Congreve Monument
William Kent (Bridlington 1685 - London 1748)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1736
Materials
Stone
Collection
Stowe, Buckinghamshire
NT 91821
Summary
Congreve Monument. A stone monument with a monkey holding a mirror - the personification of the phrase 'art is the ape of nature'. Commissioned by Richard Temple, first Viscount Cobham (1675–1749) in honour of the dramatist and poet, William Congreve (1670-1729).
Full description
A stone monument dedicated to the dramatist and poet, William Congreve (1670-1729). It was commissioned in 1736 by Sir Richard Temple, Viscount Cobham (1675 – 1749) to commemorate and celebrate the genius of his friend and fellow member of the Kit-Kat Club. The design of the monument is attributed to William Kent (c.1685-1748) and is comprised of a rusticated-style pyramid with an applied urn ornamented with representations of the dramatist’s art, including comic masks and pan pipes. A Monkey sits atop the monument holding and gazing into a mirror. Underneath this is an inscription: [1] Vitae imitatio Consuetudinis speculum Comaedia' Or; Comedy is the Imitation of Life, and the Mirror of Fashion. An inscription originally on the opposite side of the pyramid, acts as an epitaph and confirmed the reason for the monument: [2] 'Ingenio Acri, faceto, expolito, Moribusque Urbanis, candidis, facillimis, GULIELMI CONGREVE, Hoc Qualecunque desiderii sui Solaen simul ac Monumentum Posuit COBHAM M,DCCXXXVI' Or; 'To the piercing, elegant, polished Wit, civilised, candid, most unaffected Manners of William Congreve; hath Cobham erected this poor Consolation for, as well as Monument of his Loss. 1736' Viscount Cobham and William Congreve were members of the political Kit-Kat club whose members were a fraternity of Whigs and both are immortalised in Sir Godfrey Kneller’s (1646-1723) series of 48 half-length portraits of club members. Cobham and Congreve had known one another for years and Congreve refers to his friendship with Viscount Cobham in a poetic letter written in 1728:‘Sincerest Critic of my Prose or Rhyme, Say, COBHAM, what amuses thy Retreat,Or Schemes of War, or Stratagems of State? […]'. Congreve addressed two poems to Cobham: An Epistle and a Tale. [3] An anonymous visitor in 1738 describes the Congreve Monument as 'the Design is Pyramidal, embelishe'd with the Figures of Satyrs, a Monkey and other Emblematical Designs. The Memorial stands on the side of a Gravel Terras, […]'. The Congreve Monument was originally accessible by foot; however, alterations to enlarge and further naturalise the Octagon Lake in c. 1827 mean that the monument is now situated on an Island within the Octagon Lake.
Provenance
Commissioned in 1736 by Sir Richard Temple, Viscount Cobham (1675 –1749). Listed for sale but not sold in: ‘The Ducal Estate of Stowe, near Buckingham […]’, 1921, the Eighteenth Day’s Sale, lot 3823, p. 228: ‘The Congreve Monument, on a stone pyramid, surmounted by a monkey looking into a mirror […]'. Also unsold in: ‘The Ducal Estate of Stowe, near Buckingham […]’, 1922, the Second Day’s Sale, lot 121, page 15: ‘The Grenville Monument.' One of the garden monuments transferred to the National Trust along with the gardens in 1989 by Stowe School.
Marks and inscriptions
Top of monument, near to the Monkey: 3 lines of text: Vitae imitation Consuetudinis speculum Comoedia' Rear of monument: 11 lines of text: 'Ingenio Acri, faceto, expolito, Moribusque Urbanis,candidis,facillimis, GULIELMI CONGREVE; Hoc Qualecunque desiderii sui Solamen simul ac Monumentum Posuit COBHA, M,DCCXXXVI'
Makers and roles
William Kent (Bridlington 1685 - London 1748), designer
References
A description of the gardens of Lord Viscount Cobham, at Stow in Buckinghamshire. MD.CC.XLVII [1747]., Pages 25-26 A description of the gardens of Lord Viscount Cobham, at Stow in Buckinghamshire. MD.CC.XLVII [1747]., Pages 25-26 Clarke 1990: George B. Clarke, Descriptions of Lord Cobham’s Gardens at Stowe (1700-1750), no. 26. Buckinghamshire Record Society, Dorchester 1990, Anonymous, 1738. Page 75