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William, Duke of Cumberland
Chelsea Porcelain factory - Enlarge image
William, Duke of Cumberland
- Object:
Bust
- Place of origin:
London, England (made)
- Date:
ca. 1747-1749 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Chelsea Porcelain factory (manufacturer)
- Materials and Techniques:
Soft-paste porcelain
- Credit Line:
Transferred from the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street
- Museum number:
2917-1901
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 53a, case 1
Object Type
This bust would probably have been displayed on a wall bracket, on a chimneypiece, in a glazed cabinet, or on another domestic furnishing. In grand houses, busts were often displayed in private libraries.
People
William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (1721-1745), was the second son of George II and younger brother to Frederick, Prince of Wales. At the time that this bust was made he was widely celebrated for having crushed the Jacobite uprising at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In May 1745 during the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748), he had led the Allied forces (British, Dutch and Austrians) in an attempt to relieve Tournai (now in Belgium) from a French siege; it failed at the desperate battle of Fontenoy, five miles from Tournai. Coincidentally, Joseph Willems, Chelsea's principal modeller was working in Tournai at that date. The Duke's secretary, Sir Everard Fawkener, was one of the backers of the Chelsea porcelain factory.
Design & Designing
The Chelsea factory may have adapted the portrait from a cast lead bust by John Cheere, or from a commercially available plaster adaptation of Cheere's portrait.
