A design for the lid of a Freedom box by Hubert-François Bourguignon (1699- 1773), called Gravelot, circa 1740

A drawing of the lid of a Freedom box. Plan. Shown full size 75 x 112 mm.

A design for the lid of a Freedom box. The coat of arms and seahorse supports of Newcastle upon Tyne set before a military trophy and palm and olive branches, all surrounded by symmetrical scrollwork. At the base is a head of Neptune set against a shell. The whole composition, which is washed in as a guide to the chaser, is surrounded by a double ruled border in red chalk. The sheet shows the marks of having been folded into four. The pencil inscription referring to Admiral Lord St Vincent is erroneous. The head of Neptune is a simplified version of a head at the base of Gravelot’s border for the general Chart in John Pine’s ‘The tapestry hangings of the House of Lords, 1739” (M. Snodin (ed.), Victoria and Albert Museum, Rococo. Art and Design in Hogarth’s England, 1984 cat D5). The naval and anti- Spanish theme of the tapestries suggests that the box may have been designed for presentation to Admiral Vernon, who enjoyed enough popular acclaim after his victory over the Spaniards at Portobello (1739) to be presented with the Freedom of the City of London and for loyal addresses to be sent to the King by most English towns and cities. He did not, however, received the Freedom of Newcastle. The Freedom was given in 1740 to Captain Marmaduke Sowle (or Sowel) for assistance in ‘the time of late riots’ (Newcastle Archives). The restrained and monumental approach of this design is typical of Gravelot’s English drawings for metalwork. Gravelot was a French book illustrator, draughtsman, designer, etcher and painter. He was in England from 1732 or 1733 to 1746. Gravelot’s style of draughtsmanship revolutionised English engraving and book illustration, introducing into it a French elegance and delicacy. He ran a drawing school in Covent Garden and was a leading member and instructor, together with G. M. Moser and others, at the St Martin’s Lane Academy. Gravelot’s ornamental rococo style certainly influenced the ornamental work of the St Martin’s Lane circle, especially that of Moser. Gravelot’s ‘Drawings for Engravings and all other kinds of Gold and Silver works’ were mentioned by George Vertue in 1741, but only three of the fairly large number of surviving Gravelot designs for gold boxes, etuis, watches and jewellery seem clearly to reflect his English ornamental style. A drawing in a private collection (Victoria and Albert Museum, Rococo. Art and Design in Hogarth’s England, 1984, cat. H5, Richard Edgcumbe, The Art of The Goldchaser in Eighteenth Century London, 2000, pp 99- 102) is for the lid, chased by Moser in 1741 and associated with Admiral Vernon, of the Mucius Scaevola box in the Wrightman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A sheet of etched studies (Victoria and Albert Museum, Rococo. Art and Design in Hogarth’s England, 1984, cat. H4) includes a ring setting and an etui, the third design is the present drawing.

8514:4