Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678-1751)
John Michael Rysbrack (Antwerp 1684 – London 1770)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
circa 1737
Materials
White marble
Measurements
760 x 560 x 300 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 486400
Summary
Marble, Henry St. John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678-1751) by John Michael Rysbrack (Antwerp 1694 - London 1770), signed RYSBRACH / FECIT. on reverse truncation, circa 1737. A portrait bust in the antique manner of a Roman pose with a draped toga. Lord Bolingbroke was Secretary of State in the Tory government of 1710 and directed the peace negotiations at the Treaty of Utrecht (1713). He supported James Edward, the Old Pretender, in 1715 and after his pardon eight years later he remained a staunch opponent of Robert Walpole. The first version of this bust was at Lydiard Tregoze in Wiltshire.
Provenance
Probably acquired by 2nd Earl of Egremont; by descent, until the death in 1952 of the 3rd Lord Leconfield, who had given Petworth to the National Trust in 1947, and whose nephew and heir, John Wyndham, 6th Lord Leconfield and 1st Lord Egremont (1920-72) arranged for the acceptance of the major portion of the collections at Petworth in lieu of death duties (the first ever such arrangement) in 1956 by HM Treasury.
Marks and inscriptions
HENRY ST. JOHN, / VISCT BOLINGBROKE. (engraved on front of socle) Reverse, truncation: RYSBRACH/ FECIT.
Makers and roles
John Michael Rysbrack (Antwerp 1684 – London 1770), sculptor
References
Webb 1954: M. I. Webb, Michael Rysbrack, Sculptor, London 1954, pp.179, 212 Ingamells, 2009: John Ingamells, Later Stuart Portraits 1685-1714, National Portrait Gallery, London, 2009, p. 29