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拍品专文
Charles James Fox (1749-1806), third son of the 1st Baron Holland, 'had been a political disciple of Lord Rockingham (d.1802), whose liberal ideals he continued. With the cry of 'Liberty' he challenged the authority of the King and Lord North's American policy; he supported the French Revolution (and its many excesses) and the abolition of slavery. A 'Man for the People', he was the finest orator in the House of Commons but, disgusted with Pitt's coercive government, he seldom attended Parliament between 1792-97. After Pitt's death in 1806, he held office briefly as Foreign Minister, but failed to conclude a peace with Napoleon. Aristocratic and extravagant in private life, Fox inspired a devotion amongst his supporters that was best expressed at Woburn Abbey, where, in 1802, the 4th Duke of Bedford created a Temple of Liberty containing a bust of Fox accompanied by six heads of his friends'. (J. Kenworthy-Browne, 'The Treasure Houses of Britain', Exhibition Catalogue, Washington, 1985, no.476, p.539).
Inevitably earning the undying hatred of George III, Fox became the Prince of Wales' political mentor and close personal friend, exercising considerable influence over his political direction. The Prince's political allegiance was in no doubt to visitors of Carlton House by 1819; the Vestibule displayed an identical bust of Fox by Nollekens, delivered to Carlton House on 22 March 1808 at a cost of 120 guineas, alongside busts of his fellow Whigs, the 5th Duke of Devonshire and the 4th Duke of Bedford.
Joseph Nollekens, R.A (1737-1823) was apprenticed to Peter Scheemakers in 1750, going on to study in Rome during the 1760s. He pursued the style of the Antique for Grand Tourists, at which time he also received his first major commissions to sculpt portrait busts (David Garrick, Laurence Sterne and Gian-Battista Piranesi). His style was crisply Neo-classical, with sharp definitions, and very much in keeping with contemporary taste. He was made A.R.A. in 1771 and R.A. in the following year, and was a regular exhibitor at the Academy until 1816. After his death in 1823, James Christie held a sale of the contents of his studio.
Nollekens modelled his first bust of Fox in 1791 for the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam's Mausoleum to Lord Rockingham at Wentworth Woodhouse, Yorkshire; this was ultimately acquired by Catherine II of Russia (now in The Hermitage, St. Petersburg); six further versions of the 1791 model, including those at Holkham, Yale, Melbury and Southill followed (J. Kenworthy-Brown, ibid.). The prototype for this, Nollekens' second portrait bust of Fox, was commissioned for the 5th Duke of Bedford's Temple of Liberty in 1801; it found considerable success amongst his political admirers, and was repeated in marble at least thirty times. It is entirely appropriate, therefore, that George Byng, not only a whig politician but also the Father of the House - should have acquired a bust of Fox for his Library.
Inevitably earning the undying hatred of George III, Fox became the Prince of Wales' political mentor and close personal friend, exercising considerable influence over his political direction. The Prince's political allegiance was in no doubt to visitors of Carlton House by 1819; the Vestibule displayed an identical bust of Fox by Nollekens, delivered to Carlton House on 22 March 1808 at a cost of 120 guineas, alongside busts of his fellow Whigs, the 5th Duke of Devonshire and the 4th Duke of Bedford.
Joseph Nollekens, R.A (1737-1823) was apprenticed to Peter Scheemakers in 1750, going on to study in Rome during the 1760s. He pursued the style of the Antique for Grand Tourists, at which time he also received his first major commissions to sculpt portrait busts (David Garrick, Laurence Sterne and Gian-Battista Piranesi). His style was crisply Neo-classical, with sharp definitions, and very much in keeping with contemporary taste. He was made A.R.A. in 1771 and R.A. in the following year, and was a regular exhibitor at the Academy until 1816. After his death in 1823, James Christie held a sale of the contents of his studio.
Nollekens modelled his first bust of Fox in 1791 for the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam's Mausoleum to Lord Rockingham at Wentworth Woodhouse, Yorkshire; this was ultimately acquired by Catherine II of Russia (now in The Hermitage, St. Petersburg); six further versions of the 1791 model, including those at Holkham, Yale, Melbury and Southill followed (J. Kenworthy-Brown, ibid.). The prototype for this, Nollekens' second portrait bust of Fox, was commissioned for the 5th Duke of Bedford's Temple of Liberty in 1801; it found considerable success amongst his political admirers, and was repeated in marble at least thirty times. It is entirely appropriate, therefore, that George Byng, not only a whig politician but also the Father of the House - should have acquired a bust of Fox for his Library.