After Michael Rysbrack (1693-1770), English, London, mid-18th century

This beautifully carved bust of George II is a reduced version of a model by Rysbrack. The sculptor modelled George II's portrait in 1738 and two variants exist. The first, in which the monarch appears more youthful is known from a terracotta model in the Royal Collection (inv. no. RCIN 1412), which is paired with a bust of Queen Caroline (1683-1737; inv. no. RCIN 1411). Vertu, in his diaries from 1738, records that ‘the KING … sat to [Rysbrack] at Kensington twice. to have his picture modelled in Clay. the likeness much approvd on – and with a good Air. – also a Moddel of the Queen vastly like. Tho’ not done from the life’ (as quoted in Webb, op. cit., p. 155). Rysbrack executed marble versions of the pair for George II, which are almost certainly the prime marble versions and are in the Royal Collection at Kensington Palace (inv. nos. RCIN 31322 and 31317). The fact that Rysbrack kept the terracotta models indicates that he was given permission to execute further versions. A lifesize marble version of the George II from the collection of Howard Hodgkin was sold in these rooms on 24 October 2017, lot 193.

Rysbrack's second variant of his model shows the king with older facial features. The terracotta model is in the collections of Durham University, and marble versions exist in the Royal Collection (St George's Hall, Windsor, inv. no. RCIN 31623), at Christchurch College Oxford, and in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv. no. A.10:1 to 3-1932). The present bust appears to follow this second variant. Interestingly, this model was also carved in ivory: a bust by Gaspar van der Hagen is in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. It is likely that the present bust was likewise executed by a talented marble carver from Rysbrack's model, a practice adopted for example by John Cheere (1709-1787) who is one possible candidate to have carved the bust. The bust is carved with a high level of finesse, seen particularly in the very fine Medusa mask.

RELATED LITERATURE

M. I. Webb, Michael Rysbrack, London, 1954; J. Kenworthy-Browne, 'Portrait Busts by Rysbrack', National Trust Studies 1980 (1979), 67; R. Williams and K. Eustace. "Rysbrack." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 11 May. 2014. ; Katharine Eustace, ‘Rysbrack, (John) Michael (1694–1770)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009