Busts of Shakespeare by Scheemakers and Cheere.

 

  Some notes - to be continued.

 

 William Shakespeare.

White Marble Bust.

Peter Scheemakers (1691 -1781).

About half life size.

Height 46cms approx. with socle.

.Hagley Hall. Worcestershire.

 

Photographs by the author.

This bust should be compared with other busts of Shakespeare attributed to Scheemakers, Scheemakers did not repeat it on the monument in Westminster Abbey.

 

 

 

 

 

The busts of Shakespeare, Spenser, Dryden and Milton by Peter Scheemakers in the broken pediments of the bookcases in the Library at Hagley Hall were given to Alexander Pope by Frederick, Prince of Wales; they were bequeathed by Pope, who died in 1743 to Lord Lyttelton. They were in the Library in the new house in 1747/48.

 

Some time after buying Carlton House in 1732, Prince Frederick commissioned two sets of library busts from Peter Scheemakers, one set for himself - which seems to have disappeared and the second set as a gift to Alexander Pope.

 

A bill for £107 4s was examined by William Kent as overseer and paid 22 November 1735, included the set of busts charged at £10 each (Duchy of Cornwall Household Accounts) it is unclear whether they were for the library at Carlton House or for Kents magnificent saloon in the Rotunda in the garden, built in 1735  -  (adorned with paintings and sculpture - Grub Street Journal 2 September 1735)

 

Prince Frederick, William Kent and the Garden Building at Carlton House has already touched on in my blog entry 12 August 2015, see -

 

http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/frederick-prince-of-wales-and-busts-in.html

 

A voucher in the Royal Household accounts, dated 8th November 1735, details 'for four small marble Busto's delivered to Mr Pope at £10-10 each 42-0-0' The bill was examined by William Kent on 22 November 1735 and paid without deduction. A receipt in the sculptors hand was added one week later (Duchy of Cornwall, Household Accounts of Frederick Prince of Wales, Vouchers October 1736 - June 1737, vol. VI, part 1, pp 307-08

 

Ingrid Roscoe suggest that the gift to Pope was probably prompted by George Lyttleton, the secretary to Prince Frederick, an active member of the Whig opposition, who fostered their friendship in the hope that Pope might have a democratising influence on the Prince.

 

The busts prompted a letter to Dean Swift dated 17 May 1739 9the Pr. shews me a distinction beyond any Merit or Pretence on my part & I have received a Present from him of some marble heads of Poets for my libraryand some Urnes for my garden' - (Correspondence of Alexander Pope ed. Shrwin 1956).

 

Ingrid Roscoe says - busts are ' weakly characterised frontal portraits' which I think is being rather unkind to them. I suspect that she didn't inspect them closely - compared with the portrait from the Royal collection attributed to John Cheeere (below) they exhibit a much higher degree of subtlety

 

Much of this information has been culled from Peter Scheemakers by Ingrid Roscoe, Walpole Society Journal, vol 61, 1999.

 

 I am very grateful to Viscount Cobham for allowing me the opportunity to visit Hagley and to take these photographs. 

I would also like to thank to Joyce Purnell of Hagley Hall who facilitated the visit for me, showed me around and made my visit so enjoyable.

 

Please forgive the quality of these photographs - I was very much restricted by the height of the bookcases, the availability of light and the lens on my camera. It is my intention to return to Hagley some time shortly, when the busts have been taken down and to take more photographs. In the short term these images will have to do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dryden.

Peter Scheemakers.

About half life size.

Height 46cms approx. with socle.

Library, Hagley Hall, Worcestershire.

..................................

 

 

Spenser.

Pieter Scheemakers.

About half life size.

Height 46cms approx. with socle.

Library, Hagley Hall, Worcestershire.

.............................

 

 

 John Milton.

Peter Scheemakers.

About half life size.

Height 46cms approx. with socle.

Hagley Hall, Worcestershire.

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The  Shakespeare Memorial.

Westminster Abbey.

Peter Scheemakers

Marble.

1741.

 

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Peter Scheemakers

Hayman

 

 

 Peter Scheemakers, Pieter Scheemaeckers II (16 January 1691 – 12 September 1781),

 

by Andreas Bernardus de Quertenmont (1750 - 1835).

 1776,

oil on canvas,

62.9 ,m x 48.9 cm , 

National Portrait Gallery.

Behind is a model of his Shakespeare Monument in Westminster Abbey (see above).

 

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William Powell (1735 - 69)

Actor and protégée of Garrick

With his bust of Shakespeare and his portrait of Garrick

 

engraved by Samuel Okey (fl. 1765 -80) after Robert Pyle (1761 - 66)

Mezzotint

circa 1765/70.

 

Royal Collection.

 

 

 

 

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William Shakespeare.

Marble Bust.

Signed Peter Scheemakers.

Trinity College Library, Dublin.

 

 

 

One of 14 Ancient and modern worthies which Scheemakers was contracted to supply for the Library at Trinity College Dublin. In 1743 £500 was left by Dr Claudius Gilbert, Vice Provost 'for the purchase of busts of men eminent for learning to adorn the library'

 

When the bust of Jonathan Swift was ordered from Roubiliac in 1749 which wasn't paid for from the Gilbert funds it was reported 'to be placed in the College Library among the heads of other men eminent for genius and learning'

 

 

 

 

see my post.

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2016/12/bust-of-shakespeare-in-long-room.html

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William Shakespeare.

White Marble Bust.

a fairly loose copy after the Peter Scheemakers bust in the Library at Trinity College, Dublin.

71.0 x 48.0 x 24.0 cm (whole object).

Attributed to John Cheere?

Royal Collection.

 

They suggest an attribution to John Cheere (1709-1787), which seems reasonable, given the somewhat generalised features - it lacks the subtleties of the busts of Roubiliac, Rysbrack and Scheemakers (see above), but seems to have been the most reproduced version - probably because of the multiples emanating from the Cheere Workshop at Hyde Park Corner.

 

Given that there is no provenance prior to 1806, it could well be a later copy. 

The inscription and socle is very similar to other busts in the Royal Collection such as Alexander Pope and Lord Ligonier. It seems these were added later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 Marble bust of Shakespeare after the Trinity College Dublin version by Roubiliac.

Art Market 2015.

 

 

 

 

 

 Another version of the Royal Collection bust of William Shakespeare.

Similar to other versions.

 52 cms including socle.

 

 Currently with Historical Portraits.

Philip Mould Ltd, 18-19 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5LU

 

http://www.historicalportraits.com/Gallery.asp?Page=Philip-Mould

..................

William Shakespeare.

Fine quality Marble Bust after Scheemakers.

On a later circular marble socle

16 in. (40.7 cm.) high; 20 in. (51 cm.) high, overall

Christie's Lot 103, 2 December 2014.

They say 2nd half of the 18th Century.

Image Courtesy Christie's.

https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5853960

 

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The Garrick Club Plaster Bust of William Shakespeare.

 

 

 

 

The Garrick Club Plaster Bust by Shout of William Shakespeare.

Another version of the Trinity College, Dublin Shakespeare by Roubiliac.

Almost certainly a cast either from a John Cheere bust or Moulds from the Cheere Workshop.

 

Library Photograph provided by Marcus Risdell, Curator at the Garrick Club.

Inscribed Shout on the back.

Height 64 cms, Socle 14.5 cms.

 

Presented to the Garrick Club sometime in the 1830's - it is not yet clear by whom. 

 

For the Shout (1778 - 1827) family of plaster statuary manufacturers see -

http://www.npg.org.uk/research/programmes/british-bronze-founders-and-plaster-figure-makers-1800-1980-1/british-bronze-founders-and-plaster-figure-makers-1800-1980-s.php

http://217.204.55.158/henrymoore/sculptor/browserecord.php?-action=browse&-recid=2437

 

 

 This bust is very close to marble of Shakespeare in the Royal Collection (above) attributed to John Cheere.

 

For a later version see the Sarti bust of Shakespeare at the Athenaean Club.

Note particularly the base of the bust above the socle.

 

I am again very grateful to Marcus Risdell curator of the Garrick Club Collection for his help in providing images of the Garrick Club Portraits.

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The Atheneum Club Bust of William Shakespeare

Plaster Bust

Supplied by P. Sarti.

 

A plaster bust presented to the Garrick Club in 1834-36 bears the impressed signature of ‘Shout’ (Ashton, no. S.30).

 Robert Shout of Holborn (active 1778-1827) made marble monuments and plaster casts.

see above for the earlier plaster bust by Shout of Holborn in the Garrick Club.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Committee of the Athenæum Club.

Bought of P. Sarti

	£ s d
Jany 26th Figure of Diana Dressing	8. 8. 0
Ditto Venus Victorious	8. 8. 0
Feby 2 Moving repairing & painting to grecion archer	1. 4. 0 4
Bust of Sir Isac Newton	1. 10. 0
Ditto Shakespere	1. 10. 0
Ditto Milton	1. 10. 0
Ditto Lock	1. 10. 0
Ditto Dr Johnson	1. 1. 0
Ditto Dr Harvey	1. 10. 0
Ditto Lord Mansfield	1. 10. 0
Ditto Pope	1. 10. 0 [inserted]
Ditto Bacon	1. 10. 0
Moulding & casting Sir J. Reynolds	3. 3. 0
Adding drapery to ditto	1. 0. 0
Putting pedestal to the Bust of Burke	7. 0
Repairing & painting the Bust of Sir C Wren	12. 0
Painting the Names in the above Busts	19. 6
For taken down & putting twice the Apollo and altering four times the leaf	3. 10. 0
Bust of Garrick	1. 10. 0

All the Articles in this Bill

are correct. C Daly £42. 2. 6

Certified to be correct

Decimus Burton

24 April 1830

[Endorsed:] 1830

Casts Ordered for payment

Sarti Building Committee

26 April

Received 30 April of the Trustees of the

Athenæum the sum of Forty two pounds two

shillings and sixpence being the amount of

my Bill for Casts supplied to the New

Building to this time – £42. 2. 6 P. Sarti

 

The photographs and text above from

 

http://www.victorianweb.org/sculpture/athenaeum/catalogue.html

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Oil on canvas

 

Copy of the Chandos Portrait

Possibly mid 18th century

Oil on canvas

57.2 x 45.1 cm.

 

Provenance -The North family, the Earls of Guilford, and by descent.

This portrait is also currently with Philip Mould Ltd.

 

http://www.historicalportraits.com/Gallery.asp?Page=Philip-Mould

 

 

The British Museum Terracotta bust of Shakespeare by Roubiliac.

The Terracotta Bust of William Shakespeare (1554 - 1616).

by Louis Francois Roubiliac (1702 - 62).

 at The British Museum.

 Purchased from the posthumous Roubiliac Sale in May 1762 by Matthew Matey.

All the above photographs lifted from the British Museum Website.

Bust of William Shakespeare

Louis Francois Roubiliac.

578 mm tall.

© Trustees of the British Museum.

Provenance: Bought by Dr Matthew Matey at the Posthumous Roubiliac Sale held at the Studio in St. Martin's Lane by Langfords of the Piazza Covent Garden.

The only copy so far discovered of the sale catalogue is in the Finberg Collection at the British Museum. Unfortunately there is no annotation.

This is either lot 73 or lot 83 on the second day 13 May 1762, or lot 86 on the Third day 14 May 1762.

For more on this bust and the other busts purchased by Dr Matthew Maty at the Roubiliac sale and now in the British Museum see: Portrait Sculpture, A Catalogue of the British Museum Collection. c 1675 -1975, Aileen Dawson, pub. British Museum Press, 1999.

See my previous post for more on the Garrick Club Terracotta.

The Chesterfield Portrait of William Shakespeare.

Oil on canvas, 127.5 x 120 cm.

c. 1679.

This portrait, possibly by the Dutch painter Pieter Borsselaer (or Peter Borsseler, also Peter Bustler), was once owned by the Earl of Chesterfield.

Now with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

Provenance:

Halifax Collection until 1739/40; Halifax sale, 1739/40, lot 13, bought by Earl of Chesterfield;

Chesterfield sale, Bretby, 1918, lot 2701 (?); in various hands 1918 - 1949; Christie's 2 December 1949, Lot 163; American Shakespeare Festival Theatre and Academy.

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The inscription 'F. Zuccaro' was uncovered by cleaning by James Roth in 1967. He wrote that it 'did not seem superimposed' in a letter to Dr Levi Fox of 12.12.1967 (Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Archive). However, this attribution is certainly wrong as Zuccaro was in England for perhaps six months in 1574/5.

George Vertue, when he saw the painting at the Halifax sale in 1739/40 thought it had 'a head new painted onto the posture, perhaps by Sykes' (a painter working in the first and second decades of the eighteenth century). This would imply that the painting had been made of someone else in the 1660's and then altered to represent Shakespeare in around 1700.

However, restoration in 1962 showed no evidence of such a history. Like the Soest Portrait, this painting is also associated with the anecdote which originates from Vertue and appears in The Gentleman's Magazine in 1759 which relates that Clarges (the first owner of the portrait) commissioned a young actor who looked like Shakespeare to sit for the portrait by Lely. The current attribution of Dutch artist Peter Borsseler was made by Oliver Millar, a leading authority on seventeenth century painting. He notes that it is very close to that artists portrait of Sir William Dugdale.

Author - Dr Patricia Smyth.

info from and see - http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=84563

Roubiliac is believed to have had a copy of the Chandos portrait of Shakespeare.

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Lord Chesterfield sat to Roubiliac on several occasions. They were relatively near neighbours and Chesterfield was an ardent Francophile. Given the Baroque influences shown in both the painted and sculpted portrait by Roubiliac it is hard to resist the obvious connection.

Michael Rysbrack and George Vertue were close friends they were also both Catholics and would have attended the same church - Vertue's influence is plain to see on Rysbrack's busts of Shakespeare.

When Rysbrack and Roubiliac depicted the same sitters they did so in deliberately, markedly different ways.

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 The Madame Boccage Bust of Shakespeare.

Busts of Pope, Dryden, Milton and Shakespeare were sent to Paris in 1751 by Lord Chesterfield.

Katherine Esdaile makes a very good case that the four busts for Mme Boccage’s garden sent to France by Chesterfield were Roubiliac marble busts. Mrs Thrale saw them in her drawing room in Paris in 1775. If this is the case, a marble bust of Shakespeare is still awaiting discovery.

See Louis Francois Roubiliac by Katherine Esdaile. pub. Oxford 1929.

Madame Boccage corresponded with Lord Chesterfield in 1750-52 and twelve of his letters to her were published by Dr Matthew Maty in Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, memoirs of his life, tending to illustrate the civil, literary and political history of his time, 2 vols, London, 1777, vol. II, pp.242-81, letters LXXXV-XCVI.

In the Chesterfield letters to Madame Boccage there are several references to him giving her the busts of Pope, Milton, Dryden and Shakespeare.

14 June 1750 - replying to her asking for a bust of himself he tells her that he will be sending her busts of Pope and Milton.
20 May 1751 - He is sending four ambassadors, Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden and Pope.
7 November 1751 - the bust of himself should arrive at Dieppe on the first good wind

She wrote to her sister

"Avant que de quitter le rivage que je vous décris,je viens de répondre au beau présent que Mylord Chesterfield m’a envoyé : ce sont les bustes des quatre plus grands Poëtes d’Angleterre, Mylton, Dryden, Pope, & Shakespear ; lisez mon remerciement, trop peu digne, par malheur de son attention flatteuse : […] Je reprochais vivement à ces bustes célèbres, d’avoir passé la mer sans le vôtre ; je préférois, leur dis-je, à la représentation de vous autres morts fameux, l’image de l’illustre vivant qui vous envoie […] Je crus […] que de demander votre portrait, étoit trop oser. Je me borne donc à vous faire mes très-humbles remerciements […] je les destine à l’ornement de ma petite bibliothèque de Paris."

Mrs Thrale Letter in the Rylands Library - Mrs. Thrales comments on the French are occasionally very severe !  

This appears in  her account of a visit to dine with Madame de Boccage on October 5th 1775 :

" The Morning was spent in adjusting our Ornaments in order to dine with Madame de Bocage at 2 o'clock.  There was a showy Dinner with a Frame in the middle, and she gave us an English Pudding made after the  Receipt of  the Dutchess of  Queensbury.  We saw nothing particularly pleasing at this Visit but the beauty of Madame de Bocages niece, the Countess of Blanchetre, whose husband was so handsome too that being a Frenchman - I  wonder'd.  In the course of  conversation, however, he turned out an Italian, and  there was another Italian Noble - man who hailed Baretti and made himself agreable to us  all.  Nothing would serve him but attend us at night to the Colissee which, after leaving our Names with the Sardinian Ambassadress, we were willing  enough to permit.  In Madame de Bocage's Drawing room stood the Busts of Shakespear, Milton, Pope and Dryden, the lady sat on a Sopha with a fine Red Velvet Cushion fringed with gold under her Feet and just over her Head a  Cobweb of  uncommon  size & I am  sure  great Antiquity.  A Pot to spit in, either of  Pewter or Silver quite  as black &ill-coloured, was on her Table, & when  the  Servant carried Coffee about he put in Sugar with  his Fingers.  The House these people live in is a fine one but so contrived that we were to pass through  a sort of Hall where the Footmen were playing at Cards before we arrived at Madame's Chamber."

 Footnotes-
Horace Walpole wrote - 'There is come from France a Madame Bocage, who has translated Milton: my Lord Chesterfield prefers the copy to the original; but that is not uncommon for him to do, who is the patron of bad authors and bad actors. She has written a play too, which was damned, and worthy my lord's approbation'. not a fan then!

Madame du Boccage published a poem in imitation of Milton, and another founded on Gesner's "Death of Abel." She also translated Pope's "Temple of Fame;" but her principal work was "La Columbiade."

 It was at the house of this lady, at Paris, in 1775, that (Dr) Johnson was annoyed at her footman's taking the sugar in his fingers and throwing it into his coffee. "I was going," says the Doctor, "to put it aside, but hearing it was made on purpose for me, I e'en tasted Tom's fingers."  

see my previous posting -

http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.co.uk/2014_10_25_archive.html