A set of four figures
Michael Henry Spang (fl.c.1750 - d.London 1762)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1758
Materials
Painted wood
Place of origin
Great Britain
Order this imageCollection
Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire
NT 108997
Summary
Painted wood, a set of four statues, Michael Spang (d.1762), 1758. A set of four figures carved by Michael Spang depicting a dancing muse (Terpsichore), a young satyr with pointed ears and panpipes, a muse with a lyre and theatre masks (this could be Erato or Thalia) and a young soldier in Roman armour blowing a cornu (horn).
Full description
The sculptor Michael Henry Spang was a native of Denmark and was first recorded in England in 1758 after modeling a seal for the Royal Society of Arts. A receipt from James 'Athenian' Stuart (1713-88) marked 'London August 9 1758' shows that Spang was subcontracted by Stuart to carve these four figures in wood for the sum of £28 (around £2,800 in today's money). This appears to have led to further work because from 1759 to 1761 Spang was commissioned to produce several chimneypieces for Kedleston, for which he was paid £990 (see, for example, NT 107982 in the Dining Room). Also in the Kedleston collection are three designs by Spang for a ceiling, a bridge and a pavilion (NT 109248, 109249, 109499), a drawing of a mournful Sigismunda (NT 108920), and a miniature wax seal of the Scarsale coat of arms (NT 109110). Spang also acquired for Curzon a model of a British warship (NT 109114). Alice Rylance-Watson February 2019
Provenance
Purchased by Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Lord Scarsdale (1726-1804) from Michael Henry Spang via James Stuart (1713-88); see receipted bill for £28 dated 9 August 1758 (MS, Kedleston Archive); bought with part of the contents of Kedleston with the aid of the National Heritage Memorial Fund in 1987 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
Michael Henry Spang (fl.c.1750 - d.London 1762), sculptor
References
Harris 1987: Leslie Harris and Gervase Jackson-Stops (ed.), Robert Adam and Kedleston: The Making of a Neo-Classical Masterpiece, London 1987, p. 38