Temple of British Worthies
William Kent (Bridlington 1685 - London 1748)
Category
Architecture / Exteriors
Date
1735
Materials
Stone
Collection
Stowe, Buckinghamshire
NT 91967.1
Summary
Temple of British Worthies. A curved wall with a series of sixteen pedimented niches each enclosing a bust. Above each niche is an inscription. Over the centre is a high stepped pyramid with an oval niche, enclosing a head of Mercury. There is a large niche in the back of the central block. Designed by William Kent (c.1685-1748) and built about 1735.
Full description
The Temple of British Worthies was commissioned by Sir Richard Temple, Viscount Cobham (1675-1749) between 1734 and 1735 to celebrate Britons he considered great and worthy. The Britons represented in the temple were great thinkers or great doers; however, this is also a political statement as the Britons commemorated represent the Whig ideals of Lord Cobham and his political allies at the time. Above each portrait bust is an inscription written in English to ensure that all visitors could understand the context. The Temple takes the form of an exedra - or curved wall with raised seats - with sixteen pedimented niches each containing a portrait bust with an inscription above. Over the central block is a stepped-pyramid containing a (replica) bust of Mercury with the following inscription, taken from Virgil: 'Here are the Bands, who for their Country bled/ And Bards, whose pure and sacred Verse is read;/Those, who, by Arts invented, Life improv’d,/ And, by their Merits, made their Mem’ries lov’d.' To the rear of the Temples central section is a seventeenth niche whose inscription could be viewed from the Thanet Walk. Samuel Boyse (1708-1749) refers to the Temple and busts in his 1742 poem on Stowe - published anonymously in the Gentleman’s Magazine: ‘See where the guardian of these blissful seats/ Discerning Hermes on the assembly waits!/ And ranks, to fame each British worthy known/ Who here distinguish’d, finds a just renown! […] (Boyse 1742 lines 302-305) Within each of the sixteen alcoves or niches are portrait busts: On the left are busts of men of letters, architecture and thought including celebrated poets and scientists: Alexander Pope, Sir Thomas Gresham, Inigo Jones, John Milton, William Shakespeare, John Locke, Sir Isaac Newton and Sir Francis Bacon. These represent the spirit of the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688. These portrait busts were created by John Michael Rysbrack (Antwerp 1694 – London 1770) in circa 1729-1730 and were originally located around the Temple of Fame before it was moved to the Grecian Valley to become the Fane of Pastoral Poetry. On the right are busts of those famous for their actions in either military or political service to their country including celebrated explorers: King Alfred, The Black Prince, Queen Elizabeth I, King William III, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake, John Hampden and Sir John Barnard. These portrait busts were created by Peter Scheemakers (Antwerp 1691 - Antwerp 1781) in circa 1737 and were commissioned after Lord Cobham resigned from official politics following the 1733 Excise Bill and each is thought to have had a modern eighteenth-century counterpart. Each portrait bust has an inscription carved above which describes the qualities of the ‘Worthies’ and form a political contrast to how Lord Cobham saw the qualities of the government under Walpole. Not all the inscriptions were carved at the same time as can be seen by the varying length and quality. It is understood that several of Lord Cobham’s nephews or ‘Cobham’s Cubs’ including the future Earl Temple, Lord Lyttleton and William Pitt (the Elder) may have collaborated in the creation of these inscriptions. Historic guidebooks and visitor accounts recall a seventeenth Worthy – Signor Fido - who was commemorated to the rear of the Temple and who had the longest inscription: ‘To the Memory of Signor Fido an Italian of good Extraction; who came into England not to bite us, like most of his Countrymen, but to gain an honest Livelyhood. He hunted not after Fame, yet acquir’d it; regardless of the Praise of his Friends, but most sensible of their Love. Tho’ he liv’d amongst the Great, he neither learnt nor flatter’d any Vice. He was no Bigot, Tho’ he doubted none of the 39 Articles, And, if to follow Nature, and to respect the Laws of Society, be Philosophy, he was a perfect Philosopher; a faithful Friend, an agreeable Companion, a loving Husband, distinguish’d by a numerous Offspring, all which he liv’d to see take good Courses. In his old age he retir’d to the House of a Clergyman in the Country, where he finish’d his earthly Race, and died an Honour and an Example to the whole Species. Reader, this stone is guiltless of Flattery; for he to whom it is inscrib’d, was not a Man but a Grey-Hound.’ The Temple is located within the Elysian Fields. This valley was created c.1733 and is located at the heart of the gardens. The area takes its name from Greek mythology where Elysium is a happy and blessed afterlife reserved for those deemed worthy, righteous or heroic by the gods. The God Mercury guided the souls of the worthy or chosen mortals across the River Styx into the Elysian Fields. The Temple is positioned carefully in the Elysian Fields below and in the immediate direct view of The Temple of Ancient Worthies and both are reflected in the Worthies River.
Provenance
Commissioned by Sir Richard Temple, Viscount Cobham (1675-1749) in c.1734/1735 and constructed within the Elysian Fields, Stowe. Listed for sale but not sold in: ‘The Ducal Estate of Stowe, near Buckingham […]’, 1921, the Eighteenth Day’s Sale, lot 3788, p. 226: ‘…The Temple of British Worthies […].'. Also unsold in ‘The Ducal Estate of Stowe, near Buckingham […]’, 1922, the Second Day’s Sale, lot 92, page 13: ‘The Temple of British Worthies (by Kent) A semi-circular building about 60’ long x 11’ high in stone with lead roof, cut into niches and approached by three stone steps. […]
Makers and roles
William Kent (Bridlington 1685 - London 1748), designer
References
Seeley, B, Stowe: a description of the magnificent house and gardens of the Right Honourable George Grenville Nugent Temple, Earl Temple, Viscount and Baron Cobham, M.DCC.LXXXIII. 1783 Clarke 1990: George B. Clarke, Descriptions of Lord Cobham’s Gardens at Stowe (1700-1750), no. 26. Buckinghamshire Record Society, Dorchester 1990