John Cheere (1709 - 87) The Man at Hyde Park Corner.

  A monumental Enoch Wood pearlware figure of Demosthenes, circa 1790-1810. Height 48.3 cms. Bonhams, saleroom, London, Lot 260, 18 June 2024. The Athenian orator, his papers and a quill resting on a pedestal to his left painted to simulate marble, with a relief panel depicting Hermes above a smaller figure of Demosthenes on a cliffside overlooking ships at sea, the base picked out in cobalt blue, 48.3cm high Footnotes: A similar figure with impressed mark 'E Wood' was sold by Bonhams on 20 October 2009, lot 122. Another marked example from the Glaisher Bequest is in the Fitzwilliam Museum (inv. no.C.900-1928), where it is noted that the figure had been previously identified as St Paul and also as Eloquence.  However, the model would appear to be after a plaster figure of Demosthenes by John Cheere. See Pat Halfpenny, English Earthenware Figures 1740-1840 (1991), pp.159-62 for further discussion of the source of this impressive model. For further information on this lot

  Edward Hurst (fl 1691 - 1714).  Statuary at Hyde Park Corner. Hurst had a property rated at £12 in Portugal Row in 1699 and by 1714 he owned two further properties in the area. In 1716 John Nost II, the cousin of John van Nost I, took over one of these properties and in 1717 Hurst took over the property of Richard Osgood (fl. 1691 - 1724) and was still living in the area in 1720. Hurst Signs the monument of John Bohun and his wife Mary and daughter Mary at Holy Trinity, Coventry. (below)  Info above from Dictionary of Sculptor pub Yale 2009. ........................... Lead Shepherdess at Charlecote Park. Warwickshire. 168 cms. National Trust. image from -  https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/533387 John Bohun and his wife Mary and daughter Mary at Holy Trinity, Coventry. ..................................... Monument to Gilbert Lort of Stackpoole, Pembs. 1698 The monument has been removed. Image from Darts Westmonasterium Westminster Abbey. The monument to Sir Gilbert

John Cheere at Hyde Park Corner The Observer. [A Collection of Essays. By R. Cumberland.] Vol. 1. 1785 page 33. There is a  reference to his work by the satirist Richard Cumberland in his visit to Sir Theodore and Lady Thimble.  Describing the approach to Sir Theodore’s estate he remarks ‘upon having  caught the glimpse of a well-dressed gentleman, standing in a very becoming attitude, who, I concluded, must be the master of the mansion, waiting our approach; and as I perceived, he had his hat under his arm, expecting us with great politeness and civility, I instantly took mine from my head … but, how was I surprised to find, in place of Sir Theodore, a leaden statue on a pair of ‘scates’, painted in a blue and gold coat, with a red waistcoat, whose person, upon closer examination, I recollected to have been acquainted with some years ago, amongst the elegant group, which a certain celebrated artist exhibits to the amusement of stage-coaches and country wagons, upon their entrance into

(Post in preparation).  John Cheere (1709 - 87), The Man at Hyde Park Corner. Sculptor. Son of John and Mary Cheere of Clapham. Baptised in Clapham on 12 January 1709. Younger brother of sculptor (Sir) Henry Cheere (1703 - 81). In 1737 Henry Cheere and his brother John leased a property together from Anthony Noast (van Nost) in Portugal Row, Piccadilly. Roque the mapmaker described himself as living next door to Cheere's Statuary Yard at the Duke of Grafton's Head. (1743 - 49) where he published his famous map of London. see -  https://mapforum.com/2022/03/09/biography-john-rocque/ ........................... Statuaries at Hyde Park Corner. Sculptor / statuaries Richard Osgood (d. 1724), Edward Hurst, Josias Iback, John Nost the Elder, Andrew Carpenter, (Charpentiere), the Huguenot Henry Nadauld (otherwise Nadue, Noddo, Neddos) 1653 - 1724, Thomas Carter I, William Collins, Richard Dickinson and Thomas Manning (d.1747)  All had yards and workshops at Portugal Row and the Stone