The Architect James Gibbs

John Michael Rysbrack (1694-1770) was one of the leading sculptors of his day, and, along with Louis Fran‡ois Roubiliac, was one of the most important sculptors active in Britain in the first half of the 18th century. He was a native of Antwerp, but arrived in England in 1720 and carried out all his known work in this country. He specialised in portrait busts, such as this one, and tomb monuments, many of which are in Westminster Abbey. He also collaborated on sculpture for the grounds at Stowe, and most notably sculpted a series in limestone of seven Saxon gods, two of which (Thuner and Sunna) are in the V&A.

Materials & Making

This bust is carved in marble, one of the most popular materials for portrait busts in the 18th century, although busts were also commissioned in terracotta, bronze, lead and plaster. Rysbrack almost certainly initially modelled the bust from the life in clay, which was then perhaps fired to form terracotta, and this used in turn to cast a plaster model from which the bust would be carved. If all these stages were indeed part of the process for the present bust (and certainly at least one form of initial full-size model would have been necessary), unfortunately none of the other versions has survived. Rysbrack trained in the Low Countries, where modelling terracotta was an established practice as a preliminary to a finished marble piece.