Westmonastorium.
by John Dart
1723.
Part 5.
Tuesday 16 April 2019
Westmonastorium - John Dart 1723 Part 1.
Westmonastorium.
by John Dart
1723.
Part 1.
The Engraved Illustrations with a few notes.
The Engraved Illustrations with a few notes.
The Westmonastorium is currently easily available online in a variety of formats from the Hathi Trust website - the book has been digitalised by Google. The aim here in my amateurish way is to provide and combine the illustrations from the Westmonesterium in one place for easy access.
The posts in all my blogs are intended to supply good images of the sculpture and to include notes on these works. My primary focus is on the 17th and 18th centuries but I will include earlier works which will help to put the subject in context.
https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015026728926
There is currently a blanket ban on photography in the Abbey - a team of people are disposed throughout the abbey to enforce this. Whilst one can understand the ban on selfie sticks and flash photography - it is hoped this rule will be overturned in the future.
It is hoped that in the future the powers that be at Westminster Abbey will recognise that they are only holding the Abbey in trust, that the monument belongs to the people of the world and not to them and their attempts to monetise their holdings by restricting access to high resolution images of the church and its monuments are misguided, self defeating and to my mind unchristian.
Image above courtesy
British Museum
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Image above courtesy Google books
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Monument to Thomas Shadwell
Francis Bird
Set up by 1711.
The Urn on the apex of the monument is now missing.
The inscription reads - Sacred to the memory of Thomas Shadwell Esq. descended from
an ancient family in Staffordshire, Poet Laureate and Historiographer in the
reign of William III and Mary. Died the 20th of November 1692 aged 55. John
Shadwell M.D. has placed this monument in memory of his father. Perpetual
piety.
See:
Thomas Shadwell
Simon Gribelin
Late 17th early 18th century.
136 x 75 mm
National Portrait Gallery
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John Philips (1676 - 1708) - Poet.
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John Dryden (1652 - 75).
Monument with bust by Peter Scheemakers.
John Sheffield Duke of Buckingham erected this 1720.
The original monument by James Gibbs was unveiled on 23rd
January 1721 and consisted of a marble arch and surround.
The first bust was replaced by the present one in 1731, given by the Duchess of Buckingham.
which begs the question - what happened to the original?
The first bust was replaced by the present one in 1731, given by the Duchess of Buckingham.
which begs the question - what happened to the original?
Buckingham is alleged to have erected the monument after a hint from Alexander
Pope in his intended epitaph to Nicholas Rowe. The epitaph intended for
Dryden's bust was:
"This Sheffield raised, the sacred dust below was Dryden
once: the rest who does not know?"
Page 149 of volume 2 of The Miscellaneous Works of John
Dryden, by Dryden
Pub. Tonson. 1760.
This needs to be checked.
The bust is much closer to that on the monument of Thomas Shadwell (above).
Original held and digitised by the British Library.
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Richard Busby.
Monument by Francis Bird
Headmaster of Westminster School.
Famous for his liberal use of the cane.
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Westminster Abbey website translates the latin inscription on the monument as:
See! underneath, lies the image of Busby: such as he
appeared to human eyes. If you desire to see that part of him more deeply
impressed in their minds, thoughtfully survey the shining characters of both
universities, and the law, in the court, the parliament and the church. When
you have viewed around such a full-sown and plenteous harvest of ingenious men;
only consider what he must have been who sowed it. This must be he, who, the
natural genius in everyone nicely discovered, usefully managed and happily
improved. This he, who, by his instructions, so formed and nourished the minds
of youth, that they learned to grow wise, as they learned language; and while
they were educated as boys, they improved as men. As many as taught by him
appeared in public, so many faithful and strenuous asserters were raised to the
monarchy and the Church of England. Lastly whatever fame the School of
Westminster boasts, and whatever advantages mankind shall reap from thence, is
principally owing to Busby, and will be owing to him in all ages. So useful a
member of the Commonwealth, God was pleased to bless him with length of days
and increase of riches. And in return, he cheerfully devoted himself and his
[wealth] for the promotion of piety, to relieve the poor, to encourage
learning, to repair churches. These were his ways of enjoying wealth; and what
he did not employ in his life-time to this purpose, he bequeathed at his death.
See:
This image from the Courtauld Gallery website:
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For much more on the portrait sculpture of Richard Busby see:
Francis Bird (1667–1731) was one of the leading English
sculptors of his time. He is mainly remembered for sculptures in Westminster
Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral. He carved a tomb for the dramatist William
Congreve in Westminster Abbey and sculptures of the apostles and evangelists on
the exterior of St Paul's, as well as the statue of Henry VI in School Yard,
Eton College[1]. Despite his success, later in life Bird did little sculpting.
He had inherited money from his father-in-law and set up a marble import
business.
Francis Bird is best known for his work at St. Paul's
Cathedral. In March 1706 he was paid £329 for the panel over the west door and
in December of that year £650 for carving the "Conversion of St.
Paul", 64' long and 17' high for the great pediment. This contained
"eight large figures” six whereof on horseback and several of them
"two and a half feet imbost".
In 1711 he carved the statue of Queen Anne with four other
figures, which was erected in St Paul's Cathedral yard in 1712. This statue was
saved from demolition in December 1886 when it was replaced by the present
statue executed by Richard Belt. This original Queen Anne statue is now in the
grounds of St Mary's School, The Ridge, Hastings. East Sussex.
Between 1712 and 1713 he executed the two panels over the
west portico for £339, but it was not until 1721 that he carved the statues of
various apostles and evangelists (each nearly 12 ft (3.7 m). high) for the west
front and south side of the Cathedral. For these he received a total sum of
£2,040.
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Robert South d.1716.
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