Adelbert Wellington Brownlow Cust, 3rd Earl Brownlow
Emmeline Mary Elizabeth Welby-Gregory (1867 - 1955)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
circa 1908
Materials
Bronze on square wood plinth
Measurements
1050 x 660 mm
Place of origin
Great Britain
Order this imageCollection
Belton House, Lincolnshire
NT 436816
Summary
Bronze on painted wooden plinth, Adelbert Wellington Brownlow Cust, 3rd Earl Brownlow (1844-1921), Emmeline ‘Nina’ Mary Elizabeth Cust (1867-1955), c. 1908, signed ‘NINA CVST. FECIT:’ on truncation at bottom left. A bronze bust of the 3rd Earl Brownlow by Nina Cust, a writer, poet and sculptor who was the wife of Henry ‘Harry’ Cockayne Cust (1861-1917), Adelbert’s cousin. Bust stands on a wooden plinth painted to look like veined marble.
Full description
The 3rd Earl Brownlow, bearded and looking slightly to the right, wears a military dress jacket with embroidered collar and aiguillette and a fastened woollen greatcoat with epaulettes carrying the rank insignia of a Brigadier General. Prominent on his proper left breast is a Volunteer Officers’ Decoration (VD) which he was awarded to mark a long and distinguished career in the Volunteer Force. A few months before his death in 1921 the 3rd Earl was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) for his services as Aide de Camp to three consecutive monarchs. Nina Cust also produced NT 436814, a bust of Adelbert in marble, signed and dated 1908. In that bust Adelbert is shown with his greatcoat opened rather than fastened, as it is in the bronze. The marble exposes the full aiguillette and a greater number of military decorations on the left breast. Other works by Nina Cust include a bust of her husband and cousin of Adelbert Harry Cust (NT 436777), a self-portrait in plaster (NT 436836) and the marble hand of ‘Kitsie’, first wife of Sir Peregrine Adelbert Cust (1899-1978), who died in 1952. 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
On truncation at bottom left: NINA CVST. FECIT:
Makers and roles
Emmeline Mary Elizabeth Welby-Gregory (1867 - 1955), sculptor