A SET OF THREE GREY-PAINTED PLASTER BUSTS OF INFANT EMPERORS

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more

LORD PARKER ON THE GRAND TOUR By T. P. Connor The Macclesfield bronzes are among the most important survivals of the collections formed on the Grand Tour. Documents allow us to know how the group was built up and, much more unusually, how they were regarded by their new owners. The figures themselves demonstrate the refined manufacture by Italian artists responding to the remarkable influx of wealthy foreign travellers. George Parker's journey to Italy from 1719 to 1722 was similar to the tours of many other eighteenth-century gentlemen. He was young, his father was rich, and much of his time was spent, to the consternation of those around him, in an unsuitable liason. Were that all, his tour would be of little interest. As it is his tour is more remarkable for its patronage than for his philandering and deserves to be better known. George Parker travelled at least in part to purchase works of art for the castle at Shirburn, Oxfordshire, which his father Thomas, Lord Macclesfield had just bought and which he was at the moment modernising, probably with the help of his close friend, Sir Thomas Hewitt. Macclesfield became the Lord Chancellor in 1718, and was created Earl of Macclesfield while his son was abroad. The enormous silver wine cooler by Anthony Nelme now in the Victoria and Albert Museum of 1719-20 suggests the magnificent scale of his ambitions boosted, no doubt by a recent royal gift of £14,000 . Macclesfield had wide intellectual interests and his interest in the arts was developed by his links with the shadowy 'junta for architecture' which had brought him into contact with the Florentine architect Alessandro Galilei and the painter Giuseppe Grisoni, whose great 1721 portrait of the newly appointed Lord Chancellor is now at Hinton Ampner. The young man's judgement in Italian art was greatly strengthened by meeting up in Bologna with his kinsman Edward Wright who had already travelled in Italy and had a reputation among English travellers as an artist. Wright used the tour with Lord Parker to build up his own collection and turned the accounts of their journeys, written home to the anxious father, into a book. This appeared in 1730 as Some observations made in Travelling through France, Italy &c. and became accepted for a generation as 'the best' to have 'traversed Italian ground'.1 George Parker's letters home provide dutiful accounts of what he had seen, though on occasion knowing 'Mr Wright ... will do it in so perfect a manner, that it will be needless for me to say anything', he omitted some descriptions.2 Nevertheless, he conscientiously recorded his opinions based on earlier writers, on the 'stiff and dry' manner of Perugino, or the confusing nature of Michelangelo's Last Judgement, and came to share some of Wright's enthusiasms for both paintings and particularly the antique.3 The party followed the customary course: the winter of 1719-20 and much of the following year in Venice, the summer of 1721 in Rome with a brief visit to Naples, moving on to Florence for the autumn before returning home via Turin, Verona and Frankfurt. During their time in Italy they met up with other English travellers, scholars and collectors like Richard Rawlinson, or other gentlemen in Florence, as well as getting into the studios of artists such as Sebastiano Conca or Francesco Bartoli. They were much assisted by the British envoy in Turin, John Molesworth, who was instrumental in separating the infatuated Lord Parker from his Venetian girlfriend, and who later played an influential role in buying works of art for Lord Macclesfield. Acquisition of artworks for Shirburn began early on. From Padua he reported back to his father the purchase of a 'very fine deluge of Giulio Romano' 'which everybody here thinks cheap', and this was followed from Venice by several more, including the 'Sketch of the Supper of Baltazar by Rubens' and 'some large Pictures of Views'.4 At the same time Wright made copies of pictures, whether for his own collections or for sale is not clear. However the most important and interesting part of their purchases were sculpture, not only because much of it survives, but because Lord Parker's letters throw light on the problems surrounding the manufacture and promotion of what was gradually coming to be regarded as Italy's cultural heritage. Lord Parker's purchases were almost exclusively of copies of antique figures in either plaster (referred to as 'jess') or bronze, though later on Lord Macclesfield may have also bought a couple of larger marble pieces, of a Ganymede and a Flora. A group of over thirty plaster busts seems to have been purchased in response to his father's desire for copies from the Grand Ducal gallery in Florence, the Uffizi. The Grand Ducal authorities were careful to restrict the making of copies, both to protect the valuable originals and to exloit their cultural capital for international prestige. As a result, Lord Parker had to make do with casts from moulds that had already been made, and was not in a position to specify his choices. He sent his father a list of named busts which they had bought with 'some others from the Gallery here which we have not yet compared with the Originals to be assur'd whose they are'5. In fact not all were from the Uffizi, for they included a head from the Farnese Palace in Rome as well as Duquesnoy's Santa Susanna. In the end the last piece was replaced with a a cast of Bernini's head of Constanza Bonarelli, which was more readily available in Florence. Lord Parker's list does not include all the busts which were preserved in the libraries at Shirburn, while one figure which he did mention, 'the cast of a very fine statue of a Mercury' does not seem to have survived. Of what were seen as original antiquities only one was certainly purchased, in Venice. This was 'a marble head representing [as is supposed] Hercules' 'which several people imagine to be by the same Hand that did the Famous Statue call'd the Hercules Farnesinus'.6 At a price of the equivalent of £25, Lord Parker was uncertain whether his father really wanted it, but the owner pressed it on him hoping 'to let him send it with my Pictures into England & that if you care not to keep it at that price that you should only be pleased to give it house room he himself intending to go into England in a short time'. In fact he was mistaken as to the price, which in reality was 60 guineas, but Lord Macclesfield paid up, and Wright hoped to take his own copy of it in plaster before it was installed at Shirburn. The copies in bronze in the Macclesfield collection after antique and modern figures are amongst the most remarkable survivals from the age of the Grand Tour collections. Bronze, though expensive, had the great advantage of being much easier to transport back to England than fragile plaster, and several of the more wealthy patrons were purchasing figures in the material, usually from the workshops of Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi (1656-1714) where expert craftsmen supplied the English market with medals, books and copies of pictures. Lord Perceval had ordered a large group of heads and three statues in 1707, Lord Stafford was looking for half a dozen in 1709. The decoration of the great hall at Blenheim had included bronze copies of the figures at the Tribuna of the Uffizi (1710-11) which are still to be seen in place. Among the most important English collectors in the following decade in Florence, Sir Andrew Fountaine and the Earl of Burlington were both interested in bronze reliefs as well as statues. A group of small copies of antiquities now at Chatsworth appear to be the result of Lord Burlington's purchases in 1717-19 and these compare directly with those in the Macclesfield collection. When Lord Parker himself wished to commission bronzes for Shirburn however, he came up again against the prohibition of direct copying and had usually to be content with copying from the best copies that could be found. The only success in taking his own mould was for the bust of Plautilla, and even here he was instructed to either break the mould, so that it would not become common in Florence, or take it away with him. This was originally intended to be paired with a bust of Antinous but 'by a mistake of the Person, to whom I applied in the matter, leave was not asked' for it.7 Instead he took the bust of Geta, thus recreating the pairing which then greeted the tourist on his entrance to the Gallery. The group of thirteen small bronze figures (lots 57 to 62 and 73 to 79) are not referred to directly in Lord Parker's letters, and the first documentation of them appears to be the receipt for their purchase by Lord Macclesfield, signed in July 1723 by Edward Wright, by then returned to England. Of the surviving figures, the originals for most were in Medici collections, others were from Rome, though one was by then at Versailles. Besides these copies of classical works, three were by modern sculptors, including two famous groups by Bernini from the Villa Borghese in Rome. Most interesting in this company was the Satyr Marsyas tied to a tree by Pierre Le Gros. The original had been executed perhaps in France in about 1715 and the Macclesfield example (lot 76) is the finest early copy of this famous figure.8 Whether such a group could have been made up in Florence, or was put together from different sources by its supplier, the Scottish artist John Smibert who neither Wright or Lord Parker refer to at all, is not clear although the difference of finish from Cipriani's work is obvious. The most important items in the Macclesfield collection were the two life-sized figures of the Venus de' Medici and the Dancing Faun (lot 64) for which Lord Parker began negotiation in January 1722. These were central figures in the Medici collection, placed in the famous Tribuna, and admired by all tour guides. For his casts, Lord Parker secured the assistance of Pietro Cipriani [c.1679-1745] who had worked with Soldani on the group for Blenheim and who went on to supply other English patrons for the next twenty years. Wright said that Cipriani promised that his copies 'should at least equal Soldani's, and be the most exact that were ever made'9. In so doing he omitted the putti and dolphin support to the Medici Venus, which some critics thought to be an addition. Cipriani took over two years to complete the work, and signed both bases in 1724. In the October of that year the figures were ready for shipment for England, and Cipriani tucked into the boxes they were to travel in five medals 'as a fine for so much exceeding his time'. He also included three other 'little statues' including copies of Ganymede and the Eagle and the Bacchus of Sansovino from the Gallery, which Lord Parker could either keep or sell on.10 Cipriani's work is of a very high quality, and Lord Parker was happy to purchase his copies of the busts of Plautilla and Geta. Lord Macclesfield, now no longer Lord Chancellor and trying to bear his dismissal 'in a way not wholly unbecoming to a Christian Philosopher', was delighted with the statues once they had arrived early in 1725. At Shirburn they were installed opposite each other in the Gallery as a stimulus for conversation and extempore verse. In this context it is important to stress that the associative quality of a known antique figure was far more valuable than the authenticity or uniqueness which later generations might attribute to the work of a modern sculptor. As John Molesworth pointed out, 'good copies are better than scurvy originals'. Wright's account of responses to these statues in their new location is a rare example of the sophisticated reception of what might be regarded as Grand Tour plunder. For Lord Parker, intensive schooling in the polite arts had little direct effect. In October 1722 he joined the Royal Society, on the same day as Lord Burlington. For the latter, Apollo of the Arts, whose just and noble rules underpinned English Palladianism, The Royal Society was just a part of his aristocratic social round in London. For Lord Parker the Royal Society became a major focus of his life. He was to be an important astronomer in his own right, patron of mathematicians, champion of reform of the calendar, and President of the Society. His Grand Tour collection would be undisturbed for nearly three hundred years. Notes 1 John, Lord Cork and Orrery, Letters from Italy in the Years 1754 and 1755, p.118-9. Wright's career is studied in greater detail in T.P. Connor, 'The Fruits of a Tour: Two Collections and a Book; Edward Wright and Lord Parker in Italy, 1720-1722'. Apollo, 1998. 2 British Library, Stowe Ms. 750, f. 391. Lord Parker to Lord Macclesfield, 16 December 1721. 3 British Library, Stowe Ms. 750, f. 378. The same to the same, 5 July 1721. 4 British Library, Stowe Ms. 750, f. 358, the same to the same, 17 Jan. 1720. 5 British Library, Stowe Ms. 750, f. 403, 'A List of the Casts in Jess of Heads and Busts that we have bought in Florence'. 6 British Library, Stowe Ms. 750, f. 358, Lord Parker to Lord Macclesfield, 17 Jan. 1720. 7 Archivio di Stato, Florence [ASF]. Carte Galilei V. 1. f. 138, Lord Parker to Galilei, 10 June 1724. 8 M. Baker, 'That 'most rare Monsii Le Gros and his Marsyas', Burlington Magazine, 127. 1985, pp. 702-706. 9 E. Wright, Some Observations made in Travelling through France, Italy &c. in the years 1720, 1721 and 1722, [1730], p.412. 10 ASF. Carte Galilei, V. 1.147. The Macclesfield Plaster Busts (Lots 50-56 and 65-70) In January 1723, Lord Parker wrote to his father from Florence saying 'we have bought several Heads, a list of which your Lordship receives enclosed'. This list, which had 21 named items and 'some others from the Gallery which we have not yet compar'd with the Originals to be assur'd whose they are', were mainly after antique busts in the collection of the Grand Duke in Florence. These were almost certainly executed by, or under the direction of, Pietro Cipriani. Cipriani's master, Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi, had taken moulds of a series of busts from the grand ducal collection and cast them in bronze for the Prince of Liechtenstein. All of those busts are represented in the list Parker sends to his father, and it seems clear that Cipriani has re-used Soldani's moulds and then added some others, including two versions of the Geta which he was later to cast in bronze (see lot 81). Among the plaster busts which were not after the antique, the list includes a head of Michelangelo's celebrated Bacchus (lot 54), as well as Bernini's portrait of his mistress Costanza Bonarelli (lot 66). Perhaps most interestingly, lot 71 appears to record a lost bust of the 1st Earl of Macclesfield by Michael Rysbrack. With his shaven head and drapery in the antique manner, it is obvious that Macclesfield always intended this portrait to be placed among the ancient greats at Shirburn.

A SET OF THREE GREY-PAINTED PLASTER BUSTS OF INFANT EMPERORS

ATTRIBUTED TO THE FLORENTINE GRAND DUCAL WORKSHOPS, AFTER THE ANTIQUE, CIRCA 1722

Details

A SET OF THREE GREY-PAINTED PLASTER BUSTS OF INFANT EMPERORS
ATTRIBUTED TO THE FLORENTINE GRAND DUCAL WORKSHOPS, AFTER THE ANTIQUE, CIRCA 1722
Each on an integrally cast shaped rectangular socle, two with paper labels to the reverse; representing the infant Nero with label to the reverse inscribed 'no. 27. (case 77)', the young Marcus Aurelius with label to the reverse 'no. 26 (case 74)' and Geta; surface dirt, minor chips and damages
19 to 20¼ in. (48.2 to 51.5 cm.) high, overall (3)

Provenance

Three of the 35 'casts in jess' acquired by Thomas, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, described in a letter written by Lord Parker in Florence in January 1722.
Thence by descent at Shirburn Castle.

Literature

T. P. Connor, 'The fruits of a Grand Tour - Edward Wright and Lord Parker in Italy, 1720-22', in Apollo, July 1998, pp. 23-30.

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
G. Mansuelli, Galleria degli Uffizi - Le Sculture, Rome, 1961, I and II.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

More from Important European Furniture, Sculpture and Carpets

View All