Sir Joseph Wilton
Plaster Bust
by Louis Francois Roubiliac (1702 - 62).
Some notes:
Height 686 mm.
Given by Lady Frances Chambers in 1824
In the store of the Royal Academy.
It would seem that here is as good a place as any to post these photographs.
I am extremely grateful to Daniel Bowmar, Collections Manager of the Royal Academy for allowing me access to the Royal Academy Collection store in East London and for facilitating the photography.
I am extremely grateful to Daniel Bowmar, Collections Manager of the Royal Academy for allowing me access to the Royal Academy Collection store in East London and for facilitating the photography.
The bust suffers from having been over painted in the late H block style.
It appears to have received some damage on the back of the neck.
Joseph Wilton trained as a sculptor with Laurent
Delvaux at Nivelles in Flanders and from 1744 with Jean-Baptiste Pigalle in
Paris. In 1747 he travelled to Rome and then about 1750 moved to Florence.
He
returned to England in 1755 with the architect William Chambers, whose
friendship helped him to gain patrons. In 1766 he carved the life-size marble
of George II in the Senate House, Cambridge.
Wilton was one of the Foundation
Members of the Royal Academy in 1768, and in 1790 became Keeper of its collections.
Evidence of damage on the back of the neck.
______________
________________
Bronze bust of Joseph Wilton.
Taken from the Royal Academy Plaster bust in 1928.
840 mm
x 550 mm x 330 mm,
Made in-house Royal Academy of Arts (London) 1928.
___________________
National Portrait Gallery
______________________
Joseph Wilton
attrib. Charles Grignion (1753 - 1804).
136 x 114 mm
c.1771
National Portrait Gallery
__________________
Sir William Chambers; Joseph
Wilton; Sir Joshua Reynolds
by John Francis Rigaud
1782
1181 mm
x 1435 mm.
NPG 987
Inscription
Signed and dated bottom left: J.
F Rigaud/1782.
National Portrait Gallery
From the left - Sir William Chambers (1723-96):
grey eyes, grey powdered wig, wearing the Polar Star on his green coat with
silver buttons bearing a gold device; gold brocade waistcoat and grey-green
breeches; his right elbow rests on a capital and in his right hand a T-square;
he points with his left hand to a plan [1] on which lie dividers.
Joseph Wilton (1722-1803): his
dark eyes apparently focused on Chambers’s badge of the Polar Star; grey
powdered wig, wearing a sandy-brown coat with matching buttons and a yellow
green-striped waistcoat; in his right hand a mallet, his left stretched out
towards the distant figure of the Apollo Belvedere. [2]
Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-92):
blue eyes, grey powdered wig, wearing a matching coat and waistcoat of red with
gold buttons, trimmed with dark fur; he leans on a folio of drawings and sits
in a blue-upholstered chair.
Compared with Rigaud's earlier
group portrait of the three Italian Academicians (see NPG 3186), the canvas is
slightly larger and the composition more successful. The artist's son explained
that NPG 987 was ‘intended as a companion' and was
'a very interesting group of Sir
Joshua Reynolds, the first and distinguished President of the Royal Academy; J.
Wilton R.A. Sculptor (afterwards Keeper of the Royal Academy;) and Sir William
Chambers R.A. Architect, and Surveyor of the Board of Works: They are
represented as in conversation, Sir Joshua in the act of addressing his brother
artists, with all the gentleness and suavity for which he was so remarkable,
thus giving a perfect idea of his countenance, his expression and character.'
[3]
He even preferred his father's
portrait of Reynolds to the self portrait Reynolds presented to the RA (as a
Doctor of civil law 1780), as 'a more true representation of his personal
appearance, and his peculiar expression' (the Rigaud head somewhat resembles
the Reynolds self portrait of 1773, of which, however, there was no early
engraving). Of contemporary reviews the St James’s Chronicle, 2-4 May 1782,
agreed that ‘They are strong and expressive Resemblances; but the Integrity
which led the Artist to copy so exactly the Vulgarity of the President’s
Countenance will not recommend him to his Favour; and he will probably remain
some Time longer among the Associates’. But Rigaud was elected RA in 1784.
This uncommissioned picture
portraying three senior Royal Academicians (of similar age, eminent
representatives of the arts of sculpture, architecture, and painting, was
evidently an exercise in self-advertisement. It may also celebrate the move of
the Royal Academy in 1780 to rooms in Somerset House, the masterpiece of
Chambers, in which Wilton undertook much decorative carving. [4] Both architect
and sculptor had long been distinguished by Royal patronage. The elegant
Wilton, to be elected Librarian and Keeper of the Royal Academy in 1786 and
1790 respectively, had been appointed sculptor in ordinary to the King in 1761.
Chambers, Knight of the Polar Star, had come to dominate the Office of Works
since his initial appointment (as Treasurer) in the Instrument of Foundation of
the Royal Academy. In 1782 he was appointed first surveyor-general and comptroller
of the Office of Works. Reynolds, elected first President of the Academy and
knighted in 1769, would not be further distinguished by the King until 1784
when he succeeded Ramsay as Principal Painter. He had previously painted the
young Wilton in Florence in 1752 (NPG 4810) and had painted Chambers in 1756
(NPG 27), and 1777-80 (a portrait commissioned by the Royal Academy). In 1771
Chambers had designed for him Wick House at Richmond. But the President
remained a little in awe of his well-established Treasurer and Wendorf has
observed that Rigaud’s group hints at uneasiness, the central cluster of
gesturing hands suggesting the two are essentially at cross purposes, 'engaged
in an administrative stand off'. [5]
Footnotes
1) 'A plan for a small structure approached
by flight of stairs and entered through a lie of four closely packed columns. A
casino? A temple? A belvedere to house the Belvedere? The original drawing does
not seem to have survived’ (N. Bingham, Country Life, CLXXXV, 1991, p 54).
2) Of which he acquired a cast in
1754 and copied for the Duke of Richmond c.1760.
3) W. L. Pressly ed., 'Facts and
Recollections of the XVIIIth Century in a Memoir of John Francis Rigaud Esq.,
R.A.', by Stephen Francis Dutilh Rigaud, Wal. Soc., I, 1984, p 68.
4) For their collaboration see J.
Coutu in J. Harris & M. Snodin eds., Sir William Chambers, 1996, pp 175-85.
5) R. Wendorf, Reynolds, 1996, p
185.
Reference
Coutu 1996
J. Coutu in J. Harris and M
Snodin eds., Sir William Chambers, 1996, p 183.
Provenance
Rigaud sale, Peter Coxe, 2nd day,
4 April 1811, lot 81; Montagu Chambers QC (grandson of Sir William); his sale,
Christie’s, 9 July 1886, lot 109, bought Wertheimer; James Price sale,
Christie’s, 15 June 1895, lot 60 (as Reynolds, J. Bacon and Sir W. Chambers),
purchased.
Exhibitions
RA 1782 (111); RA 1879 (172 as
Zoffany) lent Montagu Chambers; Bicentenary Exhibition, RA, 1968-69 (34); Sir
Joshua Reynolds: The Self Portraits, Sudbury, Plymough, 1992 (32); Chambers,
London, Stockholm, 1996-97; Art on the Line, Courtauld Gallery, 2001 (9).
This extended catalogue entry is
from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John
Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790,
National Portrait Gallery, 2004,
National Portrait Gallery
____________________________
Portrait of Joseph Wilton, R.A.,
30 March 1793
George Dance RA (1741 - 1825)
Drawing above and text below from the Royal Academy website.
A profile portrait of the
sculptor Joseph Wilton, R.A. (1722-1803). This portrait is unusually colourful
for one of Dance's 'heads'. The artist sometimes added colour to the cheeks,
lips or nose but here he also coloured the jacket and part of the chair with a
light pink/beige hue. It is possible that some of these features were added
later by another hand.
Wilton trained in France and
studied antique sculpture in Italy. On his return to London he and Cipriani
were put in charge of the cast collection at Richmond House and he also became
a founder member of the Royal Academy. Wilton collaborated on decorative
designs with the fashionable architects Robert Adam and Sir William Chambers.
His extravagant lifestyle often detracted from his work but he was nonetheless
appointed Sculptor to George III in 1761 and held two important posts in the
Academy - Librarian (1786-90) and Keeper (1790 until his death).
This drawing was reproduced in
soft-ground etching by William Daniell and published on 15 March 1810.
Between 1793 and 1810, George
Dance produced 53 profile portraits of his fellow Academicians. Dance, an
architect by profession, made it his hobby to draw portraits of friends and
well-known figures, providing what he called 'a great relaxation from the
severer studies and more laborious employment of my professional life'.
However, the project to record
the profiles of his fellow Academicians probably had a more serious
commemorative impetus as Dance began this project in 1793 - the silver jubilee
of the Royal Academy's foundation - and the majority of the portraits date from
that year. Those drawn subsequently appear to have been part of a less
concentrated attempt to record new members or to catch up on those who had been
missed out in the initial series. Only two Academicians who were resident in
Britain at the time were not drawn by Dance - Mary Moser and P. J. de
Loutherbourg. Almost all of the drawings show the sitters in profile though
there are some slight variations such as the portrait of Richard Cosway
(03/3260) who is seated in a frontal pose with his head turned to the side (see
also Thomson 04/1249, Opie 03/2666, Richard Westall 03/2657, Smirke 03/2655 and
Nollekens 03/2650).
Although it was announced in The
Oracle in 1793 (24th April 1793) that 'Mr George Dance the Architect has been
drawing the profile portraits of the Academicians', the minutes of the General
Assembly and the Academy's Council do not record any resolutions regarding
these activities. Dance's private project could nevertheless have been
officially supported or recognised by the institution. The uniform nature of
these profile portraits had the advantage of being very democratic and, unlike
other commemorative initiatives, giving each member equal merit.
Joseph Farington, a fellow RA,
took a particular interest in Dance's project. His assistance in organising
sittings for Dance and helping to arrange the drawings into 'volumes', is
recorded in his famous diaries. This activity seems to have been closely linked
to his own efforts to compile biographical information on living and dead
artists, presumably with a view to publishing a history of the Academicians.
In July 1797, Farington's diaries
record that he and Dance had been arranging the portraits into two volumes and
were in discussion about how they should be bound. Markings on the original mounts
suggest that the drawings were indeed bound although these bindings no longer
survive. This is confirmed by J. H. Anderdon's recollection that he viewed some
of Dance's heads in a bound volume in the RA Library in 1849 and 1864. Dance
and Farington may have been trying to interest the Academy, or at least other
Academicians, in their venture as Farington records that on January 29th 1799
that 'Fuseli and Mrs Fuseli, Opie and Mrs Opie drank tea with us - to see the
Academy portraits by Dance' (Farington p. 1149). Although this activity did not
result in a biographical publication, the idea evidently remained current for
some time as, seven years later on December 31st 1806, Farington recorded that
'Dance called to desire me to have his collection of Portraits & to assist.
with Biography. - Had doubts abt. World's [probably referring the publication
of that name] remarks abt. it being out of his line - but now at time of life
to pay little regard to such remarks to avoid [illegible] & to seek for
ease & amusement etc'.
Although Farington's biographical
work was never published, he and Dance were considering having the profile
portraits engraved from as early as 1794. Farington's diary shows that on 9th
August of that year Dance was already in discussion with an engraver on this
matter. The engraver's name is not specified but in November the same year John
Ogbourne had engraved Dance's profile of Lord Camden and was about to start
work on that of Sir William Chambers. However, 72 of Dance's portaits were
etched by William Daniell , including 16 of the Academicians' portraits, and
were published along with brief biographical notes from 1802 onwards in 12
monthly parts and a further set of 142 unbound prints was published in 1851.
The reaction to the original publication of Dance's profiles seems to have been
positive but Farington recorded that 'Dance told me Landseer had in a Quarterly
Critique been criticising His publication of Heads, & "That the eyes
were too small, not like anything in nature in the proportions & that there
was a want of Skull to the Heads" ' (10th May 1809) .
Related Objects:
There are 38 portrait drawings by
Dance in the National Portrait Gallery collection, 41 in the British Museum, a
small number at the V&A, Tate Britain and the John Soane Museum.
________________________
A Mantelpiece designed by Wilton
Design for a Chimneypiece at Goodwood
Gray wash and graphite with pen and black ink and pen and
brown ink on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper
Dimensions Sheet:
22.9 × 29.5 cm.
Inscribed in pen and brown ink, lower left: "A | 1:3
[...]"; center: "4 feet opening 4:0"; lower center: "A
Mantelpience Designed by Wilton R.A."
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.
