Stone plinth for Apollo
John Cheere (London 1709 – London 1787)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
c. 1755
Materials
Stone
Place of origin
London
Collection
Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire
NT 515160.2
Summary
Panelled stone plinth for lead statue of Apollo, John Cheere (London 1709 – London 1787), c. 1755. Paired with a lead statue of Diana, NT 515159, Apollo’s twin sister, the goddess of hunting.
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
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. 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 Fulton 2003: Moira Fulton, ‘John Cheere, the eminent statuary, his workshop and practice, 1737-1787, Sculpture Journal, X, 2003, pp. 21-39. 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.