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Lot Essay
The fashion for lighting rooms with figurative lamps in plaster, bronzed in the Roman manner, proliferated from the end of the eighteenth century. This pattern of the 'vestal virgin' was identified with the Egyptian style, exemplified by the interiors of the Duchess Street mansion/museum created around 1800 by the connoisseur Thomas Hope (d. 1831). Most notable among the firms producing such figures were Humphrey Hopper, Robert Shout, Francis Hardenberg, and James Deville. The Garrard's Act of 1798, passed to protect the individual makers, dictated that all subsequent works be signed and dated (see T. Clifford, 'The plaster shops of the rococo and neo-classical era in Britain', Journal of the History of Collections, no.1, 1992, pp. 39-65).
The sculptor Humphrey Hopper (b. 1767) exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1799 to 1834 and was awarded the Gold Medal for his 'Death of Meleager' in 1803. His most famous work is the marble monument to General Hay in St. Paul's Cathedral which was commissioned in 1814. In addition to his marble busts and statues, Hopper produced a variety of plaster and terracotta figures after the Antique which were designed to support candelabra, lamps and clocks.
The sculptor Humphrey Hopper (b. 1767) exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1799 to 1834 and was awarded the Gold Medal for his 'Death of Meleager' in 1803. His most famous work is the marble monument to General Hay in St. Paul's Cathedral which was commissioned in 1814. In addition to his marble busts and statues, Hopper produced a variety of plaster and terracotta figures after the Antique which were designed to support candelabra, lamps and clocks.