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Lot Essay
Robert Walpole (1676-1745) is considered to be the first British Prime Minister due to his unequalled influence over the Cabinet in the 1720s, '30s and early '40s. His rise to power in the political sphere was reflected in his building programme at the family estate in Norfolk, Houghton Hall, and in the art collection he amassed. A magnificent Palladian house was designed by Colen Campbell with interiors by William Kent. The collection of paintings, sculpture and furniture (the latter supplied by the most important craftsmen of the day) was considered to be one of the finest in Europe. The paintings would later be sold to the Empress Catherine the Great of Russia and are today in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg.
One of the most important rooms at Houghton remains the Marble Hall, a two story entrance which had as its sculptural focus a huge bronze group of the Laocoön by François Girardon, and which combined reliefs by the contemporary sculptor Michael Rysbrack, as well as antiquities and 'modern' sculpture such as the present busts. The intermingling of antique and classicising sculpture of more recent manufacture was an increasingly common phenomenon in the period, as collectors found it more difficult to acquire antique pieces of high quality. The acceptance of this 'blending' of the old and new was made easier due to the tradition of commissioning contemporary sculptors of the stature of Algardi, Duquesnoy and Bernini to restore or complete fragmentary antiquities (J. Montagu, Roman Baroque Sculpture - The Industry of Art, London, 1989, p. 151).
The present busts appear in several inventories of the collection at Houghton including the Aedes Walpolianae of 1747, where they are are described as Homer and Hesiod. This is repeated in the inventory of 1792: 'Marble Busts & Heads - on Therms & Consoles round the Hall .... Homer Modern Hesiod do [ditto]' (see illustration). The pairing of these two historical figures would seem logical, as both were poets in ancient Greece who were thought to be active at a similar date. In fact, the second bust clearly represents the Greek philosopher Plato, but mis-identifications such as this often occurred, either by genuine accident or at the instigation of unscrupulous dealers who recognised one subject might be more appealing to a purchaser than another.
The busts, which combine white marble heads of the highest quality on shoulders luxuriantly veneered in oriental alabaster, remained in the Marble Hall at Houghton until they were sold at Christie's in London in 1994 to the present owner.
One of the most important rooms at Houghton remains the Marble Hall, a two story entrance which had as its sculptural focus a huge bronze group of the Laocoön by François Girardon, and which combined reliefs by the contemporary sculptor Michael Rysbrack, as well as antiquities and 'modern' sculpture such as the present busts. The intermingling of antique and classicising sculpture of more recent manufacture was an increasingly common phenomenon in the period, as collectors found it more difficult to acquire antique pieces of high quality. The acceptance of this 'blending' of the old and new was made easier due to the tradition of commissioning contemporary sculptors of the stature of Algardi, Duquesnoy and Bernini to restore or complete fragmentary antiquities (J. Montagu, Roman Baroque Sculpture - The Industry of Art, London, 1989, p. 151).
The present busts appear in several inventories of the collection at Houghton including the Aedes Walpolianae of 1747, where they are are described as Homer and Hesiod. This is repeated in the inventory of 1792: 'Marble Busts & Heads - on Therms & Consoles round the Hall .... Homer Modern Hesiod do [ditto]' (see illustration). The pairing of these two historical figures would seem logical, as both were poets in ancient Greece who were thought to be active at a similar date. In fact, the second bust clearly represents the Greek philosopher Plato, but mis-identifications such as this often occurred, either by genuine accident or at the instigation of unscrupulous dealers who recognised one subject might be more appealing to a purchaser than another.
The busts, which combine white marble heads of the highest quality on shoulders luxuriantly veneered in oriental alabaster, remained in the Marble Hall at Houghton until they were sold at Christie's in London in 1994 to the present owner.