FDA-Sc.1-2017
Parts
Object number
FDA-Sc.1-2017
Object type
Identification
Title
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Title Type
assigned by cataloguer
Description
Painted cast of a bust of a young man with wide collar
Comments
Originally modelled by Mrs. Leigh Hunt during Shelley's last days and finished after his death. It was probably intended to be placed on Shelley's grave in the Protestant Cemetery, in Rome, but was rejected by Shelley's family who required a more idealised portrait. Leigh Hunt gave the bust to Thomas Carlyle, who in turn gave it to Robert Browning. It was sold in the 1913 Browning sale, wrongly attributed as a bust of Browning's uncle, amd bought by Wilfrid Meynell. In 1939 Marshall Field of Chicago purchased the bust from Dr. Rosenbach for $8,750 and presented it to Eton, a deal arranged by Shane Leslie.
‘One of the treasures of College Library is a plaster cast of Marianne Hunt’s bust of Eton’s most famous poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley. Given to Eton by the rich Chicago publishing tycoon Marshall Field III in 1939, it came with a glittering provenance… [It] had been sold at Sotheby’s in 1913 to Wilfred Meynell, and later bought by Field, who had himself been educated at Eton. Urged by another OE friend Shane Leslie, Field had then presented it to his alma mater… Originally sculpted in clay by the wife of Shelley’s close friend Leigh Hunt, a few years after the poet’s death, the bust was intended for Shelley’s grave in Rome until it was rejected by his family on the grounds it wasn’t true to life… The Leigh Hunts had a few plaster casts made of the bust and gave them to friends and to admirers. The certainly gave one to Browning… The Eton Shelley bust… was in Browning’s possession or that of his family for over 50 years and was the direct gift of the sculptor and her husband [to Browning].’
[Source: Meredith, Michael, ‘The Two Shelleys’, Eton College Collections Journal, Summer 2018, pp.8-9]
‘One of the treasures of College Library is a plaster cast of Marianne Hunt’s bust of Eton’s most famous poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley. Given to Eton by the rich Chicago publishing tycoon Marshall Field III in 1939, it came with a glittering provenance… [It] had been sold at Sotheby’s in 1913 to Wilfred Meynell, and later bought by Field, who had himself been educated at Eton. Urged by another OE friend Shane Leslie, Field had then presented it to his alma mater… Originally sculpted in clay by the wife of Shelley’s close friend Leigh Hunt, a few years after the poet’s death, the bust was intended for Shelley’s grave in Rome until it was rejected by his family on the grounds it wasn’t true to life… The Leigh Hunts had a few plaster casts made of the bust and gave them to friends and to admirers. The certainly gave one to Browning… The Eton Shelley bust… was in Browning’s possession or that of his family for over 50 years and was the direct gift of the sculptor and her husband [to Browning].’
[Source: Meredith, Michael, ‘The Two Shelleys’, Eton College Collections Journal, Summer 2018, pp.8-9]
Other number
FDA-A.481-2016
Description
Content (person)
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 1792 - 1822 (Sitter)
Dimensions
height (bust): 435mm
width (bust): 265mm
depth (bust): 215mm
height (base): 185mm
diameter (base): 300mm
width (bust): 265mm
depth (bust): 215mm
height (base): 185mm
diameter (base): 300mm
Material
paint
plaster
plaster
Materials & techniques note
Painted plaster
Physical description
On Wooden base
Production
Person
Leigh Hunt, Marianne, 1788 - 1857 (Sculptor)
Date
c.1836
History and association
Associated object
FDA-A.318-2013 (associated object)
Object history note
Provenance: Collection of the artist; by whom presented to Robert Browning; Browning sale, Sotheby's, London, 1913; from which sale purcahsed by Wilfred Meynell;; purchased by publisher Marshall Field III in c.1938; by whom presented to Eton College in 1939
