The Terracotta Bust of Isaac Newton.
by Louis Francois Roubiliac.
at the Queen's House, Greenwich.
&
The Royal Society Marble bust of Isaac Newton.
By Louis Francois Roubiliac.
....................
The Belchier Bust -
Formerly at Greenwich Observatory, The Terracotta Bust of Isaac Newton
by Louis Francois Roubiliac.
The following text is adapted from Royal Museums Greenwich website:
It repeats the same mistakes made by Katherine Esdaile in 'Roubiliac's Work at Trinity College Cambridge' pub. Cambridge University Press 1924.
"On Newton's death in 1727, his nephew, John Conduitt, allowed John Rysbrack to take casts of his face. Two of these were obtained by Roubiliac and in about 1731.
Conduitt commissioned him to make this terracotta bust from them. It was later owned by the surgeon John Belchier FRS, who at his death in 1785 left it to the Royal Society with instructions that it should be placed in the Royal Observatory at Greenwich".
In his will Belchier also stated that, as a portrait, it was 'esteemed more like than anything extant of Sir Isaac'.
Some forty to fifty years later, at Greenwich, the head was broken off in an accident and, after being repaired, the whole was painted white. The result was that by the later 19th century the bust was mistaken for a low-value plaster one and it remained at the Observatory up to and throughout the Second World War, on occasions provided with a tin hat, before moving to Herstmonceux with the Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO) organization in the 1950s.
The original was considered 'lost' until the error was discovered in 1961, when it was stripped of paint and expertly restored by the British Museum. After the Royal Greenwich Observatory later moved to Cambridge, it was lent to the Fitzwilliam Museum, mainly for safety. It returned to Greenwich and the National Maritime Museum's custody on the closure of the RGO in 1998".
Unfortunately once again - nothing in Belchier's will confirms this. I am happy to provide a copy of this will to anyone interested.
Our Belchier should not be confused with the Cabinet Maker of St Paul's Churchyard with the same name.
All photographs of the bust taken by the author.
somewhat hampered by the Perspex/plexiglass case which encloses it!
____________________________________
The Royal Society Marble Bust of Isaac Newton.
by Louis Francois Roubiliac.
Inscribed on Socle NEWTON 1738.
Perhaps with the Royal Society from April 1738 when it had been purchased by William Freman FRS 'with intention of making a present of it to the (Royal) Society, (Journal Book Vol. XVII pp 231 - 2 - 13 April 1738).
There is also a minute of the Council the minutes CMC Vol 2 for 19th June, 1738 which records 'Mr Rubillac's Bill for a pedestal to Sir Isaac Newtons bust £2:7:0'
William Freman, DD. (d. 1750) (info Keynes) of Harnells, Aspenden, Hertfordshire, of Magdalene College, Oxford. where he was a substantial benefactor and donated the Chapel Organ.
Married Catherine Blount
Married Catherine Blount
Appointed Sherriff of Hertfordshire in 1732.
Elected to Royal Society 27 March 1735.
The unfinished cutting on the back of the bust should be noted suggesting that this bust was probably originally carved for a position such as in a niche where the back would not have been visible.
