Design for the Monument to Sir John Tyrrell, Bart.
Design
1770s-1780s (made)
1770s-1780s (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
This design made in the 1770s or 1780s by Joseph Nollekens (1737-1823) depicts a draped funerary urn on a sarcophagus or a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The design is for a wall monument for an unidentified person. 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 | |
Title | Design for the Monument to Sir John Tyrrell, Bart. (generic title) |
Materials and techniques | Pencil, pen and ink and wash on laid paper |
Brief description | Design for sculpture by Joseph Nollekens, 1770s-1780s. |
Physical description | Design, inscribed with measurements and a scale, depicting a draped, funerary urn resting on a tablet that has a frieze and alternative designs for the sides. Two cherub heads and a leafy pendant below. Verso; (stuck down): a design in pencil for a similar monument, the tablet with a festoon of leaves, and with alternative suggestions for the urns. |
Dimensions |
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Production type | Design |
Marks and inscriptions |
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Object history | 'This monument to Sir James Tyrrell (1726-66) and his wife Mary (1735-66) was erected by their daughters in the church at East Hornden, Essex. The church has become redundant and the monument is at present on show at the Victoria and Albert Museum, who acquired it in 1970. The architectural treatment and the cherub heads show it to be the work of the 1770s. Consoles were made to flank the tablet, and a fluted string course was introduced below the tablet. This is a completely finished drawing, of a kind of which several examples are in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Such drawings were shown to his clients by Nollekens, who always kept a stock of them ready. "200" will refer to the cost of the work.' 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 | |
Place depicted | |
Summary | This design made in the 1770s or 1780s by Joseph Nollekens (1737-1823) depicts a draped funerary urn on a sarcophagus or a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The design is for a wall monument for an unidentified person. 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. |
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. |
Other number | 80.6.214 - Dr Arthur Sackler Collection no. |
Collection | |
Accession number | E.468-2010 |
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Record created | August 19, 2010 |
Record URL |
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