Portrait bust of Walter McGeough Bond (1790-1866)
William Behnes (London 1795 - London 1864)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1823
Materials
Stone
Measurements
597 x 330 mm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
The Argory, County Armagh
NT 565243
Summary
Sculpture, marble; Portrait bust of Walter McGeough Bond (1790-1866); William Behnes (London 1795- London 1864); 1823. A portrait bust of the builder of the Argory, Walter McGeough Bond, made when the sitter was in his early 30s. The bust is the form of a herm, a form used in ancient Greek and Roman art.
Full description
A portrait bust in marble of Walter McGeough Bond (1790-1866), by William Behnes (London c. 1795- London 1864), made in 1823. The sitter is depicted looking to his left and slightly upwards, his shoulders covered by a schematic drape. The bust is in herm form. Walter McGeough Bond (1790-1866), the builder of the Argory, was an active patron of sculptors throughout his life. In the 1820s, after he had come into his inheritance and determined to build and furnish the Argory, he commissioned this portrait in London from the then promising young sculptor William Behnes (NT 565243), as well as several works from the Irish sculptor Thomas Kirk (NT 565241, 565244, 565245). At the very end of his life, he commissioned another portrait of himself from the Dublin-based sculptor Joseph Watkins, three versions of which survive at the Argory, the prime version in marble (NT 565242) and two in plaster. The fresh optimistic portrait by Behnes of a young man in his early thirties makes a strong contrast with the old patriarch in Watkins’ portrait sculpture of 40 years later. William Behnes was one of the finest portrait sculptors working in Britain in the first half of the nineteenth century, with a large studio through which many well-known sculptors passed at the outset of their careers. The son of an immigrant German piano-maker and his English wife, Behnes moved with his family to Ireland at a young age, where his father nevertheless struggled to make a living. In Dublin the young Behnes helped in his father’s workshop but also attended the Dublin Society’s Schools, where he showed himself to be a gifted draughtsman. On moving back to London, where he is recorded exhibiting from 1815, Behnes at first practised as a portrait painter before changing direction to become a sculptor. He developed a flourishing business, especially as a portrait sculptor, but he also made some fine church and public monuments. However, much of Behnes's career was blighted by financial difficulties, which led him into drink and near-destitution; he died in 1863, having been found ‘literally in the gutter with threepence in his pocket.’ The fine portrait of Walter McGeough Bond is a relatively early work by Behnes, made at a time when he was rapidly establishing himself as one of the most promising young portrait sculptors. It may have been because of his time spent in Dublin that Walter McGeough Bond first came to know William Behnes and decided to commission his portrait from him. It was one of three portrait busts exhibited by Behnes at the Royal Academy in 1824. Jeremy Warren November 2022
Provenance
Commissioned by Walter McGeough Bond (1790-1866); exhibited, Royal Academy, 1824; by descent; Walter McGeough Bond (1908-86), by whom given to the National Trust in 1979.
Marks and inscriptions
Proper left side of bust: : W. BEHNES. / Sculptor. LONDON. / 1823. W.Behnes, Sculptor, London 1823 (signed and dated)
Makers and roles
William Behnes (London 1795 - London 1864), sculptor
References
Royal Academy 1824: The exhibition of the Royal Academy, MDCCCXXIV. (1824). The fifty-sixth., London 1824, p. 41, no. 996. Roscoe 2009: I. Roscoe, E. Hardy and M. G. Sullivan, A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain 1660-1851, New Haven and Yale 2009, p. 93, no. 137.