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Lot Essay
This important bust of Odysseus, a highlight from the Mougins Museum of Classical Art, is an enduring testament to the legacy of Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, and illustrative of the priorities of the bust’s first known owner, Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol (1730-1803). The legendary Greek king of Ithaca is displayed here with deep-set eyes, a slightly furrowed brow, a full beard, luxurious curly hair and his characteristic pilos helmet. The base of the helmet is ornamented with a wave pattern, above which is a band of dancing Erotes alternating with palmettes. Above is a frieze of rosettes inscribed in intertwined scrolls. The cap of the helmet features another rosette encircled by tongues. According to S. Albersmeier (op. cit., 2009, Heroes: Mortals and Myths in Ancient Greece), the overall visual effect of the bust “accord[s] with the depiction of a traveler instead of a well-groomed Greek living in the comfort of his house” and therefore must depict the hero during his ten year journey home after the Trojan War.
This bust is first recorded in a painting by J.H.W. Tischbein (1751-1829), executed in 1794 when the artist resided in Naples, and now in a Private Collection (see fig. 1). Tischbein, so fond of Homer, was noted as saying, “I long nurtured the wish that those around me on my deathbed should place the IIliad on brow and the Odyssey on my breast” (see p. 143 in M. Kunze, ed., op. cit.). Tischbein’s fascination with Homer would culminate in the 1801 publication of Homer nach Antiken gezeichnet, a volume that sought to illustrate characters from the Greek poet’s works drawn from ancient visual sources. The present bust is illustrated twice: in the first volume, alongside the heads of other mythological figures, including Diomedes, Menelaus and Paris (fig. 2); and in the second volume, which partially reproduces the painting Tischbein completed earlier in Naples (fig. 3). It is not known when or where Tischbein first encountered the Odysseus, but in the accompanying text to Homer nach Antiken gezeichnet by Christian Gottlob Heyne (1729-1812), a professor of classical philology at Göttingen University, it is noted that the bust was by then in the collection of Lord Hervey.
As R. Campion observes, the Earl Bishop, as Lord Hervey was known (he later became the Bishop of Cloyne (1768-1768) and of Derry (1768-1803)), “diagnosed himself and his friends to be rabid: mad about the classical world, salivating at the possibilities of acquiring antiquities. Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry, was the ultimate tourist, spending more than twenty years abroad over six Grand Tours” (see p. 19 in J. Stobart, ed., Travel and the British Country House). While his early trips focused more on his political ambitions – he met with the leader of the Corsican independence movement on his first Grand Tour and with Pope Clement XIV on his second – his later travels were primarily concerned with securing art for his three large country houses, Downhill, Ballyscullion and Ickworth. Lord Hervey’s interest in antiquity was broad. Not only did he purchase original Roman wall frescos from the Villa Negroni in Rome (their fate today is unknown; it is possible that they deteriorated before they could be displayed), he also financed the excavations at Practica di Mare near Ostia. Lord Hervey planned to use his knowledge in ancient literature as a guide for future excavations, noting, “…now I am going to dig at Antium where the Apollo Belvedere was found & where Strabo the geographer of August Cesar says all the rich Romans had rich Villas” (see p. 36 in Campion, op. cit.).
Like Tischbein, Lord Hervey was deeply interested in Homer and even planned entire decorative schemes at his homes around works inspired by the bard. At Ickworth, Hervey imported two artists from Italy, Casimiri and Donato Carabelli, to model a terracotta frieze in the house’s rotunda based on John Flaxman’s illustrations of The Odyssey and Iliad. Tischbein and Hervey’s receptiveness to Homer was aligned more broadly with the cultural zeitgeist of the late 18th century. As J.L. Fitton, et al. remark (op. cit., p. 198), during the 18th century ancient Greek culture was seen as embodying “the immortal values and ideals of freedom, truth and friendship. Such ideals became a potent force in the Age of Enlightment…[it] was in the Classics, notably the works of Homer, by now translated into all major European languages, that European thinkers found these ideals most profoundly expressed.”
Investigating the fate of Lord Hervey’s extensive collection “is hampered by the demolition of Ballyscullion in 1813 and by the fire at Downhill in 1851, followed by the removal of the roof in 1950. Ickworth was only partially built at Hervey’s death so that the completed house and furnishings owe much to his son. Very few artworks, furniture, plate items or books are traceable through the waves of dispersals” (see Campion, op. cit., p. 19). It is presently not known for which of Lord Hervey’s houses the Odysseus was meant or how it travelled through the market between 1801 and its reappearance at Christie’s London in 2005. Extant shipping lists of items purchased by Hervey are too vague to make any definitive matches (see pp. 282-284 in I. Bignamini and C. Hornsby, Digging and Dealing in Eighteenth Century Rome, vol. 1). An 1804 sale catalogue of Hervey’s possessions left in Rome at the time of his death list numerous paintings and sculptures, although none that appear to correspond with the present bust (see N.F. Figgis, “The Roman Property of Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry (1730-1803),” The Walpole Society, vol. 55, pp. 77-103).
This bust features extensive 18th century restorations in the manner of Bartolmeo Cavacappi and may very well be by his hand. Like the restorations to other ancient marble busts recorded in the artist’s Raccolta d'antiche statue, busti, bassirilievi ed altre sculture, this Odysseus likewise displays a truncated torso placed upon a socle with scrollwork at the corners. The connection between Lord Hervey and Cavaceppi is well documented: during his 4th Grand Tour in 1785, he commissioned a large marble copy of the Furietti Centaur by the artist. Moreover, the 1804 auction of Lord Hervey’s Roman property mentions an ancient sculpture of Venus with a dolphin restored by Cavaceppi and four modern sculptures by him.
This bust is first recorded in a painting by J.H.W. Tischbein (1751-1829), executed in 1794 when the artist resided in Naples, and now in a Private Collection (see fig. 1). Tischbein, so fond of Homer, was noted as saying, “I long nurtured the wish that those around me on my deathbed should place the IIliad on brow and the Odyssey on my breast” (see p. 143 in M. Kunze, ed., op. cit.). Tischbein’s fascination with Homer would culminate in the 1801 publication of Homer nach Antiken gezeichnet, a volume that sought to illustrate characters from the Greek poet’s works drawn from ancient visual sources. The present bust is illustrated twice: in the first volume, alongside the heads of other mythological figures, including Diomedes, Menelaus and Paris (fig. 2); and in the second volume, which partially reproduces the painting Tischbein completed earlier in Naples (fig. 3). It is not known when or where Tischbein first encountered the Odysseus, but in the accompanying text to Homer nach Antiken gezeichnet by Christian Gottlob Heyne (1729-1812), a professor of classical philology at Göttingen University, it is noted that the bust was by then in the collection of Lord Hervey.
As R. Campion observes, the Earl Bishop, as Lord Hervey was known (he later became the Bishop of Cloyne (1768-1768) and of Derry (1768-1803)), “diagnosed himself and his friends to be rabid: mad about the classical world, salivating at the possibilities of acquiring antiquities. Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry, was the ultimate tourist, spending more than twenty years abroad over six Grand Tours” (see p. 19 in J. Stobart, ed., Travel and the British Country House). While his early trips focused more on his political ambitions – he met with the leader of the Corsican independence movement on his first Grand Tour and with Pope Clement XIV on his second – his later travels were primarily concerned with securing art for his three large country houses, Downhill, Ballyscullion and Ickworth. Lord Hervey’s interest in antiquity was broad. Not only did he purchase original Roman wall frescos from the Villa Negroni in Rome (their fate today is unknown; it is possible that they deteriorated before they could be displayed), he also financed the excavations at Practica di Mare near Ostia. Lord Hervey planned to use his knowledge in ancient literature as a guide for future excavations, noting, “…now I am going to dig at Antium where the Apollo Belvedere was found & where Strabo the geographer of August Cesar says all the rich Romans had rich Villas” (see p. 36 in Campion, op. cit.).
Like Tischbein, Lord Hervey was deeply interested in Homer and even planned entire decorative schemes at his homes around works inspired by the bard. At Ickworth, Hervey imported two artists from Italy, Casimiri and Donato Carabelli, to model a terracotta frieze in the house’s rotunda based on John Flaxman’s illustrations of The Odyssey and Iliad. Tischbein and Hervey’s receptiveness to Homer was aligned more broadly with the cultural zeitgeist of the late 18th century. As J.L. Fitton, et al. remark (op. cit., p. 198), during the 18th century ancient Greek culture was seen as embodying “the immortal values and ideals of freedom, truth and friendship. Such ideals became a potent force in the Age of Enlightment…[it] was in the Classics, notably the works of Homer, by now translated into all major European languages, that European thinkers found these ideals most profoundly expressed.”
Investigating the fate of Lord Hervey’s extensive collection “is hampered by the demolition of Ballyscullion in 1813 and by the fire at Downhill in 1851, followed by the removal of the roof in 1950. Ickworth was only partially built at Hervey’s death so that the completed house and furnishings owe much to his son. Very few artworks, furniture, plate items or books are traceable through the waves of dispersals” (see Campion, op. cit., p. 19). It is presently not known for which of Lord Hervey’s houses the Odysseus was meant or how it travelled through the market between 1801 and its reappearance at Christie’s London in 2005. Extant shipping lists of items purchased by Hervey are too vague to make any definitive matches (see pp. 282-284 in I. Bignamini and C. Hornsby, Digging and Dealing in Eighteenth Century Rome, vol. 1). An 1804 sale catalogue of Hervey’s possessions left in Rome at the time of his death list numerous paintings and sculptures, although none that appear to correspond with the present bust (see N.F. Figgis, “The Roman Property of Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry (1730-1803),” The Walpole Society, vol. 55, pp. 77-103).
This bust features extensive 18th century restorations in the manner of Bartolmeo Cavacappi and may very well be by his hand. Like the restorations to other ancient marble busts recorded in the artist’s Raccolta d'antiche statue, busti, bassirilievi ed altre sculture, this Odysseus likewise displays a truncated torso placed upon a socle with scrollwork at the corners. The connection between Lord Hervey and Cavaceppi is well documented: during his 4th Grand Tour in 1785, he commissioned a large marble copy of the Furietti Centaur by the artist. Moreover, the 1804 auction of Lord Hervey’s Roman property mentions an ancient sculpture of Venus with a dolphin restored by Cavaceppi and four modern sculptures by him.