John Cheere

A rare George III lead life sized portrait bust after the Antique of Seneca raised on a octagonal marble pedestal base. John Cheere is known to have supplied a plaster version of this bust to Temple Newsam in Leeds and there was another example at Red Hall, Manchester. This antique sculpture is the first lead example to come to light and therefore adds to our knowledge of the range produced.
Attributed to John Cheere.
England, circa 1760

Height: 90 cms (35.5 ins)

John Cheere (1709 – 1787) had his workshops at Hyde Park Corner. His yard was a popular meeting place and was visited by the public. In his time Cheere was one of England’s most celebrated sculptors and suppliers, but history has not been kind and today his brother Sir Henry Cheere enjoys the limelight. Henry was noted for his church monuments, his university statues and his fireplaces. He mainly worked in stone whilst John focused on plaster and lead, two materials that have subsequently fallen from fashion. Much of John Cheere’s work was supplying busts and vases for libraries. One of his largest commissions was 24 busts and 25 vases for the Codrington library at All Souls, Oxford. This established his reputation and he went on to supply many private clients’ libraries, the popular subjects being figures from antiquity and British literature.

Seneca (5BC-65AD) is one of the most revered figures from the classical age. Busts of him adorn many a grand private library or great house. HIs life of literature and moral philosophy together with his forced but nobly enacted suicide render him a model for many.