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Lot Essay
Christopher Hewetson was an extraordinary sculptor living at an extraordinary time. How did perhaps Ireland’s greatest 18th century sculptor end up spending most of his life in Rome and how did he manage to win such a spectacularly important commission of Pope Clement XIV?
Late 18th century Rome was the high-point of the Grand Tour and Hewetson was at its epicenter. The Grand Tour was an education in the glorious landscape, history, architecture and art of Italy. And in the late 17th and 18th centuries, young men of fortune and education traveled to Italy to be exposed to the cultural feast that country, and its Antique past, had to offer.
The English were, by far, the most enthusiastic of the Grand Tourists and, in Rome, these English collectors and artists were often clustered around Thomas Jenkins. Jenkins was an important dealer in Antiquities, a banker to his visiting countrymen and also acted as an unofficial English ambassador to the Vatican. By the mid-1760’s, it was clear to English visitors that Jenkins and Hewetson were already close friends – and they were to remains friends until both men died in the same year of 1798 (Hodgkinson, op. cit., pp. 43-44 and 53). Jenkins was particularly close to Pope Clement XIV and would have undoubtedly provided the introduction to the Pope that Hewetson needed. Hewetson was already supplying busts, closely based on the Antique prototypes so favored by the Grand Tourists, to such well-known collectors as Charles Towneley (1769), Sir Watkyn Williams Wynn (1769) and William Henry, Duke of Gloucester (1772) (Ibid., pp. 42-43). Pope Clement XIV was a well-known collector of Antiquities – and client of Thomas Jenkins – and he had founded the Museo Pio Clementino in 1771 originally to display Antique and Renaissance sculpture, and many late 18th century sculptors were hired to ‘restore’ these pieces. Hewetson, with his deep knowledge of Ancient Greek and Roman busts, combined with his talent for humanizing his sitters, would have been an appealing choice for Clement XIV. Hewetson’s extraordinary talent to carve stone was also surely appealing -- and part of the charm of this bust is the delightful and luxuriously-carved details of the Pope’s fur-lined camauro and robe, one 'forgotten' button and the splendid embroidery and bravura detail of the tied cord at the center of his chest.
Hewetson’s bust of Pope Clement XIV was his most celebrated commission. It was so famous that Hewetson sculpted at least five other marble versions as well as one plaster one. The Yale and the Musei Capitolini versions are probably both either from Hewetson’s workshop or after Hewetson (Petrucci, op. cit.). The first documented bust is dated 1771 and the final is dated 1782, eight years after Pope Clement XIV had died. Listed below are the known versions:
- Beningbrough Hall, Yorkshire, inscribed CLEMENS / XIV PON. M. / MDCCLXXI [1771] and illustrated in Country Life, LXII (1927), p. 775.
- Ammerdown House, Kilmersdon, Somerset, signed Christophorus Hewetson Fect. 1772, sold Christie's, London, 11 December 1990, lot 48, and now with The National Galleries, Scotland (NG 2525.)
- Gorhambury House, St. Albans, Hertforshire, signed Christo.us Hewetson Fect. 1772.
- Sold Christie’s, Margam Castle, 29 October, 1941, lot 461 (wrongly described as Pope Leo X) and now at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, inscribed CLEMENS . XIV . PONT . MAX and signed Christof. Hewetson Romae 1773 (A.22-1948).
- Vatican Museums, Rome and inscribed CLEMENS . XIV . P . M . and signed Chrisf.Hewetson fec.it, circa 1782.
- Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, not signed or dated (B1977.14.14).
- Musei Capitolini, Museo di Roma (MR5702), apparently not signed or dated [with circular pedestal].
- [plaster version] Museo Civico, Bassano and is illustrated in E. Bassi, Canova, 1943, p. 16 and pl. 22 (wrongly attributed to Canova) and also G. Pavanello, L'opera completa del Canova, 1976, p. 135 (wrongly attributed to Canova).
This present version appears to be unrecorded and is -- besides the Gorhambury version – the only bust outside of a museum collection. This offers a rare opportunity for a modern-day collector to acquire a sophisticated example of Grand Tour sculpture -- as dazzlingly beautiful today as it was when a young sculptor from County Kilkenny was ushered into the Vatican and introduced to Pope Clement XIV.
Late 18th century Rome was the high-point of the Grand Tour and Hewetson was at its epicenter. The Grand Tour was an education in the glorious landscape, history, architecture and art of Italy. And in the late 17th and 18th centuries, young men of fortune and education traveled to Italy to be exposed to the cultural feast that country, and its Antique past, had to offer.
The English were, by far, the most enthusiastic of the Grand Tourists and, in Rome, these English collectors and artists were often clustered around Thomas Jenkins. Jenkins was an important dealer in Antiquities, a banker to his visiting countrymen and also acted as an unofficial English ambassador to the Vatican. By the mid-1760’s, it was clear to English visitors that Jenkins and Hewetson were already close friends – and they were to remains friends until both men died in the same year of 1798 (Hodgkinson, op. cit., pp. 43-44 and 53). Jenkins was particularly close to Pope Clement XIV and would have undoubtedly provided the introduction to the Pope that Hewetson needed. Hewetson was already supplying busts, closely based on the Antique prototypes so favored by the Grand Tourists, to such well-known collectors as Charles Towneley (1769), Sir Watkyn Williams Wynn (1769) and William Henry, Duke of Gloucester (1772) (Ibid., pp. 42-43). Pope Clement XIV was a well-known collector of Antiquities – and client of Thomas Jenkins – and he had founded the Museo Pio Clementino in 1771 originally to display Antique and Renaissance sculpture, and many late 18th century sculptors were hired to ‘restore’ these pieces. Hewetson, with his deep knowledge of Ancient Greek and Roman busts, combined with his talent for humanizing his sitters, would have been an appealing choice for Clement XIV. Hewetson’s extraordinary talent to carve stone was also surely appealing -- and part of the charm of this bust is the delightful and luxuriously-carved details of the Pope’s fur-lined camauro and robe, one 'forgotten' button and the splendid embroidery and bravura detail of the tied cord at the center of his chest.
Hewetson’s bust of Pope Clement XIV was his most celebrated commission. It was so famous that Hewetson sculpted at least five other marble versions as well as one plaster one. The Yale and the Musei Capitolini versions are probably both either from Hewetson’s workshop or after Hewetson (Petrucci, op. cit.). The first documented bust is dated 1771 and the final is dated 1782, eight years after Pope Clement XIV had died. Listed below are the known versions:
- Beningbrough Hall, Yorkshire, inscribed CLEMENS / XIV PON. M. / MDCCLXXI [1771] and illustrated in Country Life, LXII (1927), p. 775.
- Ammerdown House, Kilmersdon, Somerset, signed Christophorus Hewetson Fect. 1772, sold Christie's, London, 11 December 1990, lot 48, and now with The National Galleries, Scotland (NG 2525.)
- Gorhambury House, St. Albans, Hertforshire, signed Christo.us Hewetson Fect. 1772.
- Sold Christie’s, Margam Castle, 29 October, 1941, lot 461 (wrongly described as Pope Leo X) and now at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, inscribed CLEMENS . XIV . PONT . MAX and signed Christof. Hewetson Romae 1773 (A.22-1948).
- Vatican Museums, Rome and inscribed CLEMENS . XIV . P . M . and signed Chrisf.Hewetson fec.it, circa 1782.
- Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, not signed or dated (B1977.14.14).
- Musei Capitolini, Museo di Roma (MR5702), apparently not signed or dated [with circular pedestal].
- [plaster version] Museo Civico, Bassano and is illustrated in E. Bassi, Canova, 1943, p. 16 and pl. 22 (wrongly attributed to Canova) and also G. Pavanello, L'opera completa del Canova, 1976, p. 135 (wrongly attributed to Canova).
This present version appears to be unrecorded and is -- besides the Gorhambury version – the only bust outside of a museum collection. This offers a rare opportunity for a modern-day collector to acquire a sophisticated example of Grand Tour sculpture -- as dazzlingly beautiful today as it was when a young sculptor from County Kilkenny was ushered into the Vatican and introduced to Pope Clement XIV.