“John Horne Tooke” by Francis Chantrey

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John Horne Tooke

Francis Chantrey

1811

Marble

Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Profile

This was Chantrey's very first masterpiece, greatly admired at the time. In fact, when the plaster model for it was exhibited at the Royal Academy, the sculptor Joseph Nollekens declared it to be "the best bust of all busts" (qtd. in the Fitzwilliam handbook). It really established Chantrey's career. [continued below]

Photograph and text Jacqueline Banerjee, 2009/10.

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL.]

Uwe Geese describes it thus: "The subject is shown in a coat buttoned over the chest and a close-fitting cap. Whereas as the eyes are deep-set under heavy brows and the pupils hollowed out, the skin is shown soft" (307). Just as this likeness suggests, Tooke (1736-1822) was quite without airs, and lacked physical presence, becoming frail later in life. But he had been a brave, controversial and highly influential figure in politics, at the centre of the reform movement of the previous century, and a supporter of the American War of Independence — to the extent that he was actually imprisoned for libel in this connection — and the French Revolution. A friend to many writers and thinkers, he received such people as Anna Barbauld, William Godwin, Jeremy Bentham and Coleridge at his Wimbledon home. He was also a pioneering philologist, promoting Anglo-Saxon studies.

Bibliography

Davis, Michael T. "Tooke, John Horne [formerly John Horne] (1736-1822)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Viewed 5 June 2010.

Fitzwilliam handbook (notes on the sculptures above the main stairwell). Available for reference at the museum.

Geese, Uwe. "Neoclassical Sculpture." Neoclassicism and Romanticism: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Drawing, 1750-1848. Ed. Rolf Toman. English ed. Cologne: Könemann, 2000. 214-229.