Isabella FitzRoy (née Bennet), Duchess of Grafton (1667-1723)
Relief
1684 (dated)
1684 (dated)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Portraits in ivory were fashionable in the 17th and 18th centuries. Generally elephant or walrus ivory was used. Since the pieces were limited in size the portraits tended to be small, yet they could still be monumental in form. Jean Cavalier (1650/60-1698/9), a Hugenot, was a native of France, and perhaps a Protestant. He travelled extensively, working as a wax modeller and ivory sculptor, and specialising in portrait medallions. In the 16882/3 he went to London, where he stayed until 1686; he then went to Trier, perhaps Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, Kassel, and in 1689 to Vienna, Munich and perhaps Dresden. By 1690 he was back in London, where he carved pictures of the King and Queen and was given the passport as the 'King's medallist'. He was then at the Danish Court in 1691/3, and from 1694/5-7 in Stockholm, from whence he and his brother Denis, also a sculptor, journeyed as ambassadors on behalf of Sweden to Russia and Persia, where they both died.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Isabella FitzRoy (née Bennet), Duchess of Grafton (1667-1723) (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Ivory in relief in wood frame with metal ring for suspension. |
| Brief description | Medallion, ivory in relief, Portrait of Isabella FitzRoy, the Duchess of Grafton, by Jean Cavalier (d. 1699), French, dated 1684 |
| Physical description | The oval relief is carved with a portrait bust of the Duchess of Grafton. She is portrayed in profile facing right, with long hair flowing over her shoulders. She wears loose drapery, low-cut over her breasts. The back of the relief is inscribed. The 'N' in the inscription is slightly truncated, but this is probably clumsiness, rather than a sign that the medallion has been subsequently cut down. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | 'D.GRAFTON / I. CAVALIER / 1684' (On the reverse; The 'N' in the inscription is slightly truncated, but this is probably clumsiness, rather than a sign that the medallion has been subsequently cut down.) |
| Credit line | Purchased through the John Webb Trust |
| Object history | The subject and style are comparable with the relief by Cavalier of Princess (later Queen) Mary dated 1686 (cat. no. **, A.201-1929), and that of an unknown woman, perhaps Sophie-Louise, Markgräfin von Brandenburg-Bayreuth of 1687 in the Bode Museum, Berlin (Theuerkauff 1986, cat. no. 3 on pp. 43-5). This medallion is signed in a similar way to the relief of Charles II on horseback by Cavalier, which is also dated 1684. This piece is in Temple Newsam, Leeds (Friedman 1981). These two pieces are the earliest known ivories of British subjects by the artist, and indicate that he may have come to England in 1684. Terry Friedman has speculated that he could have been brought over from France by the Duke of Grafton, following the latter's visit to the court of Louis XIV in 1684. Bought for £613.25 from Bruton gallery under the John Webb Trust, in 1980. |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | Portraits in ivory were fashionable in the 17th and 18th centuries. Generally elephant or walrus ivory was used. Since the pieces were limited in size the portraits tended to be small, yet they could still be monumental in form. Jean Cavalier (1650/60-1698/9), a Hugenot, was a native of France, and perhaps a Protestant. He travelled extensively, working as a wax modeller and ivory sculptor, and specialising in portrait medallions. In the 16882/3 he went to London, where he stayed until 1686; he then went to Trier, perhaps Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, Kassel, and in 1689 to Vienna, Munich and perhaps Dresden. By 1690 he was back in London, where he carved pictures of the King and Queen and was given the passport as the 'King's medallist'. He was then at the Danish Court in 1691/3, and from 1694/5-7 in Stockholm, from whence he and his brother Denis, also a sculptor, journeyed as ambassadors on behalf of Sweden to Russia and Persia, where they both died. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | A.97-1980 |
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| Record created | January 16, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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