Adelbert Wellington Brownlow Cust, 3rd Earl Brownlow
Emmeline Mary Elizabeth Welby-Gregory (1867 - 1955)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1908
Materials
Marble
Measurements
900 mm (H); 810 mm (W)
Order this imageCollection
Belton House, Lincolnshire
NT 436814
Summary
Marble, Adelbert Wellington Brownlow Cust, 3rd Earl Brownlow, GCVO, PC, MP (1844-1921) by Emmeline 'Nina' Mary Elizabeth Welby-Gregory, Mrs Henry John Cockayne-Cust (1867-1955), signed and dated NINA CUST FT, ANNO SALUTIS M.D. CCCCVIII (1908). A large marble bust of Adelbert Brownlow Cust in military uniform mounted on marble plinth. Cust, bearded and looking straight ahead, wears a greatcoat opened to expose an aiguillette at proper right and decorations on his proper left breast.
Full description
Nina Cust also produced a bronze version of this bust (NT 436816) which has some important variations indicating that the marble is earlier. In the bronze the greatcoat is fastened exposing less of Cust's vast torso and hiding some of the aiguillette and military decorations. In the bronze the Earl Brownlow's Volunteer Officers’ Decoration (VD) is most prominently displayed. He was awarded the VD to mark a long and distinguished career in the Volunteer Force. A few months before his death in 1921 Cust was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) for his services as Aide de Camp to three consecutive monarchs. Nina Cust was a talented sculptor and writer, creating a number of other sculptures in the collection at Belton House. See a bust of her husband, Harry Cust, NT 436777, a self-portrait in plaster (NT 436836) and the marble hand of ‘Kitsie’, wife of Adelbert's nephew Sir Peregrine Cust (1899-1978). Alice Rylance-Watson October 2018
Provenance
Purchased with a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) from Edward John Peregrine Cust, 7th Baron Brownlow, C. St J. (b.1936) in 1984.
Credit line
Belton House, The Brownlow Collection (acquired with the help of the National Heritage Memorial Fund by the National Trust in 1994)
Marks and inscriptions
Unknown: ANNO SALUTIS M.D. CCCCVIII Unknown : NINA CUST FT
Makers and roles
Emmeline Mary Elizabeth Welby-Gregory (1867 - 1955), sculptor