English 18th Century Portrait Sculpture: James II, Queen Anne and Queen Mary University College, Oxford.

The Statues of James II, Queen Anne and Queen Mary

University College, Oxford.

Continuing with the theme of Portrait Statues and Busts at Oxford University I post this page as an aide memoire and hope to return to the subject once I have taken photographs of these statues.

Note to readers of this blog - I started it in order to file notes and pictures of subjects that I intend to return to in the future - it acts as a sort of on line filing system and test bed for ideas for essays on the subject of 17th and 18th Century Portrait Sculpture, although it seems to have taken on something of a life of it's own.

Currently my main blog is http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.co.uk/

I had originally intended to write on another of my enthusiasms - thus the name.

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Much of the writings of Mrs Esdaile, particularly the earlier literature such as her Roubiliac monograph was prone to fanciful speculation - we should nevertheless be grateful for her pioneering work, but this late essay on the University College, Oxford statue of James II is an extremely erudite and useful work. see -

http://oxoniensia.org/volumes/1951/esdaile.pdf

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The University College statue of James II, erected in ,1686,'7, shows him,as in the case of three of his other statues, in Roman dress. Beyond the fact that it came from a London yard, the College paying carriage,' nothing is known of its authorship.

There was an inscription below the statue: 'J. Ward Merc. Lond.'

'For bringing down from London & Setting up his Majtys Statue (K. James ye 2d)' £14. 14s. 11d. (Bursar's Account, 1686, from Smith's Transcripts, ix, 261).

Loggan's engraving gives an accurate picture of the college at this date. Oxonia Illustrata was published in 1675, so that his drawing was actually made before the east side of the quadrangle was finished. The niches on the gate tower and over the doorways to hall and chapel are all shown empty. The first to be filled was the niche over the outer arch of the tower. A statue of King Alfred, the gift of Dr. Robert Plot, the historian of Oxfordshire, was set up here on 17 Jan. 1683, on his becoming a fellow commoner. (fn. 154) In Oct. 1686 it was removed to the niche over the doorway leading to the hall (fn. 155) and at the same time the companion niche over the chapel doorway was filled by a statue of St. Cuthbert, procured by Obadiah Walker 'at his own or some other Roman Catholick's Expence'. (fn. 156) The two statues seem to have been removed when the south side of the quadrangle was altered in 1802. The remains of King Alfred for long lay in the rockery in the Master's garden.

Obadiah Walker was also responsible for the statue of James II over the inner arch of the tower. Wood gives a description of 'the great ceremony' when it was set up on 7 Feb. 1687, the day following the anniversary of the king's accession, which fell on a Sunday that year. (fn. 157) It was the gift of a Roman Catholic, (fn. 158) but the college had to pay the bill for the carriage and erection of it. (fn. 159) Describing King James's visit to the college later, Smith relates how His Majesty was taken into the chapel by Walker to view the painted windows so that he 'could not but see his own Statue in coming out of it'. Like the bronze statue by Grinling Gibbons in St. James's Park, the king is represented in Roman armour and wearing a toga. These are the only two extant statues of James II.

The place of King Alfred over the entrance facing the street was taken by a statue of Queen Anne, the gift of John Ward, brother of George Ward, fellow. This was erected on 4 Oct. 1709. It was commonly regarded as an astute piece of flattery on the part of the Master, Dr. Charlett, about whom the following verse was composed:

O Arthur, O in vain thou tryes

By merit of this statue for to rise;

Thou'lt nere an exaltation have

But that on Prickett's shoulders to the grave.

Prickett, 'the pragmaticall butler of the College', was Dr. Charlett's powerful ally in all internal affairs

Text above from British History online

see also - https://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/content/anne-and-mary-two-queens-univ

Mrs Esdaile suggests John Bushnell as the author

See The University College Statue of James II

By The Late KA Esdaile and MR Toynbee

from Oxoninsia 1951

http://oxoniensia.org/volumes/1951/esdaile.pdf

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For anyone interested in Oxford this is an absolutely invaluable source.

http://oxoniensia.org/oxo_toc.php

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ANNA REGINA | ... merc. lon. | mdccix | p - Queen Anne (London 1665 - London 1714), Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland, since 1702; and from 1707 Queen of Great Britain and Ireland until her death

Image from - http://statues.vanderkrogt.net/object.php?webpage=ST&record=gbse147

MARIA 2da REGINA | E degatis Dris radcliffe | MDCCXIX - Queen Mary II (London 1662 - London 1694), joint Sovereign of England, Scotland, and Ireland with her husband (who was also her first cousin), William III and II, from 1689 until her death.

From the Minute Book and Account Book of the Radcliffe Trustees we learn that the statue of Queen Mary was copied from one at Richmond and that Nost (John van Ost) was paid £40 for it. Dr. Radcliffe's statue is by Francis Bird, who charged £70. from British History Online

Image from - http://statues.vanderkrogt.net/object.php?webpage=ST&record=gbse147

For University College, Oxford - British History on line see -

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol3/pp61-81

See also - https://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/content/anne-and-mary-two-queens-univ

Anne (1702–14) and Mary II (1689–94) - these statues look over the High from the Main and Radcliffe Quadrangles respectively. Mary II never visited Univ, but her future husband William III had visited in December 1670. On the other hand, Anne did visit Univ in May 1683 with her father the Duke of York (later James II) when she was still a princess.

Created ten years apart, in 1709 and 1719, these statues tell us much about the politics of the period, and in particular the activities of Arthur Charlett, who was our Master from 1692–1722, and a great networker and intriguer in Oxford.

The statue of Queen Anne was erected over the entrance to the Main Quad in October 1709. Like the statue of her father inside the quadrangle, it was a gift to the College, in this case by the brother of one of our then Fellows, George Ward. We do not appear to have a record of the sculptor who created it.

The choice of subject might seem simple enough: Anne was the reigning monarch at the time. However, several contemporaries suspected that Charlett was eager to accept the gift so that he could make a public declaration of his loyalty to the queen, and perhaps receive some preferment as a result. That was certainly the reaction of the diarist Thomas Hearne. Hearne lived across the road, in St. Edmund Hall, and had friends in Univ who passed on the latest gossip on to him. So, in his entry for 4 October 1709, Hearne wrote:

“Most of the Fellows were for placing the said Statue in the Inside of the College by King James’s; but Arthur Charlett out of his vain Glory would have it without side that he might the more be taken of.