John Michael Rysbrack

John Rysbrack
Rysbrack byAndrea Soldi,c. 1753
Born	24 June 1694 Antwerp,Brabant,Spain
Died	8 January 1770(1770-01-08)(aged 75) London,England,Great Britain
Parent	Pieter Rijsbraeck

Johannes MichelorJohn Michael Rysbrack,original nameJan Michiel Rijsbrack,often referred to simply asMichael Rysbrack(24 June 1694– 8 January 1770), was an 18th-centuryFlemishsculptor,who spent most of his career in England where he was one of the foremost sculptors of monuments, architectural decorations and portraits in the first half of the 18th century. His style combined the Flemish Baroque with Classical influences. He operated an important workshop whose output left an important imprint on the practice of sculpture in England.

Family background and early life

Rysbrack was born on 24 June 1694 inAntwerp,the son of the landscape painterPieter Rijsbraeckand Geneviève (Genoveva) Compagnon, a French woman who his father had married in France.

John was apprenticed to the Antwerp sculpture master Michiel van der Voort (the Elder) from 1706 to 1712.He became a member of theGuild of St. LukeinAntwerpin the Guild year 1714/1715.The following year he took on two apprentices. None of his works from this period have been preserved.

Michael's siblings included a number of artists. His older brotherPieter Andreaswas a still life and landscape painter while his younger brotherGerardwas a painter of still lifes, game pieces, hunting scenes and mythological scenes. Pieter Andreas and John Michael moved to London around 1720 where they built successful careers. Gerard later joined his two brothers in England.

Self-Portrait

Career

InLondon,Rysbrack quickly established himself as the leading sculptor, a position he was to retain until the mid-1740s, remaining one of the top three sculptors in Britain until shortly before his death.He operated an important workshop with many assistants, including other Flemish sculptors such asGaspar van der HagenandJames Francis Verskovis.

He produced vivid portraits and monuments of lively baroque composition, rapidly establishing himself as a highly sought-after sculptor. He executed busts and funerary monuments of many of the most prominent men of his day, including themonumenttoIsaac NewtoninWestminster Abbey,a statue ofMarlborough,andbustsofWalpole,Bolingbroke,andPope.DrCox Macrocommissioned him to make a bust of Flemish painterPeter Tillemanson his death in 1734.

In 1733 he carved a magnificent marble portrait bust ofGeorge Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney(1666–1737) in the guise of a Roman centurion. Orkney was a distinguished general serving under the Duke of Marlborough. Orkney had taken the surrender of the French at theBattle of Blenheimin 1704, and he took part in numerous subsequent battles during theWar of the Spanish Succession.One of Rysbrack's greatest works, the bust of Lord Orkney is on display at theVictoria and Albert Museum,London. Its special character owes something to a bond between the sculptor and Lord Orkney, one that had its origins nearly 30 years earlier and was no doubt enhanced in their conversation when Lord Orkney sat to the sculptor for the modelling of the bust. Rysbrack would have been aware of Lord Orkney's heroism during the various campaigns in the Low Countries during the War of the Spanish Succession, not least theBattle of Ramillieson 23 May 1706 after which Orkney led the pursuit of the defeated French forces. Following the battle and pursuit, city after city – including Brussels, Bruges and Antwerp – capitulated to Marlborough's forces. In Antwerp, Rysbrack's home city, to which Orkney was dispatched by Marlborough with re-enforcements for Major-General Cadogan, the Spanish Governor was in no mood to offer even a token resistance, and constrained the French part of the garrison to join him in surrendering the city on 6 June. The arrival in Antwerp of Marlborough's victorious forces, led by Orkney (Marlborough himself arriving on 12 June) is an event that Rysbrack, then a boy aged 12, would surely have witnessed. These events must have given sculptor and Lord Orkney a great deal of opportunity for shared reminiscences during the sittings for the bust.

InSt Michael and All Angels Church, Badminton,there is another splendid monument by Rysbrack, signed and dated 1754. The2ndand the3rdDuke of Beaufortare depicted in Roman costume, one standing, the other seated on the sarcophagus and holding a medallion. Decorative, asymmetricaldraperyhangs down over the sarcophagus.

Rysbrack also cast thebronzeequestrian statue of William IIIinQueen Square,Bristolin 1733, and sculpted a later monument toEdward ColstoninAll Saints' Church, Bristol.

Death

Rysbrack died inVere Street,Westminster,in 1770and is buried inSt Marylebone Parish Church.

Monuments in Westminster Abbey

Newton's tomb monument inWestminster Abbeyby Rysbrack

Rysbrack is particularly well represented inWestminster Abbeywith monuments to:

• John Methuen
• Nicholas Rowe
• Matthew Prior(1721)
• John Freind(with bust) (1728)
• Benjamin Johnson (1728)
• SirGodfrey Kneller(1730)
• Mrs Oldfield (1730)
• SirIsaac Newton(1731)
• Daniel Pulteney(1732)
• John Gay(1732)
• Earl Stanhope(1733)
• SirRichard Kane(1736)
• John Milton(1737)
• Ben Jonson(1737) 100 years after his death
• The Hon. John Hay (1751)
• Edward Vernon(1763)

Other notable works include the tomb of DeanPeter Drelincourtin Armagh Cathedral.

Gallery

• 
  King William III,Queen Square,Bristol
• 
  Inigo Jones,Chiswick House,London
• 
  Bust ofPeter Tillemans,1727, Yale Center for British Art
• 
  Model for the tomb of Sir Isaac Newton,Victoria and Albert Museum
• 
  Hans Sloane,British Library,London
• 
  MarblebustofWilliam III,ca. 1736,Yale Center for British Art,New Haven, Connecticut
• 
  Tomb monument forSir Watkin Williams-Wynn,Ruabon,Denbighshire, erected 1755
• 
  Thuner,originally in the gardensStowe Housenow at theV&A Museum,London,England

External links

80 artworks by or after John Michael Rysbrackat theArt UKsite