Bust of Apollo, god of the sun
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
c. 1600 - 1670
Materials
Marble
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Ham House, Surrey
NT 1140389
Summary
Marble bust of a young man, wearing a laurel wreath, possibly Apollo, god of the sun. Mounted on a circular socle.
Full description
A marble bust of a young man wearing a laurel wreath in his hair, and a tunic over which is a cloak. He looks to his left. The bust is made in two sections, the head from a white marble and the bust section from a slightly greyish stone. Mounted on a waisted marble socle. One of five marble busts at Ham House today, the other four arranged under the portico on the north front of the house. This bust was until recently displayed in the open but has now been brought indoors following conservation. It is heavily weathered with much wear, especially on the bust section. The bust may be a representation of Apollo, god of the sun and patron of the arts. Stylistically it looks modern and is in many respects closely similar to the sort of representations of the sun god being made in France during the reign of King Louis XIV (1638-1715), who cultivated the image of himself as the Sun King or new Apollo. The bust is especially close to representations of Apollo by François Girardon (1628-1715), such as the central figure in the large marble group of Apollo served by the Nymphs, made in 1666-75 for the gardens at Versailles (François Souchal, French Sculptors of the 17th and 18th centuries, Vol. 2, Oxford 1981, pp. 25-28, no. 17). The bust was very probably installed at Ham in the early 1670s, around the same time as the long series of lead portrait sculptures made in the workshops of Peter and John Besnier. It is not possible to attribute this worn sculpture, which was probably made in a London workshop. In the 1679 inventory of Ham House, four marble busts were recorded on the staircase, perhaps identifiable with the four busts now under the portico. A further ‘six Marble heads’ were listed in the Cloisters and forecourt of Ham House. Jeremy Warren January 2022
Provenance
Elizabeth Murray and John Maitland, 1st Duke and Duchess of Lauderdale. Ham House inventory, 1679, Cloisters and fore-Court, ‘Six Marble heads’ Thence by descent, until acquired in 1948 by HM Government when Sir Lyonel, 4th Bt (1854 – 1952) and Sir Cecil Tollemache, 5th Bt (1886 – 1969) presented Ham House to the National Trust. Entrusted to the care of the Victoria & Albert Museum until 1990, when returned to the care of the National Trust, to which ownership was transferred in 2002.
Marks and inscriptions
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