Lot 258: James Fillans (1808-1852) A plaster bust of Professor John Wilson, 86cm high

Name: James Fillans (1808-1852) A plaster bust of Professor John Wilson, 86cm high
Brand: Lyon & Turnbull
SKU: x09l8x8giu

Est: £2,000 GBP - £3,000 GBP

Lyon & TurnbullEdinburgh, United KingdomJune 30, 2004

Item Overview

Description

James Fillans (1808-1852)
A plaster bust of Professor John Wilson,

on a squared plinth with frieze of classical figures to the front and portrait medallions to the sides
86cm high

James Fillans was born in Lanarkshire and apprenticed to a stone mason in Paisley. He travelled extensively in Europe before settling in London, returning to Glasgow two years before his death. The National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh also has a plaster version of this bust which is derived from the marble one Fillans made for the County Hall in Paisley, dated 1845, and exhibited at the Royal Academy in that year. John Wilson (1785-1854) was also a son of Paisley and became a celebrated poet, author and giant literary figure of Enlightenment Edinburgh. He made his name using the pseudonym Christopher North in the Edinburgh Magazine, and was the co-author and sponsor of the scandalous (but obscure) Biblical parody The Chaldee manuscript published by Blackwoods in 1817. Wilson was controversially appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh University in 1820, in part due to his Tory connections and sympathies, although he went on to make a huge popular success of the post. There is full length bronze statue of him by John Steel dated 1856 in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh, immediately next to the Royal Scottish Academy. This shows Wilson in a remarkably similar romantic light and is in the same block as the explorer David Livingstone, whose fame has been rather more enduring. Wilson made a great impression on Thomas Carlyle at their first meeting, and Carlyle captured his character and physical prescence in a letter to a friend, describing him in awestruck tones as
a man of the most fervid temperament, fond of all stimulating things, from tragic poetry down to whisky punch. He snuffed and smoked cigars and drank liquors, and talked in the most indescribable style ... I ... enjoyed the strange volcanic emotion of our poets convivial genius. He is a broad sincere man of 6 feet, with long dishevelled flax-coloured hair, and 2 blue eyes keen as an eagles. Rupert Gunnis Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 Mary Cosh Edinburgh; The Golden Age John Donald 2003

Artist or Maker

James Fillans

Auction Details

Fine Antiques

Lyon & Turnbull

June 30, 2004, 12:00 AM EST

33 Broughton Place, Edinburgh, EBH, EH1 3RR, UK

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