Friday 10 July 2015

Some Engravings of Apollo - Possible Inspirations for the Roubiliac Vauxhall Gardens Statue

Engravings of Apollo -
A few possible inspirations for the Vauxhall Statue of Handel.

 
A Roman statue of Apollo Citharoedus (with lyre)in the Palazzo Altemps, Rome.
Head, hands, left leg and instrument are rather clumsy restorations of the 17th century
 
 
Engraving from Domenico de Rossi, Racollta de Statue Antiche e Modern ..... , 1704.
 


Marco de Ravenna - early 16th Century.
 
 
 
 Angiollo Falconetto after Guilio Romano - mid 16th century.
 
 
 
Salvator Rosa, mid 17th Century Apollo and the Cumean Sybil.
 
 
 

Engraving by J Sadeler after Jan van der Straet, Amsterdam. 1594.
214 x 281mm.
 
The pose of Apollo in this engraving is very close to that of the Vauxhall Handel
 
 
 
 
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Nicolas Bonnart. after Robert Bonnart.
Early 18th century

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1460626&partId=1&people=20180&peoA=20180-2-70&page=1


 
 
 
Bernard Picart (1673 - 1733). French Huguenot, active in Holland from 1710.
I include this as much for the representation of sculpture as that of Apollo.

Apollo by Bernard Picart
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From Strype's Map of London. 1720.

Frontispiece to Handel's Apollo's Feast - Pub J Walsh & J Hare
engraved by Hendrik Hulsbergh, after Pierre Berchet. 1726.
 
 
Engraving of Apollo
Drawn and engraved by William Hogarth, pub. by Clark 1727.
British Museum.


There are plenty of other precedents for the image of the seated Apollo but Roubiliac created a very dramatic new version, almost certainly based on earlier engravings perhaps with helpful suggestions by Hogarth.