John Milton (1608-1674), as a youth
John Michael Rysbrack (Antwerp 1684 – London 1770)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1716 - 1717
Materials
Marble
Measurements
230 mm (Height)
Order this imageCollection
Stourhead, Wiltshire
NT 732892.1
Summary
White marble, John Milton (1608-1674), as a youth by John Michael Rysbrack (Antwerp 1694 – London 1770), 1717. A marble bust portrait of young Milton, head turned slightly to left, wearing lace collar and drapery, narrow base, no socle. Based on the Onslow portrait now in the National Portrait Gallery. Almost certainly made for William Benson. Poem on wood below bust, reads as follows, 'How soon hath Time, the subtlethief of youth, Stoln on his wing my three and twentieth year! My hasting days flie on with full career, But my late spring no bud or blossom shewth. Perhaps my semblance might decieve the truth, That I to manhood am arrivd so near, And inward ripeness doth much less appear, That some more timely happy spirits induth, yet it be less or more, or soon or slow, It shall be still in strictest measure even To that same lot, however mean or high, Towards which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven, All is, if I have grace to use it so, As ever my great task Masters eye.' (Sonnet VII, On his being arrived to his 23rd year).
Provenance
William Benson (1682-1754), circa 1738; passed to his brother-in-law, Henry Hoare (1705-1785) and thence by descent at Stourhead until given to the National Trust along with the house, its grounds, and the rest of the contents by Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare, 6th Bt (1865 – 1947) in 1946
Makers and roles
John Michael Rysbrack (Antwerp 1684 – London 1770), sculptor