nose, and mouth, for a likeness, than to the bones of the head; and in this belief I am supported most powerfully by the mask taken from Mr. Fox after his death. In his busts of that statesman,* the foreheads are low and rugged; whilst that of the mask is even, high, and prominent, full of dignified grandeur, and more so, perhaps, with the exception of Lord Bacon, than that of any other statesman of equal celebrity. The reader may be convinced of the correctness of this remark, by visiting Mr. Deville's Gallery in the Strand, where there are casts taken from both examples.

* Mr. Nollekens modelled and carved two different busts of Mr. Fox. The first was with a toupet and curls above the ears, as that gentleman wore his hair about 1783, just as Sir Joshua Reynolds has painted him; of which bust there are several engravings, the carving being by T. Gaugain. The second bust is with his hair cut close; and of this there are two plates; one by Skelton, for the small edition of Fox's Life of King James the Second, and the other by Evans, from a beautiful drawing by Mr. Howard, for the large edition of the same work. Of the mask taken by Nollekens after death, I am not aware of there being any engraving; ghastly as it is, and totally unlike as the features are to those of Mr. Fox when living, still the shape of the forehead is truly remarkable and interesting.

CHAPTER XVII.

Sale of Mr. Nollekens's collection of Sculpture.-Mending antiques.-Sale of his prints, &c.-Account of his seated female figure.-Patrons of modern English Sculptors.Antique foot.-Sir Joshua Reynolds's throne-chair.—List of busts, monuments, and statues, executed by Nollekens. -Chronological list of all his sculptures exhibited at the Royal Academy, from 1771 to 1816.-Conclusion.

THE sale of Mr. Nollekens's unsold works, and collection of antique and modern sculptures, took place under the hammer of Mr. Christie, on the premises in Mortimer-street, on Thursday July 3d, 1823, and at the Auctioneer's room in Pall-Mall, on the two days following. The collection consisted of many of Mr. Nollekens's original models, carvings in marble, and works by Italian and other artists, particularly Michel Angelo and Fiamingo.

Mr. Nollekens's statue of a standing Venus in marble, pouring ambrosia on her hair, was purchased by Mrs. Palmer for 2317. ;* and his model

* This figure is by no means so good as the one of Venus

of a sitting Venus, was bought by the Earl of Egremont. The antique marbles consisted of a statue of Minerva; a noble bust of Commodus, in perfect condition, and several other Imperial busts; one of Mercury; and a very spirited head of a Faun; chiefly purchased at the sales of the late B. Bond Hopkins, Esq. at Pain's Hill; and at the Earl of Besborough's, at Roehampton. These antiques, which were mostly purchased by the Duke of Newcastle, brought full thirty times the money they had cost Mr. Nollekens. His method of mending antiques was rather curious: he would mix the dust of the sort of stone he was mending, with his plaster; so that when dry, if the antiques were of Pentallic marble, the sparkling of the stone-dust in a great measure disguised the joining or mended parts. Mr. Roubiliac, when he had to mend a broken antique, would mix grated Gloucester cheese with his plaster, adding the grounds of porter and the yolk of an egg; which mixture, when dry, forms a very hard cement.

Mr. Nollekens's prints, drawings, and books of prints, were sold by Mr. Evans, in Pall Mall, on Thursday, December 4th, 1823. They principally consisted of nearly the entire works

chiding Cupid, executed by the same artist for his liberal patron Lord Yarborough.

of Nicolas Poussin; a fine collection of the engravings after Sir Joshua Reynolds's pictures; several sketch-books filled by Mr. Nollekens when at Rome, and numerous drawings, also by him, made upon the backs of letters.

Nollekens's figure with the sandal, carved for Lord Yarborough, was considerably the greatest favourite with the public of all his female figures; but that which he himself took the greatest delight in showing, was seated with her arms round her legs, Lot 21, purchased at his sale at Mr. Christie's, by the Earl of Egremont, for the sum of eighty-four pounds; his Lordship giving it the preference to others by the same artist. He engaged Mr. Rossi, the Academician, to execute it in marble, with strict injunctions that no alteration whatever, not even an improvement upon the model, should be attempted. In giving this order, his Lordship was, in my humble opinion, perfectly correct; for, if improvements had been made, it could no longer have been esteemed as a production of Nollekens's mind; though I am perfectly convinced, that had the figure been carved under his own eye, it would in many instances have been benefited by those corrections which most Sculptors are induced to make whilst they are executing finished carvings from their models.

Mr. Williams, who carved this figure under the superintendence of Mr. Rossi, assured me, that in no instance could he have been engaged upon a more difficult task, especially in carving parts that were so intricately undercut; as the right hand of the figure placed before the right leg, was within a quarter of an inch of the shinbone, and he had to invent tools of the most singular shapes to enable him to cut and file away the stone. It was the opinion of most artists, that many parts of this figure could have been much improved: they thought the ankles unquestionably too thick; and that, to have given it an air of the antique, the right thigh wanted flesh to fill up the ill-formed nature which Nollekens had strictly copied. The abdomen was far from good; and the face was too old, and of a common character; but the back was considered extremely beautiful. The attitude was a natural one, and acquired by mere chance, as good attitudes often are.

The woman from whom it was modelled, after standing for some time to Mr. Nollekens for parts of a figure upon which he was then engaged, was desired to dress; and, upon her seating herself on the ground, to put on her stockings, her posture so pleased the Sculptor, that he immediately cried, "Stop, don't move; I must model you as you now sit:" and it is a