Ceres
British (English) School
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
circa 1760 - circa 1763
Materials
Stone
Place of origin
Derbyshire
Order this imageCollection
Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire
NT 108046
Summary
Stone, Ceres, British (English) School, c.1760-63. A stone statue depicting Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, installed on the pediment of the North Front exterior of Kedleston Hall (completed 1763). One of three statues, with Venus (NT 108044) and Bacchus (NT 108045). Ceres holds a cornucopia laden with fruit in her proper left hand and a vine in her proper right, below a putto who attends her.
Full description
The statue is listed within 'Stone Statues for the North Pediment - Bacchus; Venus; Ceres' in a manuscript 'List of Statues I have' written around 1760 by Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Baron Scarsdale (1726-1804), The statues are listed in the 1769 'Catalogue of the pictures, statues, &c. at Kedleston' (p.3, under 'Portico Statues). They are likely the work of local stone carvers working to designs by Robert Adam (see, for example, NT 109418, 109422). Alice Rylance-Watson February 2019
Provenance
Purchased by Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Baron Scarsdale (1726-1804) c. 1760-63; identifiable under 'Portico-Statues' in the 'Catalogue of the pictures, statues, &c. at Kedleston', 1769 (p. 3); purchased with part of the contents of Kedleston Hall with the aid of the National Heritage Memorial Fund in 1986 when the house and park were given to the National Trust by Francis Curzon, 3rd Viscount Scarsdale (1924-2000).
Credit line
Kedleston Hall, The Scarsdale Collection (acquired with the help of the National Heritage Memorial Fund and transferred to The National Trust in 1987)
Makers and roles
British (English) School, stone carver after Robert Adam (Kirkcaldy 1728 - London 1792), architect
References
Curzon 1769: Nathaniel Curzon, Catalogue of the pictures, statues, &c. at Kedleston, with some account of the architecture, 1769, p. 3