Design
1779 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
This design made in the 1779 by Joseph Nollekens (1737-1823) depicts the actor, David Garrick, (1717-1779) in a cloak, with a ruff, being crowned with a wreath by a woman and another kneeling at his feet giving him a mask. The cloak and mask are theatrical accoutrements appropriate to this famous actor. The design is for a wall monument commemorating him. Nollekens is best known as the leading portrait sculptor in Britain between 1770 and 1815. With his fellow Royal Academicians Thomas Banks and John Flaxman he established the British School of sculpture following decades of dependence on immigrant sculptors (such as Rysbrack, Scheemakers and Roubiliac). Flaxman praised Nollekens as the only sculptor before Banks who had "formed his taste on the antique and introduced a purer style of art". Opportunities to study the antique were plentiful whilst Nollekens lived for eight years from 1762-1770 in Rome. As a draughtsman he was exceptionally well trained for his day.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Materials and techniques | Chalk on laid paper |
Brief description | Design for sculpture by Joseph Nollekens, 1779. |
Physical description | Design depicting a man in a cloak, with a ruff, being crowned with a wreath by a woman and another kneeling at his feet giving him a mask. |
Dimensions |
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Production type | Design |
Marks and inscriptions | 'Sackler # / 80.6.22' (In pencil at bottom of inside mount. Sackler no.) |
Object history | Historical significance: 'Nollekens is best known as the leading portrait sculptor in Britain between 1770 and 1815, and as the subject of the biography Nollekens and his Times (1828) by J.T. Smith. With his fellow Royal Academicians Thomas Banks and John Flaxman he established the British School of sculpture following decades of dependence on immigrant sculptors (such as Rysbrack, Scheemakers and Roubiliac). Flaxman praised Nollekens as the only sculptor before Banks who had "formed his taste on the antique and introduced a purer style of art". As a draughtsman he was exceptionally well trained for his day. He is also noted as a collector; he owned the three wax reliefs by Giambologna now in the V&A. The V&A's collection includes three busts by Nollekens, five of his terracottas, his marble copy after the antique, Castor and Pollux (1767)and his original marble of Diana (1778).' Julius Bryant on RF 2010/245. |
Historical context | In the ca. 2009 edition of Gunnis's Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, design is identified as 'Sackler priv. col.' |
Subjects depicted | |
Summary | This design made in the 1779 by Joseph Nollekens (1737-1823) depicts the actor, David Garrick, (1717-1779) in a cloak, with a ruff, being crowned with a wreath by a woman and another kneeling at his feet giving him a mask. The cloak and mask are theatrical accoutrements appropriate to this famous actor. The design is for a wall monument commemorating him. Nollekens is best known as the leading portrait sculptor in Britain between 1770 and 1815. With his fellow Royal Academicians Thomas Banks and John Flaxman he established the British School of sculpture following decades of dependence on immigrant sculptors (such as Rysbrack, Scheemakers and Roubiliac). Flaxman praised Nollekens as the only sculptor before Banks who had "formed his taste on the antique and introduced a purer style of art". Opportunities to study the antique were plentiful whilst Nollekens lived for eight years from 1762-1770 in Rome. As a draughtsman he was exceptionally well trained for his day. |
Associated object | E.463-2010 (Version) |
Bibliographic reference | Roscoe, Ingrid, Hardy, Emma, Sullivan, M. G. A biographical dictionary of sculptors in England, 1660-1851. New Haven [Conn.]; London: Yale University Press, c.2009. pp.896-911. |
Collection | |
Accession number | E.466-2010 |
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Record created | August 19, 2010 |
Record URL |
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