Van Nost's Equestrian Statue of George I

Irish Arts Review

Van Nost's Equestrian Statue of George IAuthor(s): Anne KellySource: Irish Arts Review Yearbook, Vol. 11 (1995), pp. 103-107Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20492816 .

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VAN NOST's EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF GEORGE I

In a sculptural tale of two cities, Anne Kelly traces the fortunes of a public

monument erected in Dublin in 1722 and now in Birmingham.

T he simple inscription on the pedestal of the

equestrian statue which stands outside the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham conceals its strange history:

'This statue of George I by John van Nost the Elder was erected in Dublin in 1722 and bought for the Barber Institute in 1937' (Fig. 1).

It might have been predicted that the monument, erected in Dublin in 1722, would have had an uncertain future. An eques trian statue of William III erected by the citizens of Dublin in 1701 to commemorate the revolution of 1688 had been a source of 'discord and ill will" from the very first moment it appeared.

George I was styled the City's 'second deliverer' when his government in Dublin put down a Jacobite movement early in 1716. He confirmed the city's ancient

rights and privileges and to aid municipal expenditure, provided the city with a grant of ?300 out of the rev enues of Ireland. This was followed by the presentation of a portrait of himself which was placed in the Guildhall of the Tholsel. However, the portrait was not to be treat

ed with much gratitude or respect by some subjects. On the night of 29 June 1719, the Tholsel was broken into 'by some infamous, wicked persons disaffected to his most sacred majestie King George and his govemment...and defaced and cut in pieces...

It was against such a background that the equestrian statue was revealed to public view on Essex Bridge (now Grattan

Bridge) which was then the main bridge of the city. The pedestal and statue were erected upstream of the third pier of the bridge, standing out in the river on

1. John VAN NOST the Elder (d. 1729): Equestrian Statue of King George I. Bronze. (The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham). The monument was com

missioned by the City of Dublin in 1717 and erected on Essex (now Grattan) Bridge in 1722. It was removed in 1753 and, after almost two centuries in storage, was sold to

Birmingham in 1937.

103 IRISH ARTS REVIEW



VAN NoST's EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF GEORGE I

us~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -

Tu'he S o KIN( GEX 111hI1h.

2. Charles BROOKING (18th Century): Detail from A Prospect of the City of Dublin ... 1728 showing the Statue of King George I on

Essex Bridge. (National Gallery of Ireland). Erected on a small pier upstream from the bridge, the pedestal of 'Carrickmacross or

Portland' stone was suggested by the architect Thomas Burgh who also proposed the two sentry boxes of stone.

the west side and connected with the bridge by an arch.3 On the day of unveiling a company of grenadiers was in attendance 'from seven o'clock in the morning till the corporation marched over the bridge'.4 The celebrations were marked with 'two hogsheads of wine running'. During the work a mason, John Hendy, employed as a master to work on the pedestal, fell into the river 'by means whereof he

was much bruised and in danger of his life' and 'having a wife and a charge of children, prayed some relief for support of himself and family'5 and was granted ?6.

The commissioning in 1717 was 'in grateful acknowledgement of the many favours conferred on this city by his present majestie King George'.6 It was delegated to a committee of the City Council who entered into communication on the subject with Robert Finlay, a banker in London of Dublin connections. It went to John Nost, 'a foreign artist' in London, who offered an equestrian statue similar in size to the statue of Charles I at Charing Cross. Advice was sought from the portrait painter Sir Godfrey Kneller who had been painting royal subjects

since 1678 when he painted Charles IL. Kneller was treated with even greater favour by George I and he advised the committee that the the king should be portrayed on foot. However a decision was made to have an equestrian statue, 'it being so much more honourable'7 and in September 1718 a sum of ?1500 was agreed, with ?500 to be paid immediately. The city treasury was low, but in order to avoid post poning the work, a sum of ?2000, to include charges for freight and other expenses, was borrowed on the City seal at the lowest interest.

In 1721 the committee bought the oak for the frame and the ash lar stones and stones for the pier.

Ballast Office floats and small sail ing vessels called gabbards were used to carry the stones and sand for the pier. On 23 June that year, it was reported that the statue was finished and ready to be shipped in the following

month. The Lord Mayor was to write to Edward Southwell, Secretary of State for Ireland8 to request that he and Robert Finlay employ 'some skilful person or persons to view the said statue and see that the same is finished and completed work

3. After Joseph TuDOR (d.1759): A Prospect of the Custom House and Essex Bridge, Dublin. Engraving, 1753. (Natonal Gallery of Ireland). When this print was published the statue had just been removed following a report by the architect George Semple that the pedestal was a danger to the stability of the bridge.





manlike'9 before final payment was made. The statue was shipped to Dublin in the company of 'two sufficient workmen' to erect it. Robert Finlay was to be paid ?100 for his 'expense, trou ble and commission'. The front panel of the pedestal, with the names of the King, the founder and the Lord Mayor inscribed, was to be of white Italian marble with the other panels in veined marble, 'finely polished, with a cornice of black marble around the same'.'0 However, in February 1722 it was reported that 'Captain Burgh"' had been consulted in relation to the marble

and had advised that the pedestal be of Carrickmacross or Portland stone without marble. He also proposed that for oma ment to the statue two sentry boxes of stone 'be made adjoining the bridge in which are to be fixed the iron gates'. This was agreed and the inscription for the pedestal was written by Bishop Berkeley.'2 On 10 June it was reported that 'the Pedestal on which is to be fix'd the Effegy of his present Majesty King George, is preparing with all Expedition in the Water facing the middle of Essex Bridge. So

Soon shall we see our Royal George's Face, Fix'd in the Centre of a L..ky Place; By which this Kingdom happ'll be at last, Happy, if Wise by its Misfortunes past'.'3

The monument became a landmark during the years it stood on Essex Bridge(Fig. 2), located as it was at the hub of city activity at that time. The bridge was a focal point and chief artery of traffic linking the north side of the river with the political, mercantile and social activities on the south side of the second city in the Empire. In a recess by the bridge was a chop-house known as the Old Sot's Hole which was famous for its beef steaks and ale, said to have been the best in Dublin.'4

The attractions of the tavern were commemorated by Dr William King of Oxford:

Near the Bridge, where, high mounted, the brass monarch rides,

Looking down the rough Liffey, and marking the tides; Near the dome where the great publicans meet once a day To collect royal imposts, and stop their own pay; Far within a recess, a large cavem was made, Which to Plenty is sacred, the place of grillade; Here the Goddess supplies a succession of steaks To Mechanics and Lordlings, old Saints and young Rakes; Here camivore kerns find a present relief, And the Britons with glee recognise their own beef.

King George also drew the attention of Jonathan Swift in Drapier's Letters, written to encourage the people of Ireland to oppose a new copper coinage. This had been authorised by a patent granted by the Crown to William Wood, an English man ufacturer, in 1722 without reference to the Irish Parliament. 'Our City set up our Caesar's Statue in excellent copper, at an

Expense that is equal in Value to Thirty Thousand Pounds of his Coin: And we will not receive his Image in worse metal'.'5

But 'Caesar's Statue' had been placed on shifting sands in more ways than one. As early as 1729 Essex Bridge was being greatly impaired by ships mooring in the river by the arches. The physical state of the bridge continued to deteriorate rapidly and in 1751 it was in 'a decaying and ruinous condition' with some piers collapsed. This possibility had been predicted, probably by

some wags familiar with the Sot's Hole when the statue was being erected. The following verses 'were made, and Dropt in a Coffee-House':

You tell me Friend J...y you don't Understand, Why G...ge Stands on the Water and not on the Land, Or that the Bull-wark of our Irish Nation; Should so weakly be fix'd on a Sandy Foundation, The Reason is Plain, you may hold it for Good, That a S..g when Close Hunted it Flies to the Flood.'

The 'Answer' to this includes the lines:

You and your FriendJ. . .y are greatly mistaken, G... e stands on a Basis that cannot be shaken, Stones Artfully fixed and firmly Cemented, Support our Great Hero of Courage undaunted; The Reason that he on the Water doth stand, Shews equally his Pow'r both by Sea and by Land...'6

But the basis was indeed to be shaken and in 1753 George Semple found that the pedestal was a danger to the stability of the bridge, which had been closed to the public for a period in 1751 following the collapse of one of the piers and two of the arches. With evidence of subsidence also found, the Corporation decided to build a new bridge to Semple's design.'7 The statue and pedestal were removed on 19 January 1753 (Fig. 3) to storage in Aungier Street"8, probably to the vacant site of Lord Longford's house where in 1713 the Corporation planned initially to build a permanent home for the Lord Mayor. There the statue remained until it was moved to the garden of the Mansion House. It was seen in the garden 'behind the house' in 1782 by an anonymous writer who felt it was a pity not to see it in a more public part of the city.'9 The Corporation was informed ten years later that the statue had fallen down 'by

which some small injury has happened thereto'.20 It was pro posed to repair it and to put it up 'in a very elegant manner' in Fitzwilliam Square, provided the owners of the ground would pay for the repairs and costs of erection (Fig. 4). However, the United Irelanders' rebellion of 1798 brought the statue into prominence once more and it was re-erected in the garden at the side of the Mansion House overlooking Dawson Street.2'

The effigy of the monarch now took on the burden of history in more symbolic and potent form than ever before. This is reflect ed in the inscription on the pedestal:

Be it remembered that at the time when Rebellion and Disloyalty were the characteristics of the day, The Loyal Corporation of the City of Dublin re-elevated this Statue of the First Monarch of the Illustrious House of Hanover. Thomas Flemming, Lord Mayor. Jonas Paisley and William Henry Archer, Sheriffs Anno Domini 179822

In 1806 the Fitzwilliam Square proposal was again men tioned23 and it was ordered that the statue be given to the inhabitants of the square when it was 'properly enclosed with iron rails' with 'an appropriate pedestal' to be completed at the expense of the inhabitants. This order was never enacted and the statue remained in the Mansion House garden beside the





Reform Club House (Fig. 5). In 1842, when Thackeray was in Ireland, it was 'peering over a paling' near 'a queer old dirty brick house'in Dawson Street.24

Not surprisingly the early years of the new Irish State were not noted for the respect paid to symbols of

monarchy, or to the art historical importance of such legacies. Following an attempt to destroy Grinling Gibbons' William of Orange this statue was removed by the

Corporation on 6 February 1929. While in storage the statue was decapitated and the head stolen. Van Nost the Younger's George II was destroyed by a landmine on 12 May 1937.25 The statue of George I was removed from its position in the Mansion House garden, and the Sunday Times' Irish Correspondent reported viewing it through a key hole in the gate of the Mansion House yard. It was 'facing the entrance as if ready to move out when the gate was opened'.26

The destruction of Van Nost the Younger's statue inspired Thomas Bodkin to negotiate with the City for the purchase of George I. Bodkin had been Director of the National Gallery from 1927 to 1934, when he left Ireland to become Director of the new Barber Institute of Fine Art at the University of Birmingham. He left in some bitter ness because all his efforts to improve conditions at the Gallery had been in vain, and his departure

must have been a matter of some relief, if not rejoicing, among cer tain civil servants in the new Irish elite. Bodkin's attitudes and cultur al tastes would have been incompatible with the ardent nationalism of the time. In his opin ion George I was 'the finest equestrian statue in the three king doms, barring the Charles I at

Whitehall',27 and, sensing an oppor tunity, he sought the intervention of his old friend W T Cosgrave, the former President (Fig. 6), who spoke to the City Manager about the matter.28 The Law Agent was consulted and his advice was that there would be no legal difficulty in selling the statue, provided a basis could be agreed on the price to be paid. The Lord Mayor and Councillors were also to be consulted. However the loyalist inscription might pose a prob

lem and the City Manager said that it had been suggested to him that if the inscription on the pedestal were still legible and if the

statue was to pass out of City con trol, 'steps should be taken to efface it, as the sentiments expressed therein might not truly represent the feelings of the present

Corporation'!29 The Lord Mayor was Alfie Byrne and when consult ed he expressed unwillingness to sell the statue for cash. Such a transaction might be 'intrinsically objectionable'. Instead he proposed that an offer be made to the

Corporation to exchange the statue for 'a suitable picture or pictures of approximately equivalent value' for exhibition in the Municipal Gallery.30 The Lord Mayor wrote to Bodkin coaching him on precisely the correct approach. He should

write to Mr J J Rowe of the City Hall 'telling him that you have a nice work of Art, which is not in possession of our Corporation, and which you could present to him in return for the Statue of George II (sic) which is now in the Tennis

Court at the rear of the Mansion House ... If you were to write to Mr. Rowe, or to the City Manager

... "We have a beautiful work of art of so and so's work here in Birmingham, which we could pre sent to the Dublin Corporation in exchange for etc.etc.etc." the sug gestion might be likely to receive more favourable consideration.'

Bodkin followed this advice, recalling the removal of the statue from public view at the Mansion

House some years previously and reports in the Dublin newspapers that it was intended to sell it for scrap metal, a report that Bodkin said was never formally contradict ed. He had intervened with the City Council at the time on the grounds of the artistic merits of the work, and was informed that the statue would be put into storage.

He proposed an artistic exchange or alternatively the lodgment of a sum representing the value of the statue 'to be expended in the pur chase of a work or works of art' for

the Municipal Gallery which was without funds for the pur chase of modern pictures by the City.3' The matter came before the General Purposes Committee of the Corporation on 28

4. The Equestrian Statue of George I from the Dublin Penny Journal, 5 December 1835. In the 1790s there was a proposal to re-erect the

monument in Fitzwilliam Square but this came to nothing.

5. Detail from a streetscape of Dawson Street reproduced in Henry Shaw's Dublin Pictorial Guide and Directory of 1850. The statue is seen to the south of the Reform Club House in the garden of the

Mansion House where William Makepeace Thackeray had observed it in 1842 'peering over a paling ... (near) ... a queer old

dirty brick house.'

1 0 6

IRISH ARTS REVIEW




September 1937 with the proposal to exchange or purchase the statue submitted on behalf of the Trustees of the Barber Institute. The Committee agreed to sell the statue 'for a sum of money to be applied if the Corporation so decide in the purchase of a work of art'.32 Alderman Kelly, with whom Bodkin had crossed swords before on the subject of the Lane pictures controversy, was the only dissent ing voice. The price agreed was 'the ridiculously low figure' 33 of

?500, a far cry from the initial investment of ?2000 which the

City had made in 1718. The statue, which, as might be

expected, had suffered some dam age due to its peripatetic past and the casual manner in which it was stored, was transferred to Birming ham where it was restored and erected in front of the Barber Institute. When the question of an inscription was being discussed, Bodkin is reported to have suggest ed, facetiously, that 'we ought to inscribe the only saying of

Hanoverian George about the Arts - "I 'ates all bainting and boetry: neither of them ever did any good

to anyone",'34 a sentiment that seems particularly appropriate in the case of his own artistic image by

Van Nost. Ironically, even the attri bution of the statue has recently been a matter of art historical debate. In 1987 a revision of the Van Nost family history35 suggested that Van Nost died in 1712 and that the work may be that of

Andries Carpentiere who was Van Nost's principal assistant and ran the business after his death.

Research and debate continue but the statue, after more than two hundred uneasy years in Dublin, has finally found a permanent home in Birmingham. Dublin lost a signif icant monument of aesthetic and historic interest and importance, but without Bodkin's intervention the loss would have been total, like so many others.

ANNE KELLY is Director of the Arts

Administration Studies Unit at University College Dublin

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks to Dr Edward McParland, TCD, Mary Clark, Archivist, Dublin Corporation and Maire Kennedy, Librarian, the Gilbert Library.

6. Thomas Bodkmn (left) and W T Cosgrave at Muilingar Races, September 1937. (Dept. of Manuscripts, Trinity College, Dublin).

Following the destruction of a statue of George II in Dublin in May 1937, Bodkin, who was Director of the Barber Institute, sought to

purchase the George I and, in doing so, enlisted the help of

Cosgrave.

1. Dublin Penny Journal, IV, 177, 21 November

1835.

2. J T Gilbert, Calendar of Ancient Records of Dublin, (hereafter referred to as CARD)

VH.p.64. 3. William Hughes, The Irish Builder, XI1, no.

264,15 December 1870.

4. Homan Potterton, 'Dublin's Vanishing Monuments', Country Ufe, 23 May

1974,andCARD,p.96. 5. CARD, p.198. 6. ibid, p.49. 7. ibid, p.75. 8. Dictionary of National Biography, p.240.

Edward Southwell (1671-1730) succeeded

his father as vice-admiral of Munster and

Secretary of State for Ireland on 27 June 1702. He was member for Kinsale in the

Irish Parliament and a friend of Swift who

referred to 'dining with Ned Southwell' in

The Journal to Stella. Sir Godfrey Kneller

painted his portrait in 1708. 9. CARD, p. 158

10. ibid, p. 186.

11. This was probably the Col.Thomas Burgh referred to by Maurice Craig as 'the first

indisputably and unmistakably Irish archi

tect'. His buildings include the Old Custom

House on Essex Quay and the Library of

Trinity College and he advised the city authorities on building and architectural

matters.

12. Maurice Craig, Dublin 1660-1860, Dublin

1980, p.94 13. Harding's Impartial News Letter, 10 June

1721.

14. John T Gilbert, History of the City of Dublin, Dublin 1972, p.23

15. Jonathan Swift, The Drapier's Letters and

other works 1724-1725, Oxford 1959.

16. Hardings Weekly Impartial News Letter, 21

July 1722 17. George Semple came from a bridge-building

family ; the bridge rebuilt by him was mod

elled on Westminster Bridge and is regarded as his finest work. His treatise on building in

water was published after his experience on

Essex Bridge. (See Craig op.cit p. 170;

Hughes op.cit.; J de Courcy, The River of Dublin, Grattan Bridge)

18. Douglas Bennett, Encyclopaedia of Dublin, Gill and Macmillan,Dublin, p.205; CARD,VI, pp.472-73.

19. J L J Hughes, 'A Tour Through Dublin City in 1782' Dublin Historical Record, Old

Dublin Society XVI1,1961-62. The walk,

by XZ, a resident of Dublin, was on 15 July 1782.

20. CARD,XV,p.489. 21. The statue is illustrated in a streetscape of

Dawson Street and reproduced in Henry Shaw, The Dublin Pictorial Guide and

Directory, Friar's Bush Press, Belfast, 1958

(first published in 1850). James Johnstone erected the statue at a cost of ?25.18s. 1 Id.

CARD,XV,p.l03. 22. Warburton, Whitelaw, Walsh, A History of

the City of Dublin, quoted in Barber

Institute, J P Keane to W T Cosgrave, 4

June 1937. 23. CARD, XIV, p.272 24. Potterton, op.cit. 25. Barber Institute, C P Curran to Thomas

Bodkin, 13 July 1943. 26. 'Vagaries of Dublin', The Sunday Times, 6

June 1937 27. Barber Institute, Thomas Bodkin to Robert

Atkinson, 27 May 1937. 28. ibid., John P Keane to WT Cosgrave, 4

'

June 1937. 29. ibid.

30. ibid. Alfred Byrne to Thomas Bodkin, 27

August 1937.

31. ibid. Thomas Bodkin to J J Rowe, 31 August 1937.

32. Minutes of General Purposes Committee, 28 September 1937.

33. Vivian Bird, Portrait of Birmingham, London

1970,p.l28. 34. ibid.

35. Sheila O'Connell, 'The Nosts: a revision

of the family history', Burlington Magazine, vol 129, December 1987, no.1017.




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Van Nost's Equestrian Statue of George I