Joseph Nollekens (1737-1823) British, 1775

By repute Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield (1755-1815);
by descent to George Philip Cecil Arthur Stanhope, 7^th Earl of Chesterfield (1831-1871);
by descent to Lady Evelyn Stanhope (d. 1875); 
by marriage Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, 4^th Earl of Carnarvon (1831-1890);
certainly, George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, 5^th Earl of Carnarvon (1866-1923);
his sale, London, Christie's, 3 June 1918, lot 192 ('A Nobleman');
London, Christie's, 3 April 1985, lot 71

London, Colnaghi, The British Face. A View of Portraiture 1625-1850, 1986;
New Haven, Yale Center for British Art

J. Kenworthy-Brown, The British Face. A View of Portraiture 1625-1850, exhib. cat. Colnaghi, London, 1986, pp. 128-129, no. 63; The Burlington Magazine, Colnaghi advert, August 1986, p. xii; I. Roscoe, A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain. 1660-1851, New Haven and London, 2009, p. 906, no. 202

Overall the condition of the marble is very good. There is some dirt and wear to the surface consistent with age, including a few small chips to the edges of the drapery. There are a few minor naturally occurring inclusions to the surface, including to the face. There is a hairline scratch on the proper left cheek. There is some minor veining consistent with the material. There is a black mark to the proper left side of the hair and a slightly orange inclusion to the chin.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This fine bust, thought to represent Sir William Stanhope (1702-1772), was probably conceived as the pendant to Roubiliac's celebrated bust of the sitter's elder brother, the society wit and man of letters, Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (see Kenworthy-Brown, op. cit. p. 128). Like his brother, Sir William Stanhope mixed the life of a career politician with that of a bon vivant; as well as being an MP, he was a noted art collector and a founding member of White's. According to Horace Walpole, he was also a wit, but his was a humour 'rough and unpolished, not so frequent but more natural than his brother's, and at the same time much more bitter' (Kenworthy-Brown, op. cit. p. 128).

The present bust exhibits particularly passages of carving in the drapery and hair. Joseph Nollekens was the pre-eminent British portrait sculptor of his day, a view supported by the Romantic painter Henry Fuseli's comment that, 'in a bust he stands unrivalled ... [for] a group of figures, I should have recommended Flaxman; but for a bust, give me Nollekens' (Smith, op. cit. p. 233). The socle with classicizing inscription plaque is characteristic of Nollekens' earlier works and was probably adopted whilst he was living in Rome between 1762 and 1770.

RELATED LITERATURE
J. Kenworthy-Brown, The British Face. A View of Portraiture 1625-1850, exhib. cat. Colnaghi, London, 1986, pp. 128-129, no. 63; J. Kenworthy-Brown, 'Nollekens, Joseph (1737-1823)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford, 2004; online edn 2010; J. T. Smith, Nollekens and his Times, London, 1949, p. 233