Francis Leggatt Chantrey is a British sculptor of the Georgian era, according to the Chantrey Bequest , or Chantrey Fund , who left his property to develop the artistic heritage of the nation.
| Francis Legat Chantry | |
|---|---|
| English Francis leggatt chantrey | |
 Self portrait; c. 1810 | |
| Date of Birth | April 7, 1781 |
| Place of Birth | Derbyshire |
| Date of death | November 25, 1841 (aged 60) |
| Place of death | |
| Nationality | Great Britain |
| Genre | sculptor |
| Awards | member of the Royal Society of London |
Content
Life
Chantry was born in Norton, next to Sheffield (when he was part of Derbyshire ), where his father, a carpenter, had a small farm. His father died when Chantry was 12 [1] ; his mother married again, leaving her son without a well-defined profession. At 15, when he worked for a grocer in Sheffield, he saw woodcarvings and asked to be trained by a carpenter, after which he was placed with Mr Ramsay , a carver and gilder. The quality of his work was noticed by John Raphael Smith , an outstanding artist and engraver, who gave him painting lessons [2] . In 1802, Chantry himself paid £ 50 to redeem himself from apprenticeship from Ramsay (whom he served for only 6 months) and founded his own portrait studio for portraiture in Sheffield, which allowed him to save money and move to London .
Chantry got the job of an assistant woodcarver, but at the same time devoted himself to portraiture, busts and modeling in clay. He traveled to Dublin, where he became very ill and lost all his hair [1] . Then he returned to London and exhibited his paintings at the exhibitions of the Royal Academy for several years starting in 1804, but since 1807 he devoted himself mainly to sculpture. Sculptor Joseph Noklens ( Joseph Nollekens ) noted the quality of his work. In 1807, Chantry married his cousin, Miss Ann Wale, [2] who had some of her possessions. The first creative sculpture among Chantry's works was the head of Satan, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1808. After that, he performed four huge busts for Admirals Adam Duncan, Richard Howe , John Jervis and Horatio Nelson for the Greenwich Hospital , and the rumors so quickly made him a reputation that the next bust he performed - John Horne Took - earned him £ 2,000.
Since that time, Chantry has been almost continuously engaged in paid work. In 1819 he traveled to Italy, and met there with the most outstanding sculptors of Florence and Rome. He was elected to the association (in 1815), and then to the members (in 1818) of the Royal Academy, received a master 's degree in Cambridge , a doctorate ( Doctor of Civil Law ) in Oxford , and in 1835 he was knighted. He died after an illness lasting two hours, suffering several years before suffering from heart disease, and was buried in a grave designed by him in the church of his native village in Derbyshire (now in Sheffield).
Works
Chantry has created many works. The main ones are the statue of George Washington in Boston (Massachusetts), George III in London's Gaidhall, William Pitt Jr. at Hanover Square in London, James Watt in Westminster Abbey , William Roscoe and John Dalton in Manchester City Hall , and so on; however, the marble sculpture The Sleeping Children, located in Lichfield Cathedral , is considered the best. This is not the only church monument of the sculptor; in 1826, for example, he designed a memorial in Cavan for Count Farnham [3] . The Derby Museum and Art Gallery houses an unusual bust of William Stratt, and the remarkable monument to John Dawnay is located in the Snate Church. [4]
Testament
On December 31, 1840, Chantry, who had no children, bequeathed all his movable property, which would remain after his death or after the second marriage of his widow, to the trust management of the president and trustees of the Royal Academy of Arts (or, in case of dissolution of the Academy, to the management of society which will take its place); the proceeds should have been aimed at encouraging the development of the visual arts of Great Britain and the purchase of works of art of the highest quality that can be found. Funds can accumulate for no more than five years, and the work of British or foreign artists, living or dead, can be acquired if the work was done in the UK or offshore. Prices should be “liberal”, and the acquisition of works should be based solely on the personal merits of the artist, and in no case because of a good relationship with the artist or his family. All work must be completed before purchase.
Lady Chantry died in 1875, and two years later the foundation began work. Initially, the gallery of the Victoria and Albert Museum was selected to host the works, and then the collection was transferred to the National Gallery. Courts passed in 1888-1889, at which it was proposed to pay for the work of sculptors who made casts in plaster or wax to give them funds to complete the work in bronze or marble, but the court ruled that this would be a violation of the will.
Until 1905, inclusive, 203 works were bought - all but two of them from living artists - at a cost of about £ 68,000. Of these, 175 were in oil painting, 12 - in watercolors, and 16 - sculptures (10 in bronze and 6 in marble).
The fund continues to be active to this day [5] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Dictionary of British sculptors, 1660-151, Robert Gunnis
- ↑ 1 2 Burke, Edmund. Annual Register volume 83 . - P. 232.
- ↑ Potterton, H. (1975) Irish Church Monuments, 1570-1880
- ↑ Betjeman, John, ed. (1968) Collins Pocket Guide to English Parish Churches: the North . London: Collins; p. 349
- ↑ Sharon Macdonald, Gordon Fyfe. Theorizing museums: representing identity and diversity in a changing world . - Wiley-Blackwell, 1996 .-- 236 p. - ISBN 9780631201519 .
Literature
- DS MacColl, The Administration of the Chantrey Bequest , by (London, 1904), a controversial publication by the leading assailant of the Royal Academy;
- Arthur Fish, Chantrey and His Bequest (London, 1904), a complete illustrated record of the purchases, etc .;
- HJ Laidlay, The Royal Academy, its Uses and Abuses (London, 1898), controversial;
- Report from the Select Cornmittee of the House of Lords on the Chantrey Trust , together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence and Appendix (Wyman & Sons, 1904), and Index (separate publication, 1904).