John Jacob Astor (1763-1848)
Raimondo Trentanove (1792-1832)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
circa 1820
Materials
Marble
Measurements
615 x 270 x 240 mm
Place of origin
Rome
Order this imageCollection
Cliveden Estate, Buckinghamshire
NT 766165
Summary
Marble sculpture on round socle and square base, John Jacob Astor (1763-1848) by Raimondo Trentanove (1792-1832), circa 1820. A portrait bust of J. J. Astor with square face, lips pressed together making lines from mouth to nose; bushy eyebrows, hair in distinct locks a few of which fall over his broad and deep forehead. In Axel Madsen's biography of J. J. Astor 'The World's First Multi-Millionaire' (2001) he says he made a European tour between 1819 and 1822 that included Italy and when in Rome he consorted with Pauline Borghese and 'Madame Mere'. This explains his choice of Trentanove as sculptor of his bust, since it was he who carved the copy of Canova's notorious sculpture of Pauline Borghese that used to be at Stowe, and he also sculpted at least two of the other Bonapartes: Laetitia and Charlotte (which are in the museum founded by Napoleon's collector uncle, Cardinal Fesch, in Ajaccio). A variant of the Trentanove bust is in the New York Public Library called 'Astor in his Prime'.
Provenance
Carved in Rome around 1820 when the siter was making his European tour between 1819 and 1822 and thence by descent until presented to the National Trust, with the house and grounds, by Waldorf, 2nd Viscount Astor (1879-1952) in 1942
Marks and inscriptions
J.J.A. Trentanove fece Roma 1820
Makers and roles
Raimondo Trentanove (1792-1832), sculptor
References
Fehl 1974 Philipp Fehl, The Account Book of Thomas Appleton of Livorno: A Document in the History of American Art, 1802-1825, Winterthur Portfolio, Vol. 9, 1974, pp. 123-151 Wiggins Porter 1966 Kenneth Wiggins Porter, John Jacob Astor: Business Man, 1966, in vol.II, opposite page 386