Lot 104: A MARBLE BUST OF AN EMPEROR

A MARBLE BUST OF AN EMPEROR THE SHOULDERS ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN MICHAEL RYSBRACK (1694-1770), CIRCA 1740-60, THE HEAD 17TH OR EARLY 18TH CENTURY 21 in. (53.4 cm.) high, overall

(53.4 cm.) high

CIRCA 1740

Bristol, City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Michael Rysbrack, Sculptor 1694-1770, 6 March – 1 May 1982, K. Eustace ed. D. Wilson, 'Michael Rysbrack’s Antique Head on Modern Shoulders', in The Georgian Group Journal, XXI (2013), pp. 15-29. This beautifully executed bust is the subject of a recent article by David Wilson who identifies it with a bust in Michael Rysbrack’s own sale in April of 1765 (op. cit.). Under the heading of ‘Busts in Marble’ lot 35 is described as ‘Ditto of an Antique Head with modern Drapery’. Michael Rysbrack (1694-1770) was, along with Louis-Francois Roubiliac, the greatest portrait sculptor in mid-18th century England. Of Flemish origin, Rysbrack came from a family of artists and trained under Michiel van der Voort before moving to London in 1720. He quickly established a reputation for himself and in the 1720s and 1730s he was the foremost sculptor in the country, executing numerous portraits and monuments as well as architectural decoration. His espousal of a classical idiom for the portraits of many of his male sitters, especially those who were statesmen, reflected the contemporary belief that England under a constitutional monarchy could be equated with ancient Rome under the ‘good emperors’. Although Rysbrack never travelled to Italy to study ancient sculpture at first hand, Katherine Eustace has shown that he was an avid collector of classical sculpture and possessed all the great 17th and 18th century volumes of engraved antique sculpture including Montfaucon’s L’Antiquité Expliquée (Bristol, op. cit., p. 11). In fact, it is thought that his propensity for collecting may have contributed to his eventual need to hold sales in later life when his financial situation was deteriorating. David Wilson argues convincingly that the marble shoulders of the present bust could be by no sculptor other than Rysbrack, both for the late baroque flourish of the undercut drapery, and the meticulously finished reverse which is almost a signature for the artist. The severely classicising head is clearly by another hand and Wilson suggests that it is actually an antique bust of the first to second century AD from Rysbrack’s own collection which he then incorporated into shoulders which he himself carved. It would therefore fit the description of the 1765 catalogue ‘Ditto of an Antique Head, with modern Drapery’. In fact, the head here is almost certainly not antique, but this does not necessarily affect Wilson’s argument. Numerous sculptors, both in Italy and elsewhere, carved sculpture in antique style, either innocently or with the express purpose of deceiving the many collectors of the era who were hungry for classical sculpture. It is therefore likely that the head of the present bust was sold to Rysbrack as antique, and that he accepted it as such. The bust offered here therefore represents a fascinating example of the English preoccupation with antique sculpture in the 18th century. The fact that this bust can be attributed to one of the greatest proponents of that movement, and was almost certainly in Rysbrack’s personal collection, makes it an important document from the golden age of British sculpture.

Almost certainly Michael Rysbrack’s own collection until sold, Mr Langford and Son, London, 20 April 1765, lot 35. Bonhams, London, 29 May 2012, lot 296 (where it was described as ‘composition marble’ and left undated). Purchased at the above sale by the present owner.