A Preliminary Sketch for the Monument to the Hon. Mrs Henry Howard in Wetheral Church, Cumberland thumbnail 1
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A Preliminary Sketch for the Monument to the Hon. Mrs Henry Howard in Wetheral Church, Cumberland

Design
1782 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This design made by Joseph Nollekens is for a sepulchral monument, a structure marking or denoting a burial site, commemorating the tragic deaths of Mrs Henry Howard and her newborn baby. She died in childbirth. Her monument is in Wetheral Church, Cumberland. The design represents Religion, in the form of a woman, comforting the dying Mrs Howard with her infant in her lap. This is a variant of another design for the monument [E.470-2010]. This monument was widely praised as Nollekens' masterpiece by his contemporaries. There is a terracotta model for this monument in the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) which shows Nollekens' first idea for the project. This drawing is compositionally much closer to the monument of which there is a trial drawing in the V&A. 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". As a draughtsman he was exceptionally well trained for his day.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleA Preliminary Sketch for the Monument to the Hon. Mrs Henry Howard in Wetheral Church, Cumberland (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Chalk on laid paper
Brief description
Design for sculpture by Joseph Nollekens, London, 1782.
Physical description
Design showing a female figure standing over, pointing upwards, and supporting the dying figure of a woman with a lifeless baby on a piece of paper in portrait format.
Dimensions
  • Height: 18.8cm
  • Width: 23.6cm
Production typeDesign
Marks and inscriptions
'80.7.11' (In pencil inside mount at bottom right)
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.'
Production
Attribution note: There is a terracotta model for this monument in the Victoria and Albert Museum which shows Nollekens first idea for project. This drawing is compositionally much closer to the monument of which there is a trial drawing in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Subjects depicted
Place depicted
Summary
This design made by Joseph Nollekens is for a sepulchral monument, a structure marking or denoting a burial site, commemorating the tragic deaths of Mrs Henry Howard and her newborn baby. She died in childbirth. Her monument is in Wetheral Church, Cumberland. The design represents Religion, in the form of a woman, comforting the dying Mrs Howard with her infant in her lap. This is a variant of another design for the monument [E.470-2010]. This monument was widely praised as Nollekens' masterpiece by his contemporaries. There is a terracotta model for this monument in the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) which shows Nollekens' first idea for the project. This drawing is compositionally much closer to the monument of which there is a trial drawing in the V&A. 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". As a draughtsman he was exceptionally well trained for his day.
Associated objects
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.456-2010

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Record createdAugust 20, 2010
Record URL
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