John Michael Rysbrack

Dr. Carl Robert Rudolf (circa 1884-1974), London (L.2811b);

Terry Friedman

from whom acquired by the present owner

Rysbrack emigrated to London, from his native Antwerp, in 1720. He was 26 years old and he was already an independent artist. He quick gained a reputation as one of the leading sculptors of his day and was particularly sought after in the 1720 through the 1740s, although he continued to attract the loyalty of highly important patrons throughout his working life.

Although principally a sculptor, Rysbrack’s contemporaries respected him as a draughtsman, noting that he enjoyed drawing for pleasure, particularly in the years after his retirement in 1764. The collector, Charles Rogers (1711-1784), described his approach when he noted that ‘from time to time he [Rysbrack] would amuse himself with making high-finished Drawings in an admirable taste; these are generally of his own invention, designed with a smart pen, washed with bister, and heightened with white. This Amusement he continued to the last days of his life.’¹

1. See: ‘John Michael Rysbrack’ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, on-line edition