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‘Kemble inspired by the genius of Shakespeare’, c.1817
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Relief in frame. SM BR25. ©Sir John Soane's Museum, London. Photo: Art UK
John Flaxman RA (1755 - 1826), sculptor
‘Kemble inspired by the genius of Shakespeare’, c.1817
Plaster relief, glazed
Height: 22.3cm
Width: 20cm
Depth: 2.6cm
Width: 20cm
Depth: 2.6cm
Museum number: BR25
On display: Breakfast Room
All spaces are in No. 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields unless identified as in No. 12, Soane's first house.
For tours https://www.soane.org/your-visit
Curatorial note
Bas-relief showing the actor John Phillip Kemble seated right and looking left towards a winged genius whose left hand points to a bust of Shakespeare mounted on a high pedestal. The earliest inventories of the Museum (1837) record that this is a 'Cast from the vase presented to John Phillip Kemble on his retiring from the Stage 27th June, 1817'. The vase itself, with a tripod stand, was carried out by the goldsmiths Rundell and Bridge. According to J.T.Smith (Life of Nollekins, vol. ii, p. 362) this and the companion panel (BR27) were designed by Flaxman and modelled by his pupil, E. H. Baily. The two reliefs were sent to Soane by Miss Denman in 1836-37 (Trustees Minutes, Feb. 27, 1837) and later acquired by the Trustees.
This small relief is in a frame glazed with yellow glass and set into the Breakfast Room chimneypiece (see also BR26, BR27).
This small relief is in a frame glazed with yellow glass and set into the Breakfast Room chimneypiece (see also BR26, BR27).
Literature
Helen Dorey ‘Soane and Flaxman’ in Flaxman: Master of the Purest Line, Exhibition Catalogue, Sir John Soane’s Museum 2003
Associated items
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