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Lot Essay
The sculptor brother of Sir Henry Cheere (d. 1781), and the better known of the two in his own day, John Cheere specialized in producing garden figures and plaster or lead busts, often after other artists, for the decoration of libraries and staircases. In 1739 he acquired a yard at Hyde Park corner that probably had associations with the van Nost family of sculptors, and continued their tradition of supplying lead garden statuary. He completed a gilt equestrian statue of William III for St James' Square, London, in 1739, and in 1751 a marble statue of George II for the market place St Helier, Jersey. The Portuguese minister in London purchased 98 lead statues from him for the royal palace of Queluz, near Lisbon, in 1756 and he also supplied statues for Stourhead, including those of Pomona, Mercury, Apollo and Bacchus. David Garrick, the actor, commissioned a life-size lead figure of William Shakespeare for Stratford-upon-Avon and in 1774, Cheere supplied Wedgwood with plaster busts of Shakespeare, Plato, Aristotle and Homer for reproduction in black basalt.
A contemporary account from the mid-18th century by J.T. Smith, Streets of London, gives the following description of Cheere's yard: "The figures were cast in lead as large as life and frequently painted with an intention to resemble nature. They consisted of Punch, Harlequin, Columbine and other pantomimical characters". The modelling of the present lot, with his extravagant moustache, beak like nose and jutting chin suggests a direct link to the workshop of Cheere.
Although a firm attribution to Cheere is difficult to make, and the present lot is a break from the more traditional classical and rustic subjects assoicated with his work, the popularity at this time of the marionette theatre starring Punch, with shows at Covent Garden (with very close proximity to Cheere's Yard at Hyde Park Corner) attracting sizeable crowds, there is certainly a strong link to the Workshop of Cheere.
A contemporary account from the mid-18th century by J.T. Smith, Streets of London, gives the following description of Cheere's yard: "The figures were cast in lead as large as life and frequently painted with an intention to resemble nature. They consisted of Punch, Harlequin, Columbine and other pantomimical characters". The modelling of the present lot, with his extravagant moustache, beak like nose and jutting chin suggests a direct link to the workshop of Cheere.
Although a firm attribution to Cheere is difficult to make, and the present lot is a break from the more traditional classical and rustic subjects assoicated with his work, the popularity at this time of the marionette theatre starring Punch, with shows at Covent Garden (with very close proximity to Cheere's Yard at Hyde Park Corner) attracting sizeable crowds, there is certainly a strong link to the Workshop of Cheere.