Shepherd holding a crook
after John Cheere (London 1709 – London 1787)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
Unknown
Materials
Lead.
Measurements
1330 x 6000 mm
Collection
Stowe, Buckinghamshire
NT 91984.1.1
Summary
Shepherd holding a crook. Painted (polychrome) Lead. A modern copy of an eighteenth century 'stock' garden statue by John Cheere (1709-1787). As lead-cast statues were piece-moulded, Cheere had the ability to adapted stock-model figures including altering the positions of arms, legs as well as altering the attributes. The stock-pose of this statue has been altered to reflect more exactly the historic accounts and images of the original Stowe Shepherds and Shepherdesses. The Shepherd is depicted standing in contrapposto with proper left leg crossed over right, proper left arm extended with palm facing up and left arm holding a crook. The Shepherd is looking to proper right. He wears a hat, a loose open-necked shirt, an unbuttoned jacket, buttoned breeches to the knee, stockings and buckled shoes. One of three half-size Shepherds and Shepherdesses commissioned as part of the recreation of the Circle of the Dancing Faun statue group. This recreation was undertaken as part of a programme to restore lost iconography and reinstate significance and meaning back into the gardens at Stowe.
Full description
In the 1760's, Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple (1711-1779) relocated several of Lord Cobham's collection of sculpture to the Grecian Valley. The first set of statues created an inner heroic circuit walk where warriors from the ancient world were encountered. The second walk was an Arcadian world of shepherds and shepherdesses and was accessed by a woodland walk that meandered through thickets and groves on the northwest side of the valley. The Circle of the Dancing Faun statue group was positioned at the centre of a glade with statues of shepherds and shepherdesses around the Faun highlighting the pastoral virtues of country life. These Arcadian references represented an important and meaningful ensemble to the eighteenth century visitor: They reflect a time of pastoral revival, characterised by fashionable aspirations to Arcadia.
Provenance
Commissioned by the National Trust and installed in Stowe Gardens in 2016.
Makers and roles
after John Cheere (London 1709 – London 1787), sculptor