Sons Kenelm and John, with Two Portraits of Lady Venetia Digby and ‘Lady Arabella Stuart’

Strawberry Hill ID: sh-000333

1635

Oliver, Peter (English miniaturist, 1589-1647)

Dyck, Anthony van (Flemish painter, 1599-1641, active in England)

Three miniatures in watercolour on vellum, set inside an ebony veneered 17th or early 18th century case with inner gilt slips

15.5 x 24.6 cm (framed in wooden cabinet)

Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. NMB 969. Bequest 1927 of consul Hjalmar Wicander (The Wicander Collection)

Strawberry Hill History

Location: Breakfast Room [Blue Breakfast Room]

1774  Description: Sir Kenelm Digby, his wife and two sons, by Peter Oliver, after Vandyck; a large miniature in the highest preservation; in an ebony case set with Wedgwood's cameos. On the insides of the doors, two other ladies of the same set.(126)

1784 Description: Text same as 1774 Description (22)

Sale Text: Sir Kenelm Digby, his wife and two sons, after Vandyck, a large miniature, in the finest preservation, in an ebony case, silver mounted, and on the inside of the doors are the Portraits of two Ladies of the same family.

Object History

Provenance: 1775, bt Horace Walpole; 1842, Strawberry Hill Sale, day 11, lot 56 bt Miss Burdett Coutts, £241.10; 1922 May 9-11, Christie's, Baroness Burdett-Coutts Sale, lot 361, bt Hjalmar Wicander 1000 guineas; 1927, Wicander Collection Bequest to Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.

All information above from The Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University Website - see 

http://images.library.yale.edu/strawberryhill/oneitem.asp?i=4&id=449

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Sir Kenulm and Lady Venetia Digby

1632

Oliver, Peter (English miniaturist, 1589-1647)

Dyck, Anthony van (Flemish painter, 1599-1641, active in England), After

Miniature

Watercolour on vellum set in an enamelled gold diptych frame.

8.8 cm [height of each miniature]; 9.6 x 14.7 cm [frame]

Inscriptions: on recto of Sir Kenelm Digby: Vindica te tibi; on recto of Lady Venetia Digby: The La: Ve Digby A:D 1632. AET: 32

Wingfield Digby collection, Sherborne Castle

Provenance: Watkin Williams; bt Horace Walpole, 1771 (nine framed Digby miniatures, £300) or 1775 

sold 1842, Strawberry Hill Sale, day 11, lot 24, bt Robert Holford, Esq., £178.10.0; 

the Wingfield Digby family, Sherborne Castle; by family descent.

Lewis Walpole Library. Yale University. Website

see - http://images.library.yale.edu/strawberryhill/oneitem.asp?id=561

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Underneath the right proper shoulder the signature G. Larson.
the bust has been cast in one piece.
Unfortunately it was impossible to see behind.

Photographed by the author with many grateful thanks to the owners.

More to follow ........