Michael Rysbrack (1694-1770), English, circa 1732

John Palmer (ob. 1761); thence by descent at The Rectory, Ecton, Northamptonshire
Peterborough Diocesan Parsonages Board; sold Christie's, London, 6 December 1988, lot 128

·       M. I. Webb, Michael Rysbrack Sculptor, 1954, p. 222
·       I. Roscoe (ed.) et al, A biographical dictionary of sculptors in Britain 1660-1851, 2009, p. 1080, no. 21

Overall the condition of the bust is very good. There is some minor wear and dirt to the surface consistent with age. There are areas with later paint and possible restorations including on the top of the head, along the jaw line, on the proper right shoulder, the corner of the flap of the collar on the proper right side, the centre of the left flap, and around the tassles. There are a few stable firing cracks visible on the reverse. There is a small chip to the lower edge at the reverse of the bust and there are some minor chips to the edges of the stone base.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

We are grateful to Gordon Balderston for this entry.

This imposing image is Rysbrack's fired-clay model for the marble bust of John Palmer, signed M: Ryſbrack., which surmounts a framed memorial tablet dated 1732 on the wall of the chancel inside St. Mary Magdelene, the parish church in Ecton. Fortunately, John Palmer retains most of the paint applied by Rysbrack to the surface of the terracotta, as revealed in 1988 by John Larson, conservator.

Rysbrack gives a first-hand account of his working practice in letters to his late-in-life patron Sir Edward Littleton (1727-1800: cousin of Henry Hoare) between Jan. 1756 and Feb. 1766 [Esdaile/Spink 1932; Webb Rysbrack 1954]. Rysbrack preferred the autumn and spring for modelling clay. Winter was too cold, and summer dried the clay. Modelling itself could be relatively swift: busts of Milton, Newton and Locke were said to be "in the whole ... finished" between 20 Jan. and 12 Feb. 1756. But others took much longer - "the bust of Sir Walter Raleigh ... and Sir Francis Bacon, will look at each other, and are the most difficult" [1756, Feb 12; cf. Nov 18]. Rysbrack sent his clay models away to be fired, and it could be several months before he got them back. It must have taken at least a year between the initial sitting and the final delivery - and sometimes much longer. In the case of posthumous portraits, Rysbrack borrowed painted images which he then drew - "I shall make a drawing after the picture [of Shakespeare] belonging to Ld. Rockingham but I don't think it is so good a picture as they brag of, neither is there spirit in it" [1759, Mar 13]. (Two portraits of John Palmer are said to be in a private collection.)

The fired clay was not the finished product. While giving strength to the material, firing caused cracks, variation in surface colour and other imperfections which the sculptor had to rectify before he could deliver the work to his client. Rysbrack used plaster of Paris (gypsum/burnt alabaster) to fill cracks, and coloured beeswax and/or pine resin to repair breaks [1765, Nov 30; cf. Vertue VI, p. 204]. To perfect the appearance of the finished work, he would then apply fine gesso, a clay slip or an oil-based paint to the surface - using, for example, linseed oil and lead white (probable in the present instance). This was traditional practice and integral to the finished work of art, as Rysbrack intimated to Littleton in 1758 [May 6] - "the head of the pope by Bernini [which Rysbrack owned ] is painted with a thin red paint. In regard to getting off the paint [on Milton, Locke and Bacon by Rysbrack] it would entirely spoil them as there are small cracks unavoidably caused by the burning, which are obliged to be stopped with plaster of Paris; which the paint strengthens and makes the whole of one colour". Nevertheless, such a finish was not always to his patrons' liking and Littleton complained to Rysbrack at least twice about the shiny finishes [1757, July 5; 1758, May 6]. Rysbrack responded that it was "a gloss upon them, that will go off in time", but in the case of Milton he agreed to treat the surface - "Sir with respect to the varnish on Milton. You said you did not like the shining which was on it, for which reason I painted it over with oil of turpentine only mixt with colour to take that off: and I would advise you to leave the others as they are expecting that of Milton will change colour having been but lately painted" [1757, July 5].

The colour of the painted surface on John Palmer is the same as Rysbrack's Richard Miller [Queen's College, Oxford]; John Barnerd [Christie's, London, 7 July 2005, lot 420]; and Edward Salter aged 6 [Ashmolean Museum, Oxford: Gordon Balderston, 'The genesis of Edward Salter aetatis 6', Georgian Group Journal, ed. by Richard Hewlings, X, 2000, pp. 175-205]. Unaccustomed as we may be to seeing painted surfaces on terracotta, it is salient to cognize that Giovanni Maria Nosseni (1544-1620) owned clay models painted red (by Michelangelo); grey and black (by Giambologna); aquamarine, ash-coloured, green, white, yellow, as well as coloured (head of Kurfürst Christian I by Carlo de Cesari) and copper-coloured or -coated.

REFERENCES TO MONUMENT IN PARISH CHURCH OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE, ECTON
·       John Cole, The history and antiquities of Ecton ..., 1825 [Cole Ecton 1825], pp. 12-13, 16 & 19 [http://books.google.com]:
   "He died in 1679, and was interred in the chancel of Ecton church, where an elegant monument, with a fine bust by Rysbrac [sic], preserves his memory." ...  "The Chancel is large, and separated from the church by a neat iron railing ... Its walls are covered with some interesting memorials of affection by Rysbrac [sic] and other sculptors of eminence in their day, which, although they cannot pretend to a rivalship with Brington or Warkton, afford an unusually elegant appearance for a village mausoleum."
·       Katharine A. Esdaile, 'Studies of the English sculptors from Pierce to Chantrey. X. John Michael Rysbrack (1693-1770) - cont.', The Architect, 7 April 1922, p. 250, item 44:
                        "busts of Archdeacon Palmer and Thomas Palmer, Ecton, Northants."
·       Victoria County History. A history of the county of Northampton: volume 4 [VCH Northampton 1937], ed. by L. F. Salzman, 1937, pp. 122-127 [www.british-history.ac.uk]:
   "The parish church of St. Mary Magdalen ... In the chancel is a mural monument, erected in 1732, to John Palmer, archdeacon of Northampton and rector of Ecton 1641-79, with bust by Rysbrack; one to his son-in-law Samuel Freeman, dean of Peterborough, who died on a visit to Ecton in 1707 and was buried there, and a third to John Palmer, Esquire, patron (d. 1761)."
·       Memorial inscriptions at the church of St. Mary Magdalene, Ecton, Northamptonshire Family History Society, 2000
·       London, Courtauld Institute of Art, neg. nos. B75/1166 (monument, inscription), A75/209 (signature), A75/214 & A98/1657 (bust)

BIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES TO JOHN PALMER (OB. 1679) AND HIS FAMILY
·       Northamptonshire Notes & Queries, a quarterly journal, V, part 37, Jan.-March 1893, item 752, pp. 151-152 (his will); idem, part 38, April-June 1893, item 765, pp. 172-173 (1665 indenture); idem, V, 1894, one vol. ed. by C. A. Markham [www.archive.org]
·       Kew, National Archives, PROB 11/549, will of Thomas Palmer (2nd son) dated 10 July 1707, codicil 4 May 1715, proved 3 December 1715; PROB 11/660, will of Thomas Palmer (grandson; son of Thomas), dated 30 August 1731, proved 10 July 1733
·       VCH Northampton 1937, pp. 122-127 (Ecton advowson)
·       John Bridges (1666-1724), The history and antiquities of Northamptonshire. Compiled from the manuscript collections of the late learned antiquary J. Bridges, Esq., by the Rev. Peter Whalley, 2 vols, 1791; for which see The collected letters of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle, vol. 28, ed. by Kenneth J. Fielding, 2000, pp. 322-323, 24 November 1853
·       Cole Ecton 1825, pp. 16 & 19 [http://books.google.com]
·       Betty Shearing, '1646 tithes and the village of Ecton', The Ecton View. Parish magazine, issue 35, April 2007 [www.ectonvillage.co.uk: pdf]; and Bill Wilson in www.ectonvillage.co.uk/churchhistory.html

John Palmer was born on 18 November 1612, the eldest son of Joseph Palmer, gentleman, of Cropedy in Oxfordshire, and his first wife Ann, daughter of John Dod (1550-1645: DNB). Palmer was admitted pensioner to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, on 7 May 1629 (B.A. 1632-3; M.A. 1636), and incorporated at Oxford on 6 November 1651. Palmer was presented to the rectory of Ecton and instituted there on 18 November 1641 - Sir Christopher Yelverton, Bart., presented him, by grant of Clifton Catesby, armiger, lord of the manor of Ecton. And, on 18 November 1665, Palmer was installed archdeacon of Northampton in the diocese of Peterborough (collated, 25 October 1665). Amongst Palmer's interests were astronomy, instruments and mathematics: he published The Catholique planisphaer ... in five books in 1658 and The planetary instrument; or, the description and use of the theories of the planets in 1685. Palmer died on 9 December 1679 and was buried in St. Mary Magdelene, Ecton, on the twelfth: for an abstract of his will dated 9 February 1678, codicil 20 June 1678, proved 22 January 1680, see Northamptonshire Notes & Queries 1893 [cited above].

John Palmer married Bridget Catesby (ob. 19 March 1681, aged 54), eldest daughter of the afore-mentioned Clifton Catesby, and sister of Thomas Catesby. The Palmers had three sons and three daughters - Mary (born 19 May 1651); Susan (16 Sept 1653-1710, April 26), who married in 1674, Samuel Freeman, later dean of Peterborough; and Sara (born 23 May 1658), who married Nathaniel Whalley, rector of Broughton. George (15 Nov 1663-1723), their youngest child, is buried in St. Giles, Northampton. John Palmer's two elder sons both succeeded him as rector of Ecton - John (19 July 1656-1688, November 21) was instituted on 22 May 1680, and Thomas on 7 March 1689: prior to this, the said Thomas Palmer (23 Dec 1660-1715, October 3: PROB 11/549) may have been a deacon of Lincoln's Inn chapel, London.

"The rectory house was originally erected by John Palmer (rector 1641-79), but rebuilt in its present form by his grandson Eyre Whalley in 1693. It is of two stories with a well-designed front elevation of dressed ironstone and a slated hipped roof. The interior has been much modernized, but retains a fine 17th-century oak staircase with turned balusters. In the landing window are the arms of John Palmer (1641), Thomas Palmer (1691), and Eyre Whalley (1735), rectors, and one of the upper rooms contains excellent 18th-century panelling." [VCH Northampton 1937]

Thomas Palmer (ob. 1715), son of John (ob. 1679), held the advowson of the benefice of Ecton from 1712, when it was transferred to him by Ralph Freeman (husband of Elizabeth Catesby, Thomas's cousin), i.e. the right to present to a living, whereby the rector retained the tithe (tenth part of annual produce of agriculture). And Thomas's own son, Thomas (ob. 1733), held it from 1721, when he was presented also to "my living or parsonage of Ecton" [PROB 11/660] (instituted 9 March 1721, new style), upon the resignation of Bradley Whalley. In his will of 1731, Thomas (ob. 1733) wrote "I would also that my said living be sold to an ecclesiastick college or body corporate but I mean not to bind my heirs hereby" [PROB 11/660] and, in fact, his brother and sole-executor John received the advowson in 1732 as patron of Ecton, holding it until 1758: Rysbrack's bust of this latter John Palmer (ob. 31 March 1761) is referenced in Webb Rysbrack 1954, p. 222; Roscoe Dictionary 2009, p. 1082, no. 91.

COMMISSION AND PROVENANCE
John Palmer (ob. 1761: brother of Thomas, ob. 1733) commissioned the large memorial tablet which forms the centre-piece of the monument to John Palmer (ob. 1679), his grandfather: in a long inscription in Latin, John Palmer eulogizes the liberal benefactions of the Palmer family as rectors of Ecton, and ends it with ANNO 1732, the year in which he became patron of Ecton (but not rector). It is probable that this John Palmer (ob. 1761) also commissioned from Rysbrack the present fired-clay bust, its translation into marble and the architectonic ornaments for the wall monument - perhaps with contributions from his mother Anne (ob. 1751: PROB 11/787), who had inherited "the profitts of my parsonage" from her husband Thomas Palmer (ob. 1715: father of John and Thomas).

Thomas Palmer (ob. 1733: brother of John), the sitter's other grandson, was the last in his line to enjoy the benefice of Ecton, which then passed to the Whalley line via his sister Barbara's marriage to Eyre Whalley (ob. 1762), rector of Ecton from 1738. The Whalley's parsonage continued until the 1850s. Since 1874 the right of presentation has been exercised by the Crown, which presumably explains why the bust belonged to the Peterborough Diocesan Parsonages Board by 1988, when Christie's saw John Palmer "over a mantelpiece in the vicarage at Ecton".

POSTSCRIPT
John Palmer (ob. 1761) sat to Hogarth in 1749, and a version of Hogarth's Self portrait with pug was seen by John Cole in the rectory [Cole Ecton 1825, p. 39].

PUBLISHED
·       Marjorie I. Webb (née Batten), Michael Rysbrack Sculptor, 1954 [Webb Rysbrack 1954], p. 222
·       Larson 1990, p. 30, section 5, and figs. 6-7 [cited below under 'references to painted surfaces']
·       Ingrid Roscoe (ed.), M. Greg Sullivan and Emma Hardy, A biographical dictionary of sculptors in Britain 1660-1851, 2009 [Roscoe Dictionary 2009], p. 1080, no. 21, in a list of Rysbrack's oeuvre by Gordon Balderston

REFERENCES TO PAINTED SURFACES
·       'Vertue note books. VI', Walpole Society, XXX, 1955, p. 204, 1751
·       The art of John Michael Rysbrack in terracotta, commercial exhib. cat. by Mrs. Arundell Esdaile [Katharine A. M. Esdaile], Spink and Son Ltd., London, July 1932 [Esdaile/Spink 1932], pp. 7-32; letters republished by Webb Rysbrack 1954, pp. 192-209
·       Mary Greenacre, 'A technical examination of terracottas by Michael Rysbrack', Michael Rysbrack Sculptor 1694-1770, exhib. cat. by Katharine Eustace et al, City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, 6 March-1 May 1982, pp. 55-56
·       John Larson, 'The treatment and examination of painted surfaces on eighteenth-century terracotta sculptures' in Cleaning, retouching and coatings ... Preprints ... to the Brussels congress, 3-7 September 1990, ed. by J. S. Mills and P. Smith, International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, London, 1990, pp. 28-32 [on sale at IIC]
·       John H. Larson, 'Techniques de la sculpture en terre cuite au XVIIIe siècle', Louvre conférences et colloques. Clodion et la sculpture française de la fin du XVIIIe siècle. Actes du colloque organisé au musée du Louvre par le service culturel les 20 et 21 mars 1992, 1993, p. 487 ff.

Gordon D. Balderston, London