Early Georgian Portraits Catalogue: Scheemakers

Peter Scheemakers (1691-1781)

Sculptor; born in Antwerp, son of the sculptor of the same name; in London by 1721 working first with Francis Plumier and later with Francis Bird; in partnership, by 1725, with his countryman Laurent Delvaux with whom he visited Rome, 1728-30; his reputation established by the statue of Shakespeare, [1] 1740, in Westminster Abbey, after the design by Kent; a rival of Rysbrack, he had a large practice in monuments and busts; returned to Antwerp, 1771, where he died.

2675 By André Bernard de Quertenmont, 1776
Oil on canvas, 24 3/4 x 19 ¼ in. (629 x 489 mm); dark brown, bloodshot eyes, dark brown eyebrows, his left flecked with grey, sagging face muscles, lips parted, tooth missing in lower jaw, pale complexion, grey wig with eight rows of curls, to shoulders; white neck-cloth, black coat and waistcoat, cloak over his left shoulder; hands clasped on cane, terracotta of his statuette of Shakespeare, upper right; brown background; strongly lit from the right.

Under a strong raking light there appears to be writing on the plinth about 3 in. above the head of the statuette; on the back of the relining canvas, in ink in an early hand, a paper lists the following statues in the Abbey: A fait a Westminster / les monuments / Shakspere 1740 / Viscount Hove [2] 1758 / William Horner 1746 / John Woodward 1758 / Richard Mead 1764 / Hugo Chamberlen 1728 / Lord Beauclerk 1740 / Hon. Percy Kirk 1741 / Sir John Balchin 1744 / Vice admiral Watson 1757 / Admiral Wager 1747.In ink on the centre bar, perhaps from the original stretcher now let into the relining stretcher: Peint en 1776 [3] par Dequertenmont Pierre Gaspard Scheemakers statuaire / fils de Pierre aussi statuaire / né à Anvers 10 Janvier 1691 mort à Anvers 12 7bre 1781 voyage en Angleterre et Italie. . . . . tableau appartenant a M^lle Genevieve Catharine Schemaekers puis à Marie Julie Duboureq femme Thib[aut] petite niece du Sta[tuaire] / par sa mè[re]. On the top bar of the stretcher, remnants of another inscription now completely illegible.

Painted by André Bernard de Quertenmont (1750-1835), director of the Academy in Antwerp from 1790, NPG 2675 was no doubt executed after Scheemakers' return in 1771. The model for his famous Shakespeare shown in the background, perhaps taken with him to Antwerp, is now missing. Despite existing losses and damages (seeCondition), NPG 2675 remains a powerful portrait.

Condition:rubbed and retouched, damage to his left pupil and in the background either side of the head; heavily discoloured varnish.

Collections: bought, 1934, from Henri F. Rummel, Paris; from the inscription presumably by descent from the sitter through Genevieve Catherine Scheemakers to Mme Thibaut, née Marie Julie Duboureq, great-niece of the sitter; intervening history unknown.

Appearance

Included in Vertue's list of 'Gent . . . five foot, men or less', [4] Nollekens records that at the end of his life Scheemakers was so fat that 'when he was kneeling down to say his prayers he placed his legs under him with his hands'. [5]

Iconography

The only other portrait known is a profile etching (O'D 1) stated to be engraved by William Hoare after a portrait by himself. An unlettered impression in the possession, 1934, of Mrs Esdaile had the name Scheemaker added in ink. The sitter looks a little young but his youthful appearance may be due to the stiffness of the original. There remains a slight possibility that the portrait might be of his son, Thomas Scheemakers (1740-1808), sculptor and architect, who worked in England and exhibited at the Free Society, 1756-83, and at the Royal Academy 1780-1804. [6]

Notes

1. Vertue, III, p.116; Whinney, 1964, pp.94-97.
2. Hove, i.e. Howe; also Homer (Horneck), Balchin (Balchen), Beauclerk (Beauclerc).
3. The last figure indistinct, possibly '8'.
4. Vertue, III, p.61; see also Samuel Scott.
5. J.T. Smith, Nollekens and His Times, II, p.40, cited by Gunnis, p.342.
6. Gunnis, pp.344-45.