Diana
John Cheere (London 1709 – London 1787)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
c. 1755
Materials
Lead
Measurements
1500 x 460 x 460 mm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire
NT 515159
Summary
Lead, Diana, John Cheere (London 1709 – London 1787), c. 1755. A lead statue of Diana, the Roman goddess of hunting, made by John Cheere in London, probably in the mid-18th century. Paired with a lead statue of Apollo, NT 515160. Diana depicted moments before firing an arrow, holding a recurve bow in the proper left hand and raising the arrow with the proper right, her proper right knee bent, and the foot lifted. Her richly draped tunic, cinched at the waist with an embroidered belt, billows in the wind, and exposes her proper right breast. The goddess’s hair in tumbling waves, styled in a loose chignon at the back, her head turned to proper left. Mounted on a panelled stone plinth; the statue painted black by the National Trust.
Full description
Casts of Diana and Apollo almost identical to this pair at Anglesey Abbey were supplied by John Cheere to the Palace of Queluz, Portugal, in 1755-6. This was one of Cheere’s largest and most important commissions, brokered by the Portuguese Secretary of State and former ambassador to Britain, the Marquis of Pombal (1699-1782) on behalf of Prince Pedro (1717-86). See Neto and Grillo 2006 for a full account. A pricelist discovered in Lisbon’s Arquivo Torre do Tombo records Cheere's repertoire in 1755, from which an impressive 57 figures, nine sculptural groups and 72 lead vases were ordered by Pedro for the sum, in today's money, of around £130,000. Cheere was considered the foremost lead sculptor in Britain, his Hyde Park Corner yard and workshop so celebrated that it was immortalised as the frontispiece to William Hogarth's Analysis of Beauty (Royal Collection Trust, RCIN 811944). Two types of Diana and Apollo are listed in Cheere's Portuguese pricelist: a pair a la 'Romaine’ at £25 and £26 a statue, and a set of three figures ‘de Venus, d’Apollon & de Diana de 3 pieds 6 pouces’ at £5.5 each. Given the size of the Anglesey Abbey figures, it is likely that they are of the type originally grouped with Venus, and that the Roman figures correspond to those after the Diana of Versailles and Apollino prototypes (casts were supplied to Stourhead in 1745, NT 562880, 562882). The casts at Anglesey came from the gardens of Copped Hall, a Georgian, formerly Elizabethan, country house near Epping which was gutted by fire in 1917 and finally sold after decades of neglect in 1950. Much of the statuary and garden furniture was removed to estates across the country like Anglesey Abbey, where a pair of late 19th century obelisks and balustrading by Charles Eamer Kempe (NT 516657) and a cast of the ‘Olympian Courtship’ by John Cheere (NT 515135) are also relics of the Essex estate. Alice Rylance-Watson 2020
Provenance
Copped Hall, Essex, seat of the Conyers family 1739-1869, seat of George Wythes from 1869 and Ernest James Wythes from 1887 to 1917, removed 1950; sold by Bert Crowther of Syon Lodge to Urban Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Lord Fairhaven (1896-1966), 16 December 1950, ‘A pair of lead figures life size on Portland stone pedestals one representing Diana and the companion a man (Copped Hall. Epping. Essex)', purchased with The Olympian Courtship (NT 515135) and Silenus with the infant Bacchus (NT 515152), for £1600; bequeathed to the National Trust by Lord Fairhaven in 1966 with the house and the rest of the contents.
Credit line
Anglesey Abbey, The Fairhaven Collection (The National Trust)
Makers and roles
John Cheere (London 1709 – London 1787), sculptor
References
Neto and Grilo 2006: Maria João Neto and Fernando Grilo, 'John Cheere's lead garden statues workshop and the important commissions of Prince Pedro of Portugal in 1755-56', Sculpture Journal, vol. 15.1 (2006), pp. 5-18. Fulton 2003: Moira Fulton, ‘John Cheere, the eminent statuary, his workshop and practice, 1737-1787, Sculpture Journal, X, 2003, pp. 21-39. Friedman and Clifford 1974: Terry Friedman and Timothy Clifford, The Man at Hyde Park Corner. Sculpture by John Cheere 1709-1787, exh.cat., Temple Newsam, Leeds, and Marble Hill House, Twickenham, 1974 Roper 1964: Lanning Roper, The Gardens of Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire. The Home of Lord Fairhaven, London 1964, pp. 37, 39, pl. 15a. Christie, Manson & Woods 1971: The National Trust, Anglesey Abbey, Cambridge. Inventory: Furniture, Textiles, Porcelain, Bronzes, Sculpture and Garden Ornaments’, 1971, p. 172.