drawing
- Museum number
- 1889,0603.254.1
- Description
-
Studies for a statue, probably for that of either Charles II, at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, or James II near the new Admiralty building; two standing figures, on the left with his right arm extended holding a baton and his left hand resting on the hilt of a sword, on the right with his left arm extended
Pen and brown wash
- Production date
- 1648-1687
- Dimensions
-
Height: 118 millimetres
-
Width: 155 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Croft Murray in his 1960 catalogue entry on this drawing and the group that came with it, noted that the attribution to Gibbons did not seem unreasonable because of its connection with the statue of James II which was recorded as designed by Gibbons, on commission from Tobias Rostat (1606?-1694, a Stuart supporter), according to Vertue who transcribed the agreement. But Croft-Murray noted there were no comparable drawings by Gibbons. Elsewhere Vertue recorded 'The Statue of Brass, standing in Privy Garden against the banqueting house whitehall, of King James, the 2nd. was modelld & made by ... Laurence (of Brussels) ...& Devoot (of Mechlin) who was imployed by ... Gibbons, carver to the King these men are still living at Antwerp.' [Dievoet and Laurens]. (see Vertue Notebooks I, 61 and V, 58-9). The statue has since been attributed to a number of sculptors, including Pierre Van Dievoet.
The left half of this drawing is reproduced by Katherine Gibson in 'The emergence of Grinling Gibbons as a statuary', published in Apollo, September 1999, pp.21-9. On p.28 she argues that the style of this group of drawings (ECM 2-6) is unlike the documented drawings by him in the Soane Museum sketchbook, and suggests that they may be by his collaborator Pierre van Dievoet (1661-1729), who had come to London from Brussels to cast the bronze statue of James II that is now outside the National Gallery.
This drawing was acquired with a group that it is mounted with, which are studies possibly for the same statue and therefore also attributable to Dievoet: 1889,0603.254.2 to 5. On this basis we have changed the attribution from Gibbons to Dievoet (in Sept. 2019).
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1889
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1889,0603.254.1