Lot 311
BRONZE PORTRAIT RELIEF OF CAPTAIN SIR JOHN ROSS (SCOTTISH 1777-1856), PIERRE JEAN DAVID D'ANGERS (FRENCH 1788-1856)
DATED 1836
Auction: Five Centuries Day One | Wed 11th November | Lots 1 to 322
Description
dark brown patina, inscribed, signed and dated 1836, mounted within an oak moulded circular frame
Dimensions
plaque 18cm diameter, 26.5cm overall
Footnote
Pierre-Jean David d'Angers (French, 1788–1856), was the pre-eminent sculptor-medalist of the 19th century. Driven by a lifelong ambition to capture "all the famous people of his day," d'Angers travelled extensively to model portraits of the era's finest revolutionaries, intellectuals, and explorers. While celebrated for his monumental marble busts, d'Angers' skill was equally expressed in his circular, bas-relief profile portrait medallions. This specific format allowed him to sharply define his sitters' facial features in a manner reminiscent of classical antiquity.
Scottish Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer, Captain Sir John Ross (1777–1856) was a prominent figure in British naval history, famed for leading early 19th-century expeditions into the brutal conditions of the Arctic in search of the elusive Northwest Passage. His career was defined by the legendary 1829–1833 expedition, during which his team became trapped in the polar ice for four perilous winters before their miraculous rescue by a whaling ship.
When David d'Angers first travelled to England between 1827 and 1829 to fulfill medallion commissions for prominent British figures (notably modelling a wax portrait of Ross's contemporary, Sir John Franklin, cast in 1829), Ross was away on his hazardous second voyage. However, his survival and triumphant return to Europe in late 1833 saw Ross become an international celebrity. It was during Ross's subsequent celebratory European tour that he sat for d'Angers.
Each of d'Angers' primary portraits was firstly sketched from life in wax. In his studio, he then perfected the image in a plaster model which was then used to create lost wax bronze casts. This final bronze medallion portrait of Ross was struck in 1836. Versions of this profile piece are preserved in the Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Angers, the Louvre Collections Portal, and the National Portrait Gallery in London (Iconography Reference: Sir John Ross, object number MP03871).