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Bust of William Pitt
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SM SC24. ©Sir John Soane's Museum, London. Photo: Art UK
John Flaxman RA (1755 - 1826), sculptor
Bust of William Pitt
Plaster
Height: 59cm
Width: 32cm
Depth: 24cm
Width: 32cm
Depth: 24cm
Museum number: SC24
On display: Staircase - first to second floor (pre-booked tours only)
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
This bust is associated with John Flaxman’s designs for a monument to Pitt, see M1087. Soane chose to acquire two figures of Pitt and this bust when he had the chance to acquire items from John Flaxman’s collections. Soane owed much to the Pitt family as his youthful meeting with Thomas Pitt (cousin of William Pitt) in Rome had led later to his nomination for the post of Architect to the Bank of England, the job which he later described as ‘the pride and boast of my life’. Soane was sympathetic to Pitt’s Whig politics but also wished his museum to enshrine the memory of the most celebrated of his contempories.
Literature
Helen Dorey ‘Soane and Flaxman’ in Flaxman: Master of the Purest Line, Exhibition Catalogue, Sir John Soane’s Museum 2003
Associated items
Soane collections online is being continually updated. If you wish to find out more or if you have any further information about this object please contact us: worksofart@soane.org.uk