The Bust of Shakespeare at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre

The Terracotta 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.

http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-british-museum-and-garrick-club.html

http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-british-museum-and-garrick-club_17.html

http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-british-museum-and-garrick-club_78.html

http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2016/01/langfords-posthumous-sale-of-contents.html

http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-british-museum-and-garrick-club_96.html

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 -

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/william-shakespeare-15641616-after-the-davenant-bust-274201/search/work_type:sculpture/page/35

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 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 Davenant Bust

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The British Museum bust of Shakespeare

by Roubiliac.

Height: 57.80 centimetres (max.) Width: 61 centimetres.

Bought at the posthumous sale May 1762 by Matthew Matey 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 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 lifted from the British Museum Website.