Bust of The Rt Hon. Spencer Perceval (1762-1812) by Joseph Nollekens

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Bust of The Rt Hon. Spencer Perceval (1762-1812) by Joseph Nollekens

About the Item

Inscribed on reverse: NOLLEKENS Ft. 1813. Spencer Perceval was a British statesman and Prime Minister, and the only Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to have been assassinated. In 1807 Perceval instituted Orders in Council against foreign trade in response to Napoleon Bonaparte’s embargo on British trade under the Continental System. By the winter of 1811 these Orders had become unpopular, resulting in riots by English textile workers and eventually the War of 1812 with the United States of America. These events forced Perceval to concede an inquiry by the House of Commons. On May 11, 1812, Perceval was on his way to attend the inquiry when he was shot through the heart in the lobby of the House of Commons. Joseph Nollekens was beyond question the leading portrait sculptor of his day; known as much for the quality as the quantity and variety of his work. Although accomplished in many aspects of sculpture, the brilliance of his busts is unrivaled. He is known to have modeled them in clay from life, often having some eight sittings; and when a cast had been made and the marble worked from it to an advanced stage, he liked another sitting when he would finish the marble himself from the life. He is also known to have accomplished busts of unwilling sitters by use of a death mask, as in the case of his bust of former Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger (1806). Given the completion date inscribed on the reverse of the Perceval bust we might infer that this bust like Perceval’s predecessor, Pitt, was done posthumously after a death mask and portraits. In this bust, Nollekens uses the deeply incised eyeball, not only cutting the circle for the iris, but hollowing the pupil and leaving a small dot of marble within to catch the light. Like in his most famous sculptures of Charles James Fox and Pitt, Nollekens uses this device to give the lively expression that can be achieved only by a directed glance. Nollekens also shows the change in contemporary taste by depicting the sitter without a wig as in his bust of Pitt and his second bust of Fox. Nollekens treated each sitter as he found him, creating a brilliant portfolio of busts that follow no rigid formula or design.

Creator:
Joseph Nollekens (Maker)
Dimensions:
Height: 26 in (66.04 cm)Width: 18 in (45.72 cm)Depth: 10 in (25.4 cm)
Style:
Neoclassical (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Marble
Place of Origin:
United Kingdom
Period:
19th Century
Date of Manufacture:
1813
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use. Minor losses. Two noticeable points of old restoration; in the chin and in lower drapery just to the right of center less than a centimeter square each. Otherwise in excellent condition.
Seller Location:
Kensington, MD
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU9776806377