A SET OF FOUR WHITE-PAINTED PLASTER CLASSICAL FIGURES

BY HUMPHREY HOPPER, DATED 1813

Details

A SET OF FOUR WHITE-PAINTED PLASTER CLASSICAL FIGURES
By Humphrey Hopper, dated 1813
Each figure with a headdress and attributes; Bacchus clothed in a goatskin, holding a bunch of grapes and with a headdress of vine leaves; Hebe with ringlets and an eagle by her side; Hygeia holding a snake and Ceres with a fruiting headdress and draped with a toga; originally bronzed and now with chips to the decoration; the figures individually dated 'Nov 2, 1813','Sept 10 1813, H Hopper London''Aug. 2 1813. H. Hopper London' and 'Mar. 2 1813 H Hopper London'.
Each on an integrally cast plinth.
59 in. (150 cm.) high (4)

Provenance

Supplied in 1813 through Lewis Wyatt to William, 2nd Baron Bolton (1782-1850) for Hackwood.
By descent until sold in 1935 with Hackwood to William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose (d.1954).
Thence by descent.

Literature

Lewis Wyatt, Voucher, Christmas 1813: 'Novr 10 Hopper for Plaster Figures'.
Lewis Wyatt, Voucher, Christmas 1813: 'For R. Jones for painting the four seasons in imitation of bronze at Hackwood'.
1905 Hampton and Sons Inventory, The Dining Room: '4 well modelled coloured plaster figures classical subjects each holding massive ormolu lamps of cornucopia shape 5ft high'.

Lot Essay

The sculptor Humphrey Hopper attended the Royal Academy schools and in 1803 was awarded a Gold Medal for his 'Death of Meleager'. His most famous work is the marble monument to General Hay in St. Paul's Cathedral which was commissioned by the House of Commons in 1814. Hopper exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1799 and 1834, and together with busts, statues and other figures in marble, produced a wide range of ornamental figures in plaster and terracotta intended as supports for lamps, candelabra and clocks.
In 1812 Hopper made plaster statues, probably representing four of the Muses, for the Ballroom of the County Hall in Lewes (R. Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851, rev. ed., London, n.d., p. 209).

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