Object Details

Bust of the Right Hon. William Huskisson, MP

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Location
Makers
General Information
Classification
Object Parts
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Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright for Photograph:

Creative Commons

Location

Street:Church Street / A283
Town:Petworth
Parish:Petworth
Council:Chichester District Council
County:West Sussex
Postcode:GU28
Location on Google Map
Object setting:Inside building
Access is:Public
Location note:Petworth House, The North Gallery, Square Bay
In the AZ book:West Sussex
Page:61
Grid reference:N9
The A-Z books used are A-Z East Sussex and A-Z West Sussex (Editions 1A 2005). Geographers' A-Z Map Company Ltd. Sevenoaks.

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Makers

Name : Samuel Joseph
     Role:Sculptor

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General Information

Commissioned by: George O’Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont (1751-1837)
Construction period:1831
Installation date:1831
Work is:Extant
Owner custodian:The National Trust (Petworth House)
Description:Portrait bust of Huskisson in loose, collared robe.
Signatures:Signature on the back at shoulder level:
S. Joseph. Sculptor.
1831

Carved catalogue number on base '106'

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Classification

Categories:Free Standing, Commemorative, Sculptural
Object type1:Sculpture
Subject type1:Figurative
     Subject subtype1:Bust
Subject type2:Portrait

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Object Parts

Part 1:Pedestal
     Material:Wood (faux red veined marble)
     Height (cm):117
     Width (cm):40
     Depth (cm):40
Part 2:Bust
     Material:White marble
     Height (cm):77
     Width (cm):55
     Depth (cm):24

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Object Condition

Overall condition:Good
Risk assessment:No known risk
Date of on-site inspection:27/06/2008

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History

History:The North Gallery is one of the very few top-lit sculpture and picture galleries to survive from the early nineteenth century. It was extensively restored in 1991-3. The South corridor is the earliest part of the gallery, which was built between 1754 and 1763 to house the major part of the 2nd. Earl’s collection of antiques statuary. The top-lit Central Corridor was added to the gallery by the 3rd. Earl in 1824-5. At the same time work began on the final extension to the gallery, the Square Bay and the whole was finished in October 1827. The works were supervised by Thomas Upton, the Petworth Clerk of Works, and executed by his building yard. Advice was sought from at least three artists; the painter Thomas Philips and the sculptors Sir Francis Chantrey and John Edward Carew. The galleries are presently painted a dark red, restored to this colour during the 1991-3 restorations. The galleries had been this colour in 1873. Red (with green, the most traditional colour for picture galleries) was felt by Ruskin to accentuate the contours of sculpture, and it was known to have been used in ancient Rome as a foil to sculpture. The present sculpture arrangement (devised in 1991-3) was designed to restore, as far as possible that conceived by the 3rd. Earl. It was taken from a unique ground plan of the 3rd. Earl’s statue deployment drawn up in 1835 by H.W. Philips. Apart from the Flaxman, the Square Bay has become a gallery of works by the Irish sculptor J.E. Carew, many of which were placed here in 1835.

Huskisson, politician and economist, was the son of an impoverished Warwickshire squire. After some early schooling in England he was brought up by a relative in Paris where he witnessed the scenes of revolution. He was generally regarded as a valuable man to have in office because of his intellectual gifts and especially his understanding of matters of trade and finance, if a little standoffish. He became private secretary to Lord Gower, the ambassador in Paris and returned to England on Gower’s recall in 1792. He was secretary to the Treasury under Pitt (1804-5) and Portland (1807-9) and contributed regularly to debates on his own special topics: the Corn Laws, currency, banks and trade. Thus, he built a solid reputation as a leading expert on some of the most sensitive questions of the post-war period. In 1823 he was given a seat in the cabinet as President of the Board of Trade and Treasurer of the Navy.

See statue in Chichester Cathedral (WSXCH10)

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References

Source 1 :
     Title:'Petworth House'
     Type:Book
     Author:Rowell, Christopher
     Publisher:The National Trust.


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Photographs





Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons




Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons




Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons

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