Lot 153: Humphrey Hopper (1764/5-1844) English, London, dated 1810 , a painted stucco figure of Ceres

her left hand fitted with brass light fitting later converted for electricity inscribed July 2 1810 H.Hopper London

measurements note 122cm. 48in.

Humphrey Hopper was an English Mason who, according to Farington's Diary, "industriously exerted himself to acquire a knowledge of Art." He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy of Art and was awarded the silver medal in 1802 and the gold medal in 1803. J. Kenworthy-Browne has noted that he was associated with the Gemelli family of plaster casters. They likely produced the present work, one in a series of mythological stuccos designed by the sculptor designed to hold lamps. Kenworthy-Browne explains that the precise signature and date on the majority of these works indicate that Hopper probably took out a patent. Four of his plasters are installed at Lancaster House, St. James.

RELATED LITERATURE
R. Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors, 1660-1851 (1953) p. 209; J. Rutherford, Country House Lighting, 1660-1890 (1992), p. 135; Farington, Diary, 5, p. 1944, 6, p. 2191, 2202; J. Kenworthy-Browne, 'Hopper, Humphrey (1764/5-1844)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/13762, accessed 20 April 2008]