JAMES HEFFERNAN (1785-1847) AFTER SIR F. CHANTREY (1781-1841)...
JAMES HEFFERNAN (1785-1847) AFTER SIR F. CHANTREY (1781-1841)
Copy of the Original Bust of Sir Francis Burdett, at Oxford
White statuary marble, 70cm high
Signed, inscribed and dated 1846
James Heffernan (1785-1847) was born in Derry and at an early age was apprenticed to Cork architect Michael Shanahan. Ambitious and determined, he left Cork for London in 1807 and entered the studio of Chantrey, and also became a student at the Royal Academy. After a spell in Rome he returned to London where he once again joined Chantrey’s studio. When his master died in 1841, Heffernan completed many of the unfinished works, the execution of which established his character as a first-rate artist and attracted many valuable commissions in his own right.
Sir Francis Chantrey was an interesting character in the London art scene of the early 19th Century. His first success was the exhibition of a plaster bust of the radical politician John Horne Tooke (1736-1812) at the Royal Academy in 1811. Chantrey was introduced to Tooke by his friend John Raphael Smith, the draughtsman and engraver and the young sculptor became a frequent visitor at Tooke’s Sunday lunches in Wimbledon. Who suggested that Chantrey do his bust is unknown and there is no record of money changing hands but the initiative for putting the energy and effort into making this portrait was Chantrey’s own and it is considered amongst his finest work.
Chantrey exhibited it with a bust of Sir Francis Burdett (1770-1844), the present lot being a copy by Irish sculptor James Heffernan. Burdett was a reformist politican, and close friend of Tooke and as a constant thorn in the side of various governments had been in prison for sedition the year before. The sculptor was a committed supporter of Burdett, regularly attending meetings of the ‘Friends of Liberty’. He saw himself as a recorder of the heroes of British radicalism and his first major exhibition staked out his personal political commitments. As his career developed, Chantrey strayed from this narrow political path and undertook many other commissioned portraits of men of “the other party” and became, by his old age, public iconographer of the British establishment.
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JAMES HEFFERNAN (1785-1847) AFTER SIR F. CHANTREY (1781-1841)
Copy of the Original Bust of Sir Francis Burdett, at Oxford
White statuary marble, 70cm high
Signed, inscribed and dated 1846
James Heffernan (1785-1847) was born in Derry and at an early age was apprenticed to Cork architect Michael Shanahan. Ambitious and determined, he left Cork for London in 1807 and entered the studio of Chantrey, and also became a student at the Royal Academy. After a spell in Rome he returned to London where he once again joined Chantrey’s studio. When his master died in 1841, Heffernan completed many of the unfinished works, the execution of which established his character as a first-rate artist and attracted many valuable commissions in his own right.
Sir Francis Chantrey was an interesting character in the London art scene of the early 19th Century. His first success was the exhibition of a plaster bust of the radical politician John Horne Tooke (1736-1812) at the Royal Academy in 1811. Chantrey was introduced to Tooke by his friend John Raphael Smith, the draughtsman and engraver and the young sculptor became a frequent visitor at Tooke’s Sunday lunches in Wimbledon. Who suggested that Chantrey do his bust is unknown and there is no record of money changing hands but the initiative for putting the energy and effort into making this portrait was Chantrey’s own and it is considered amongst his finest work.
Chantrey exhibited it with a bust of Sir Francis Burdett (1770-1844), the present lot being a copy by Irish sculptor James Heffernan. Burdett was a reformist politican, and close friend of Tooke and as a constant thorn in the side of various governments had been in prison for sedition the year before. The sculptor was a committed supporter of Burdett, regularly attending meetings of the ‘Friends of Liberty’. He saw himself as a recorder of the heroes of British radicalism and his first major exhibition staked out his personal political commitments. As his career developed, Chantrey strayed from this narrow political path and undertook many other commissioned portraits of men of “the other party” and became, by his old age, public iconographer of the British establishment.
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