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Roundel, a head of Cupid Bacchus after an antique gem
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Roundel, a head of Cupid Bacchus. SM SC38. ©Sir John Soane's Museum, London. Photo: John Bridges
Miss Maria Denman ( - 1861, fl. 1808 - 61), sculptor
Roundel, a head of Cupid Bacchus after an antique gem
c.1807
Plaster
Diameter: 1.15ft, plaster only
Museum number: SC38
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 roundel depicts Cupid crowned with 'a chaplet of Ivy and Indian corn, bound with a sacred fillet' [1837 inventory description]. His right hand is in a sling, the left hand is not shown. Small wings appear behind the shoulders.
Maria Denman was the sculptor John Flaxman's sister-in-law and a close friend of Sir John Soane. This 'cupid's head in plaster' won her the silver medal of the Society of Arts in 1807: the medal is also in Soane's collection (SM SDR21.15). Soane's 1835 Description notes that it was 'copied from an antique gem by M. Denman'. The transactions of the Society of Arts record her award on a long list of recipients without any detail: To Miss Maria Denman, Buckingham-place, for a beautiful plaster model of a Cupid's head, the silver medal. The roundel is in a substantial circular frame, presumably that in which it was exhibited at the Society of Arts. In the same year, she also won a silver medal for her work on the design of the medal itself, with John Flaxman.
The roundel hangs on the one of the jambs of a window on the main staircase, just above the Tivoli Recess, a small space filled with sculpture. On the opposite jamb is a medallion Portrait of John Flaxman, her brother-in-law [SM SC43].
A portrait of Maria Denman by Flaxman hangs in Soane's Dressing Room.
Maria Denman was the sculptor John Flaxman's sister-in-law and a close friend of Sir John Soane. This 'cupid's head in plaster' won her the silver medal of the Society of Arts in 1807: the medal is also in Soane's collection (SM SDR21.15). Soane's 1835 Description notes that it was 'copied from an antique gem by M. Denman'. The transactions of the Society of Arts record her award on a long list of recipients without any detail: To Miss Maria Denman, Buckingham-place, for a beautiful plaster model of a Cupid's head, the silver medal. The roundel is in a substantial circular frame, presumably that in which it was exhibited at the Society of Arts. In the same year, she also won a silver medal for her work on the design of the medal itself, with John Flaxman.
The roundel hangs on the one of the jambs of a window on the main staircase, just above the Tivoli Recess, a small space filled with sculpture. On the opposite jamb is a medallion Portrait of John Flaxman, her brother-in-law [SM SC43].
A portrait of Maria Denman by Flaxman hangs in Soane's Dressing Room.
Literature
RSA Transactions, vol 25, 1807, p. 20 [Available online: Transactions of the Society, Instituted at London, for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, vol. 25, 1807, pp. 1–20. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41325786]
Sir John Soane, Description...., 1835, p.85
Sir John Soane, Description...., 1835, p.85
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