ance of my statues of Mars and Venus, affords me an opportunity which I gladly embrace, of acknowledging the many obligations I have to the Society. It was your approbation which stimulated, and your encouragements which enabled me to pursue those studies which a disadvantageous situation had otherwise made difficult, if not impossible. Believe me, gentlemen, I never think of the Society without gratitude, and without the highest idea of the principles on which it is formed: and which justly place it among the institutions that do honour to human nature-raise the glory of a nation-and promote the general good of mankind." To this letter the Society sent a polite answer, accompanied with their gold medal, on the reverse of which is inscribed, EMINENT MERIT. His first work in sculpture is in Christ-church college, already mentioned. The first figures he executed in marble, are at the Duke of Richmond's, at Godwood. His first monument is that of Mrs. Withers, in St. Mary's, Worcester. In the year 1777, he was employed to prepare a model of a monument to be erected in Guy's Hospital, Southwark, to the memory of the founder. It was this work, that chiefly recommended him to the execution of Lord Chatham's monument, in Guildhall. This latter gave such general satisfaction, that he was presented with a handsome gratuity, after the sum agreed for was paid. The next year, in which he became a Royal Academician, he finished the monument of Mrs. Draper. About the same time, he began a marble statue of Mars, from the model which he had before exhibited ; the commission was given him by Charles Anderson Pelham, now Lord Yarborough; but it was not completed till the year 1786. Some time in this year (1780) he executed the two groups for the top of Somerset House, and also the monument of Lord Halifax, placed in the north transept of Westminster Abbey. In the year 1781, he began the statue of Judge Blackstone, for All Souls College, Oxford: and, the next year, that of Henry the Sixth, for the AntiChapel, at Eton. There was something so singular in the manner in which he received the order for this statue, that I hope to be excused if I mention the detail. A gentleman called upon Mr. B. who appeared like a distressed clergyman applying for relief. The great respect. which he had for persons of that description, and the satisfaction he felt in relieving them, induced him, with his usual complacency, to ask this stranger to enter and be seated. He had not continued long, before he began to ask, "Pray Mr. B. have you been at Rome?" Mr. B. answered in the negative. "I suppose you have been at Wilton, to see the antiques there? No. After two or three more such questions and answers, he said, with his patience almost exhausted, "Have you ever been at Westminster Abbey?"" On Mr. B.'s replying yes, the stranger said, "I may, however, as well walk to your rooms, and look at your works." He examined them attentively, saying, as he passed, "Well-very well-excellent and all this produced without going abroad! But I can tell you one thing, and that is, you have no need to go." He then gave an order for a bust of Henry the Sixth for Eton College, and paid down half the price. After this was executed, he wrote a polite letter of approbation, saying he had but one fault to find with the performance, which was, that it was not carried down to the feet, (or a whole length.) Soon after he called again on Mr. B. and informed him, that he had left a sum of money in his will, for a statue of the abovementioned king, to be placed in the Chapel of Eton College: "But," said he, "upon second thoughts it seems I had better have it done while I live; and you should set about it immediately, but that I know your custom is to have half the sum paid down at giving the order: now this is not quite convenient to me at present; but I think I could let you have 1001." "Pray, sir," said Mr. B. "don't let that be a consideration-you have always shown yourself a man of honour-I shåll leave every thing to your convenience, and make the design directly." "I think," said the gentleman, after a pause, "I can let you have 2001.:" after thus demurring, he paid down the whole customary deposit before he left the house. In the year 1783, the inhabitants of Jersey having determined to perpetuate the memory of the gallant Major Pierson, who fell in the defence of that island against the French, the execution of the monument was committed to Mr. B. It may here be remarked, that, in the different competitions with rival artists, Mr. B. has been almost always successful; there being but one exception out of sixteen instances. Of the works which Mr. B. exhibited at the Royal Academy, the following may be enumerated: statues of Mars and Venus; a colossal bust of Jupiter; a colossal statue of the Thames; several small figures in marble; and a monument, since placed in the Cathedral of Bristol, to the memory of Mrs. Draper, celebrated by Sterne under the name of Eliza. When Mr. B. exhibited his statute of the Thames just mentioned, it was noticed by a certain great personage, who, after having expressed her admiration of it as a work of art, inquired, why he could not "avoid making it so frightful a figure." replied, "Art cannot always effect that which is still within the reach of nature--the union of beauty and majesty." He But the most important work hitherto presented to the public by Mr. B. is the monument of the Earl of Chatham, erected in Westminster Abbey. This was begun in the year 1778, and finished in It may perhaps be produced as an instance, not only that true genius is the growth of the British Isle; but that it may be fully ripened in it, unassisted by foreign aid. When young, Mr. B.'s abilities as an artist were not called in question, except with respect to the antique; of which some affirmed that he understood nothing. On this occasion, he modelled his large head of Jupiter Tonans, which was inspected by several eminent connoisseurs, and mistaken for a fine antique: they even inquired from what temple abroad it had been brought. Of his different works, it is not the design of these memoirs to present a regular list, and much less to enter into a critical investigation of their respective merits.* They are before the public, who hitherto have marked them with a distinguished approbation and they will be accompanied through * I shall here insert some observations of this kind from Dallaway's Anecdotes of the Arts in England." "The works of Bacon, Banks, Nollekins, Wilton, and Flaxman, will rescue the present age from being totally indebted to foreigners for perfection in statuary. His present Majesty at Christ-church, a bust, by the first mentioned, has the strength of Bernini." "In the Hall at All Souls is a statue of Judge Blackstone, sitting and habited in his magistratical character, which is indeed full of spirit and dignity. It commands attention, and expresses importance. But the question respecting the costume will occur to most spectators; and Bacon imposed a hard task upon himself when he undertook such a profusion of wig and ermine. Perhaps, so rigid an adherence to verisimilitude may be in most instances relaxed, with happier effect, if not totally dispensed with. Nothing, however, between an exact representation of the dress of the times and the true antique should be admitted in statuary. Kent's fancy dress for Shakspeare in Westminster Abbey, and of the Duke of Somerset at Cambridge, habited as if he had lived in the reign of Charles the First, are incorrect. In St. Paul's Cathedral the statues of Johnson and Howard, both by Bacon, are in opposite styles. The Philoso pher is in the habit of an Athenian, gigantic, rather than colossal; while the head of the Philanthropist is dressed like that of a gentle future ages with the applause of a Poet;* the productions of whose genius will probably be admired, till that period at which it will be said, Time shall be no longer. I was, however, surprised at being assured by Mr. John Bacon, jun. that his father never used to man of our own times- -But the full dress of an English Judge has insuperable disadvantages; and few artists would have succeeded so well as Bacon." "At Christ-church are busts of General Guise, Archbishop Robinson, Bishop Barrington, &c. and at Pembroke College one of Dr. Johnson, all by Bacon, and elaborately finished. For a very memorable improvement in sepulchral statuary we are indebted to him. The idea of representing the virtues of the deceased by symbolical figures, if not original, is well applied." "Bacon has adopted this mode very happily, though not without repetition of his first thoughts; and has attained to nearly an equal degree of perfection in several of his emblematical figures, which are seen in Westminster Abbey, the Abbey church at Bath, and Bristol Cathedral, where his monument to Mrs. Elizabeth Draper (Sterne's Eliza) is exquisitely simple." "One of Bacon's last works was a monument for Mr. Whitbread, which is a beautiful composition. His figure of Benevolence is again introduced with a variation only in the attitude. It is well worthy the antique.- But another marble, scarcely finished at the time of his death, will secure him a lasting fame for originality and classical taste. It is the Coenotaph lately erected at Westminster Abbey te the poet Mason. A Muse holding his profile on a medallion, reclines on an antique altar, on which are sculptured, in relief, a lyre, the tragic masque, and laurel wreath; all of the most correct form, as seen on ancient sarcophagi of the pure ages-" "Bacon's monument to the poet Gray is due to the classical design of his friend Mason. That to Lord Chatham certainly displays a very grand group. The Brittannia is the Urbs Roma, and the Thames is the Tiber of the Capitol, copied with the appropriate variation of the attributes. The monument to Lord R. Manners exhibits the antique Neptune." "With the English school of sculpture, founded by Bacon, Banks, Nollekins, and Wilton, no nation, excepting Italy, will offer a successful competition." * Bacon there Gives more than female beauty to a stone, The pow'rs of Sculpture, but the style as much. COWPER. |