English Sculpture of the 17th Century

1. Overview of the development of English Sculpture

Sculpture in England developed along with architecture, as the sculptors worked together with architects on the construction and decoration of buildings. At the same time, the sculpture is dominated by foreign masters - Italians, French, Dutch - who were entrusted with the most important works, in particular, the execution of statues of the first persons of the state.

In the 17th century, English architects attracted schools of more or less handicraft type of stone carvers and sculptors, whose masters had not only to decorate buildings with sculptures, but also to supply tombstones, the demand for which did not stop. The chief master of the first half of the seventeenth century was Nicholas Ston (1586–1647). For Inigo Jones, he performed the magnificent southern portal of Saint Mary Csech in Oxford, and on his own responsibility - the gate of Otands Park in Surrey. The best gravestone monuments were made according to his own sketches, published by Walpole already, such as: a simple monument to the poet Spencer (1620), an elegant, made, however, according to someone else's pattern, a seated statue of Francis Golles in Westminster Abbey, a wonderful monument dressed in a shroud d Donna (1631) in the Cathedral of St. Paul in London and the tomb of Sir Julius Caesar in Gret Saint Elens. In his homeland, he kept the Dutch style of his era without much warmth or individuality.

Sculptures of the highest order are still entrusted to foreigners. A rather nice-looking copper equestrian statue of Charles I in Charing Cross in London (cast in 1633) belongs to Hubert Le Sour (died in 1652), a Frenchman, a disciple of Giovanni da Bologna, who worked in England more than once. Lovely bust of Lady Cottington in Westminster Abbey was made by Italian contemporary of Soor Francesco Fanelli, who died, like him, in England.

In the second half of the 17th century, Flensburg-born Kayus Gabriel Zibber (1630–1700), known to have appeared in Holland, played a famous role among English sculptors. Often mention is made of his reclining, in a realistic spirit, stone figures of quiet and violent insanity, which he carried out for the portal of the home of the crazy Bethley Hospital (Bedlam). They belong to the South Kensington Museum.

However, the British more and more began to devote themselves to sculpture. The best master, attracted by Sir Christopher Wren, was Francis Bird (1667–1731), who studied in Brussels and Rome. He belongs to the high relief on the gable floor of the Cathedral of St.. Paul, with eight horse figures, depicting Paul's address, marked only by external revival, then Queen Anne's excellent seated statue in front of the cathedral, later replaced by a copy, and Dr. Besby’s characteristic bust at Westminster Abbey. On the same ground stood John Befnell, whose best work is Coeley's tombstone at Westminster Abbey. Grinling Gibbons (1648–1721), an Englishman of Dutch origin, was known as a decorative woodcarver with a direct sense of nature. His best decorative works are in Windsor Castle, in the Cathedral of St. Paul and in the castles of Chatsworth, Petworts and Burley House. His lead statue of James II in St. James Park in London is a thing not worthless, although not saying anything. Better his base of the above-mentioned sitting statue of Charles I in Charing Cross. In any case, Armstrong calls him the first English sculptor who created freely and independently in the spirit of the Renaissance.