Updated 5 December 2024.
with the Photographs of the V and A Terracotta bust of Cromwell.
These photographs were not available online when I originally wrote this post. Whilst the resolution is poor they will have to do for the purposes of comparisons.
The Busts of Oliver Cromwell, Part 23.
The V and A Terracotta Bust of Oliver Cromwell by Joseph Wilton.
From bottom of base to top of bust height: 66.7cm
base height: 13.3cm.
The terracotta is very close to both the V and A Marble and the Royal Academy Plaster.
The detail of the (tooled leather) sash/belt seems to be the same.
It is very difficult to make pronouncements with either seeing the busts or having good photographs - here I am hampered by the quality of the V and A photographs
The museum website states "This bust is related to the marble bust executed by Joseph
Wilton in 1762, also in the museum collection (V&A-Mus-No: A.32-1930).
Although it was originally suggested that the terracotta was a model it is now
thought that the finished condition of the terracotta suggests that it may well
be cast after the marble".
Bequeathed by Rupert Gunnis, Esq, Hungershall Lodge,
Tunbridge Wells, Kent. The present piece was covered in white paint, which was
removed by the Conservation Department in July 1965.
The V and A provide a brief Biography of Joseph Wilton.
I suspect that it was written a long time ago!
Joseph Wilton (1722-1803) was the son of a London plasterer
and manufacturer of papier-mâché ornaments, but received his training as a
sculptor on the Continent, first under Laurent Delvaux at Nivelles, and then
under Jean-Baptiste Pigalle in Paris. He went to Florence in 1751, and remained
there until his return to England in 1755. In 1768 he became a founder member
of the Royal Academy, but on inheriting a large legacy from his father he
neglected sculpture and was declared bankrupt in 1793. In 1796 he was appointed
Keeper of the Royal Academy, a post he retained until his death.
....................
The Royal, Academy Plaster Bust by Joseph Wilton.
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 is stencilled on the socle with the number 106.
I have already posted on the Wilton busts of Cromwell see -
Top Royal Academy Plaster.
Middle - V and A - and Government Art Collection.
Bottom - Anglesey Abbey - Huntingdon Cromwell Museum.
There was another of these busts mentioned in the Biographical Dictionary.... at one time at Donington Park.
The V and A bust and the Government Art Collection busts appear to be virtually identical
The Anglesey Abbey bust has the wide leather sash belt - the Huntingdon has an undecorated sash belt.
..........................
At first glance these busts appear the same but there are a few minor differences the armour on the right hand proper arm and the rivets on the armour on the chest on the right hand proper are missing.
The vein on his left hand foreheads and the wart over his eye are better defined on the plaster
The bust in the Government Art Collection is as far as I can tell an almost exact replica of the V and A bust - currently the only photograph available of the Government bust is a low resolution image from their website - but it is clear enough to show that they are more or less the same
These differences suggest that the plaster was derived from a now missing terracotta prototype from the Wilton Studio
The shape of the socle is also telling suggesting again that the cast is 18th century.
If this is the case then it is a very fortunate survival
I was unable to make any real forensic investigation into this bust - I will put down my first thoughts here. It appears to have sustained some damage in the past and this has been disguised by the bronze paint - in the past it has not been particularly well treated and appears to have water staining on the surface.
There are what appears to be piece mould marks, visible particularly on the face, and it has probably been broken and restored at some point and it is difficult to make out whether the lines on the face and hair are piece mould marks or breaks that have been restored or a mixture of the two.
___________________
Bust of Oliver Cromwell.
Joseph Wilton.
Marble Bust.
Dimensions height:
75.00 cm, width: 58.00 cm.
The Government Art Collection.
images here below from the Government Art Collection Website:
Provenance - with dealers Montague Marcussen Limited;
from whom purchased by the Ministry of Works in
April 1947.
Inscription I. Wilton F:t
Current Location? Cabinet
Office, 70 Whitehall (London, UK).
Photographs of the details above of the Government Art Collection Bust of Cromwell by Wilton.
A Cromwell bust by Wilton is described at Donington Park by J.
Throsby in his Select Views in Leicestershire of 1790, and he adds that this
bust 'secured the artist an honourable employment under his present Majesty'.
Joan Coutu states that this is the bust originally at Donington Park in Then and Now: Collecting and Classicism in
Eighteenth-Century England By Joan Coutu pub. 2015.
She also mentions that Walpole recorded the inscription on the bust when he visited Donington in 1768.
Classical Sculpture and the Culture of Collecting in
Britain since 1760 By Viccy Coltman mentions the bust of Cromwell along with a bust of Peter the Great by Wilton in the Gothick Hall at Donington Park Leicestershire In the drawing Room at Donington were busts of Francis First Earl Huntington and Dr Cocchi and busts of Pythagorus and Epicuras by Simon Vierpyl.
____________
There is a terracotta version of the bust of Cromwell at the V and A (no photographs currently available).
Height: 66.7 cm from bottom of base to top of bust,
Height: 13.3 cm of base.
This bust is related to the marble bust executed by
Joseph Wilton in 1762, also in the museum collection (V&A-Mus-No:
A.32-1930). Although it was originally suggested that the terracotta was a
model it is now thought that the finished condition of the terracotta suggests
that it may well be cast after the marble.
Bequeathed to the V and A by Rupert Gunnis, Esq, Hungershall Lodge,
Tunbridge Wells, Kent, author of the first Dictionary of English sculptors pub 1954.
The present piece was covered in white paint, which was
removed by the Conservation Department in July 1965.
_______________
The Royal Academy Plaster Bust of Oliver Cromwell.
All photographs by the author.
The line down the centre of the nose is perhaps a piece mould mark.
.................
The Water staining clearly visible here on the right side proper of the face.
_______________
It is difficult to identify whether the lines on the hair are piece mould marks or breaks disguised by the bronze colour paint or a mixture of the two.
______________
There appears to be a restoration under the chin - the marks look like some sort of bandage fabric disguising a repair.
The significance of the stencilled number has yet to be clarified.
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