The Terracotta/Plaster Bust of Shakespeare at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.
Some Notes:
H 60 x W 64 x D 37 cm
A gift from Richard Owen, 1894.
I have not inspected this bust. They say terracotta which at first glance these photographs seem to confirm (where it is chipped it is orange underneath) but the British Museum say that is plaster and the photographs of the close up of the face seem to show air bubbles on the surface.
Interestingly there were three terracotta busts of Shakespeare in the posthumous sale of Roubiliac of May 1762. one is in the BM, another must be the Garrick Davenant - where is the third?
Although painted I cannot distinguish any cast marks or seams. It would be interesting to compare this bust with the Garrick " Davenant" bust particularly the size. If it is a terracotta cast from the original then it would probably be reduced in size by about 10% given the shrinkage of the clay when fired
I have already written at some length on these busts of Shakespeare but I take this opportunity to post these recent photographs of this version of the so called "Davenant" bust from the Art UK website.
Here are the links to my previous 5 posts which might be read in conjunction with this post.
Unfortunately whoever posted the Art UK entry had not done their homework and they have reiterated the apocryphal story about the original terracotta being found walled up above a doorway when the old Duke's Theatre Lincolns Inn Fields was being demolished.
see -
This photograph and that below seems to show bubbles on the surface, despite the overpaint, which suggests that it is actually plaster and not terracotta
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The myth of the discovery of the Garrick Club Davenant bust which had been discovered bricked up in the Duke's Theatre in Portugal Street, has been exploded by Marcus Risdell, (formerly curator at the Garick Club) who has discovered documentary proof that it came from the garden of 39 Portugal Row - the terrace on the South side of Lincolns Inn Fields.
The 'Davenent bust' - is so called after Sir William Davenant (1606 - 68) who was the proprietor of the Dukes Theatre in Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields 1660 until his death in 1668, (Portugal Street runs parallel with Portugal Row the South side of Lincolns Inn Fields).
This Communication below from Marcus Risdell, Curator of Works of Art at the Garrick Club.
'Roubiliac original terracotta bust 1) Garrick Club bust, (rediscovered by William Clift, first curator of the Hunterian Museum) in 1834 (source is Clift's papers held at Royal College of Surgeons) it was found in the garden of No 39 Lincoln's Inn Fields by a water pump in a position I have identified in surveys made by the Royal College of Surgeons to have been right by the main entrance. It became known through association of the theatre as the Davenant Bust, but as we now suspect was sited at the theatre by Henry Giffard who attempted the last theatrical season there in 1742-43
Incidentally Giffard also used a full size Scheemakers as a pantomime stage prop at his previous theatre. Goodman's Fields where he first put on Garrick. This I covered in the catalogue: The Face & Figure of Shakespeare at Orleans House Gallery. Anyway I digress: the bust passed to Professor Owen who showed it at the Crystal palace, where it came to the attention of the Duke of Devonshire who bought it and gave it to the Garrick Club, who incidentally used to use it as a door stop'.
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The Description of the Royal Shakespeare Bust from Art UK website
This information regarding the discovery is now unsupportable.
"While workmen were pulling down the remains of the old Duke's
Theatre, built by Sir William D'Avenant in Lincolns Inn Fields, a bust of
Shakespeare was discovered bricked up over a doorway. The bust passed into the
possession of Sir Richard Owen, who sold it to the Duke of Devonshire.
The Duke
had two copies made, and presented the original to the Garrick Club, where it
is to this day. Sir Richard Owen obtained a copy, which he placed in his garden
at Richmond.
After Sir Richard's death, his grandson, the Reverend Richard Owen,
presented this copy to the Shakespeare Memorial Association.
The bust is of a
later date than D'Avenant, and though a fine work of art, cannot be taken as a
likeness".
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/william-shakespeare-15641616-after-the-davenant-bust-274201/search/work_type:sculpture/page/35
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The Garrick Club so called Davenant Bust of Shakespeare.
The Photographs here were very kindly provided by Marcus Risdell Curator of the Garrick Club.
Presented to the Garrick Club by the Duke of Devonshire in
1865.
The Socle is a replacement for an unsuitable turned marble socle and was
designed by Marcus Risdell of the Garrick Club.
The myth of its discovery bricked up in the Duke's Theatre
in Portugal street has been exploded by Marcus Risdell who has discovered
documentary proof that it came from the garden of 39 Portugal Row - the terrace
on the South side of Lincolns Inn Fields.
The 'Davenent bust' - is so called after Sir William
Davenant (1606 - 68) who was the proprietor of the Dukes Theatre in Portugal
Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields 1660 until his death in 1668, (Portugal Street
runs parallel with Portugal Row the South side of Lincolns Inn Fields).
This Communication
below from Marcus Risdell, Curator of Works of Art at the Garrick Club.
'Roubiliac original
terracotta bust Garrick Club bust, (rediscovered by William Clift, first
curator of the Hunterian Museum) in 1834 (source is Clift's papers held at
Royal College of Surgeons) it was found in the garden of No 39 Lincoln's Inn
Fields by a water pump in a position I have identified in surveys made by the
Royal College of Surgeons to have been right by the main entrance.
It became
known through association of the theatre as the Davenant Bust, but as we now
suspect was sited at the theatre by Henry Giffard who attempted the last
theatrical season there in 1742-43.
Incidentally Giffard also used a full size plaster? statue
of Shakespeare by Scheemakers as a pantomime stage prop at his previous theatre
- at Goodman's Fields, where he first put on Garrick.
This I covered in the catalogue: The Face & Figure of
Shakespeare at Orleans House Gallery. Anyway I digress: the bust passed to
Professor Owen who showed it at the Crystal palace, where it came to the
attention of the Duke of Devonshire who bought it and gave it to the Garrick
Club, who incidentally used to use it as a door stop'.
Not an unusual fate for portrait busts - the 16th century Lumley / Pomfret marble bust of
Henry VIII suffered similar humiliation whilst it was in the Ashmolean Museum
offices, until rescued in the mid 20th century (communication to me by Michael
Vickers).
It should be noted that the dress on the two Roubiliac
terracottas of Shakespeare owned by the Garrick Club and the British Museum,
apart from the collar is very close to that on the terracotta bust of John Ray by
Roubiliac in the British Museum, which was purchased at the Roubiliac sale by
Dr Matthew Matey - another example of
Roubiliac recycling his designs. He also uses the same basic bust for
his portraits of Jonathan Tyers and Henry Streatfield.
For more on the
Roubiliac busts of Ray, Tyers and
Streatfield, see:-
http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/jonathan-tyers-and-his-bust-by-roubiliac.html
The 'Davenent bust' - is so called after Sir William
Davenant (1606 - 68) who was the proprietor of the Dukes Theatre in Portugal
Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields 1660 until his death in 1668, (Portugal Street
runs parallel with Portugal Row the South side of Lincolns Inn Fields).
Originally built as a real tennis court, The Dukes Theatre
was used as a playhouse during two periods, 1661–1674 and 1695–1705. The size
of a Real Tennis Court should be approximately 70ft x 30 ft.
During the early period of the theatre it was called
Lincoln's Inn Fields Playhouse, also known as "The Duke's Playhouse",
"The New Theatre" or "The Opera" - it opened on 28 June 1661.
The building was demolished and replaced by a purpose-built
theatre for a third period, 1714–1728.
It was until very
recently believed that at one time this Roubiliac bust had been made in the
17th Century - a story widely promoted is that the bust had originally been
discovered by workmen, during the demolition along with a bust of Ben Jonson in
a niche above the stage door where it had been bricked in after the Theatre had
become a barracks in 1732.
The building later became an Auction room and was opened as
The Salopian China Warehouse in 1783 for Thomas Turner's Caughly porcelain (who
first produced 'Willow Pattern' china. From 1794 - 1847 it was the warehouse of
Copeland and Spode. It was demolished in 1848 to make way for an extension to
the Royal College of Surgeons.(see the following post).
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The British Museum bust of Shakespeare.
by Louis Francois Roubiliac.
Height: 57.80 centimetres (max.) Width: 61 centimetres.
Purchased at the posthumous Roubiliac 4 day sale May 1762 by Matthew Matey at the premises in St Martin's Lane and given to the Museum.
Given that it appears there are no other contemporary examples of the two terracotta
busts (in any material) of Shakespeare by Roubiliac - then this bust is almost
certainly one of the three terracotta busts - either lot 73 or lot 83 on the
second day 13 May 1762, or lot 86 on the Third day 14 May 1762 at the
posthumous Roubiliac Sale held at the Studio in St Martin's Lane by Langfords
of the Piazza Covent Garden.
All the above photographs of the BM bust have been lifted from the British Museum Website.
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