An unknown woman, possibly Amelia Sophia Hume, Lady Brownlow
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
circa 1840 - 1860
Materials
Carrara marble
Measurements
525 x 298 x 250 mm
Order this imageCollection
Belton House, Lincolnshire
NT 436787
Summary
Carrara marble on turned marble socle, bust of an unknown woman, possibly Amelia Sophia Hume, Lady Brownlow (1787/88-1814), possibly Lawrence MacDonald (1799-1878,) c.1840-60. Bust of a woman with head turned slightly to the left. Her hair is tied up in a Regency style, with centre parting, loose curls around the face and a loose chignon. On the base above a turned marble socle is a carved plaque framed by volutes inscribed ‘FLERE.ET.MEMINISSE’
Full description
The bust may show Sophia Hume (1787/88-1814), first wife of John Cust, 1st Earl Brownlow (1779-1853) and mother of John Hume Egerton, Viscount Alford (1812-51). Sophia died at the age of 26 or 27 and is commemorated in a monument by Antonio Canova at Belton Church and in a posthumous bust by Joseph Nollekens (NT 436758). Inscribed ‘FLERE.ET.MEMINISSE’, ‘weep and remember’, this bust is also a commemorative object, showing a young woman close to known depictions of Sophia Hume (see, for example, John Rising's portrait, NT 436041). Stylistically the bust is similar to NT 436786, a portrait bust of Adelbert Brownlow Cust (1844-1921) by the Scottish sculptor Lawrence MacDonald (1799-1878). MacDonald also produced a bust of a man dated 1842, now departed (NT 436815), which is believed to show John Cust, 1st Earl Brownlow or John Hume Egerton, Viscount Alford. Alice Rylance-Watson October 2018
Provenance
Probably purchased by Lady Marian Alford (1817-88). 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)