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Statuette of the Rt Hon. Warren Hastings, preparatory model for a statue
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SM SDR17. ©Sir John Soane's Museum, London. Photo: Art UK
John Flaxman RA (1755 - 1826), sculptor
Statuette of the Rt Hon. Warren Hastings, preparatory model for a statue
c.1820
Plaster
Height: 50cm
Width: 20cm
Depth: 17cm
Width: 20cm
Depth: 17cm
Museum number: SDR17
Not on display
Curatorial note
This may be the original maquette for the life-size marble statue of Hastings commissioned in 1820 by the East India Company for their General Court Room and erected in 1823, which now stands in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Whitehall. The portrait probably derives from Thomas Banks' portrait bust of the same sitter, for Hastings had died in 1818. Around 1784 Flaxman had modelled for Wedgwood a portrait of hastings from an engraving after Zoffany, published that year, for reproduction as a medallion. Soane also purchased in 1835 Flaxman's study for the statue of Hastings in Calcutta (now in the Victoria Memorial Hall) which was completed by his studio assistant and brother-in-law, Thomas Denman, in 1826.
Literature
David Bindman, John Flaxman, 1979 cat. 38
David Irwin, John Flaxman 1755-1826, 1979, pp.20, 183, 230 note 6. For Westmacott's monument to Hastings of 1830 (Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta) see B. Groseclose British Sculpture and the Company Raj, 1995, pp.106-109.
Helen Dorey ‘Soane and Flaxman’ in Flaxman: Master of the Purest Line, Exhibition Catalogue, Sir John Soane’s Museum 2003
Julius Bryant, Thomas Banks: Britain’s First Modern Sculptor, Exhibition Catalogue, Sir John Soane’s Museum, 2005, 34.
David Irwin, John Flaxman 1755-1826, 1979, pp.20, 183, 230 note 6. For Westmacott's monument to Hastings of 1830 (Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta) see B. Groseclose British Sculpture and the Company Raj, 1995, pp.106-109.
Helen Dorey ‘Soane and Flaxman’ in Flaxman: Master of the Purest Line, Exhibition Catalogue, Sir John Soane’s Museum 2003
Julius Bryant, Thomas Banks: Britain’s First Modern Sculptor, Exhibition Catalogue, Sir John Soane’s Museum, 2005, 34.
Exhibition history
Thomas Banks 1735-1805: Britain's First Modern Sculptor, Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 21 January - 9 April 2005
Associated items
SDR1, same subject
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