Sunday 13 November 2016

Busts of Jonathan Swift at the RDS. Part 2 The Roubiliac Plaster.

 
 
The Plaster Busts of Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745)
at the Royal Dublin Society.
Part 2.
 
The Plaster Bust of Jonathan Swift after the Original Marble 
in Trinity College Library
Dublin
by Louis Francois Roubiliac.
 
 
 
 
 
The Trinity College Library Marble bust of Swift by Roubiliac (above).
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jonathan Swift DD
 
Engraving
Paul Foudrinier
after Jervas
Plate size 355 x 262 mm.
c. 1718 
 
© National Portrait Gallery, London.
 
 
Jonathan Swift, by George Vertue, after  Charles Jervas, early 18th century - NPG D31511 - © National Portrait Gallery, London
 
Jonathan Swift
Engraving
George Vertue
Plate size 372 x 262 mm.
 
© National Portrait Gallery, London
 
 
 
Engraving of Jonathan Swift
Ravenet
after the original Portrait by Rupert Barber 1745
now in the NPG.
 
British Museum
 
 
 
Engraving of Jonathan Swift
S Wheatley
after the original Portrait by Rupert Barber 1745
now in the NPG.
National Gallery of Ireland
 
Mezzotint of Jonathan Swift
After Pelham
Engraved Bowles
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dean Jonathan Swift
Francis Bindon,
 
Formerly with Philip Mould Historical Portraits.
 
 
 
This description lifted from the above website -

Extensive label verso Mrs Ridgeway, Housekeeper to Dean Swift, married post 1745 John Land Sexton of St Patrick''s; Miss Rachael Ridgeway, her daughter, married Rev. John Wisdom; Descent in the Wisdom family; Bought from Miss Wisdom 1838 by William Maguire.
 
It is noted on the label verso that this portrait''s frame is made from wood taken from St Patrick''s Cathedral Dublin at the time of its renovation.

Where Swift had sat in England in 1718 to Charles Jervas, in Ireland he chose Francis Bindon to produce a series of portraits produced from sittings in 1735. Jervas and Bindon had in common that they were the only native Irish artists to have studied at Kneller's Academy, though it is most likely that Swift was their only mutual client.

This vigorous and uncompromising image may well derive more directly from the 1735 life sittings than the hyperbolic full-length of that year (Howth Castle), in which the painter employs a cast of allegorical figures to commemorate Swift''s victory over the potentially ruinous introduction of Wood''s copper coinage. This event places the Bindon portraits at a significant moment in Swift''s career. The dispute over the coinage allied Swift for the first time with incipient separatism in Ireland, against the Government in England and against his former assertion that he was in every way an Englishman ''though he happened to be dropped'' in Ireland.

Swift himself responded to the exercise characteristically, writing in June 1735: ''I have been fool enough to sit for my portrait at full-length by Mr Bindon.'' Whatever reservations he may have had, however, regarding the rhetorical excesses of the full-length portrait, it is undeniable that this present portrait, showing the sitter in undress and in his own hair, offers a compelling and moving image of the great satirist facing a disillusioned old age.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jonathan Swift, by Andrew Miller, after  Francis Bindon, 1743-1744 - NPG D31512 - © National Portrait Gallery, London
 
Andrew Miller
After Francis Bindon
Mezzotint 355 x 254 mm.
 
© National Portrait Gallery, London
 
 
Engraving after Francis Bindon.
 
 
 
 
Engraving Jonathan Swift by van Aken (Vanhaeken).
after Markham
25 February, 1740.
 
© National Portrait Gallery, London
 
Jonathan Swift, after Unknown artist, published 1752 - NPG D31520 - © National Portrait Gallery, London
 
Jonathan Swift
Anonymous engraving.
1752
 
© National Portrait Gallery, London
 
 

Busts of Jonathan Swift at the RDS. Part 2.

 
 
The Plaster Busts of Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745)
at the Royal Dublin Society.
Part 2.
 
The Plaster Bust of Jonathan Swift after the Original Marble 
in Trinity College Library
Dublin
by Louis Francois Roubiliac.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jonathan Swift DD
 
Engraving
Paul Foudrinier
after Jervas
Plate size 355 x 262 mm.
c. 1718 
 
© National Portrait Gallery, London.
 
 
Jonathan Swift, by George Vertue, after  Charles Jervas, early 18th century - NPG D31511 - © National Portrait Gallery, London
 
Jonathan Swift
Engraving
George Vertue
Plate size 372 x 262 mm.
 
© National Portrait Gallery, London
 
 
 
Engraving of Jonathan Swift
Ravenet
after the original Portrait by Rupert Barber 1745
now in the NPG.
 
British Museum
 
 
 
Engraving of Jonathan Swift
S Wheatley
after the original Portrait by Rupert Barber 1745
now in the NPG.
National Gallery of Ireland
 
Mezzotint of Jonathan Swift
After Pelham
Engraved Bowles
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dean Jonathan Swift
Francis Bindon,
(Irish) A Former Pupil of Kneller.
 
oil on canvas 73.2 x 63.5 cms.
 
Formerly with Philip Mould Historical Portraits.
 
 
 
This description lifted from the above website -

Extensive label verso Mrs Ridgeway, Housekeeper to Dean Swift, married post 1745 John Land Sexton of St Patrick''s; Miss Rachael Ridgeway, her daughter, married Rev. John Wisdom; Descent in the Wisdom family; Bought from Miss Wisdom 1838 by William Maguire.
 
It is noted on the label verso that this portrait''s frame is made from wood taken from St Patrick''s Cathedral Dublin at the time of its renovation.

Where Swift had sat in England in 1718 to Charles Jervas, in Ireland he chose Francis Bindon to produce a series of portraits produced from sittings in 1735. Jervas and Bindon had in common that they were the only native Irish artists to have studied at Kneller's Academy, though it is most likely that Swift was their only mutual client.

This vigorous and uncompromising image may well derive more directly from the 1735 life sittings than the hyperbolic full-length of that year (Howth Castle), in which the painter employs a cast of allegorical figures to commemorate Swift''s victory over the potentially ruinous introduction of Wood''s copper coinage. This event places the Bindon portraits at a significant moment in Swift''s career. The dispute over the coinage allied Swift for the first time with incipient separatism in Ireland, against the Government in England and against his former assertion that he was in every way an Englishman ''though he happened to be dropped'' in Ireland.

Swift himself responded to the exercise characteristically, writing in June 1735: ''I have been fool enough to sit for my portrait at full-length by Mr Bindon.'' Whatever reservations he may have had, however, regarding the rhetorical excesses of the full-length portrait, it is undeniable that this present portrait, showing the sitter in undress and in his own hair, offers a compelling and moving image of the great satirist facing a disillusioned old age.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jonathan Swift, by Andrew Miller, after  Francis Bindon, 1743-1744 - NPG D31512 - © National Portrait Gallery, London
 
Andrew Miller
After Francis Bindon
Mezzotint 355 x 254 mm.
 
© National Portrait Gallery, London
 
 
Engraving after Francis Bindon.
 
 
 
 
Engraving Jonathan Swift by van Aken (Vanhaeken).
after Markham
25 February, 1740.
 
© National Portrait Gallery, London
 
Jonathan Swift, after Unknown artist, published 1752 - NPG D31520 - © National Portrait Gallery, London
 
Jonathan Swift
Anonymous engraving.
1752
 
© National Portrait Gallery, London
 
 

The Busts of Jonathan Swift at the RDS. Part I - The Patrick Cunningham Bust

The Plaster Busts of Jonathan Swift.
at the Royal Dublin Society.
Part 1.
Patrick Cunningham.




































Drawing said to be of Swift by Isaac Whood (1688 - 1752).
Graphite on Paper.
37.2 x 26.7
Purchased 1907.

National Gallery of Ireland.

I suspect this isn't Swift given other depictions which show him with eyebrows of Dennis Healey proportions.
__________________________________



Marble in the National Museum of Ireland










Jonathan Swift.
Marble Bust.
by Patrick Cunningham.
22cms tall.


Purchased in 1901 in London from a Miss AL Cousins.


National Gallery of Ireland.


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Wedgwood and Bentley bust of Swift.
c. 1780.

Unknown sculptor but based on the Cunningham Bust.

Height 19".

Sold Skinner Auctioneers of Boston, USA, Lot 40. - 12 January 2013.







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