Joseph Nollekens
Biography of Anglo-Flemish Neoclassical Portrait Sculptor.
Encyclopedia of Irish and World Art - HOMEPAGE

Venus (1773)
J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Joseph Nollekens (1737-1823)

The Anglo-Flemish neoclassical sculptor Joseph Nollekens first established himself in Rome (1762-1770), where he copied, restored, faked and dealt in antique sculptures as well as terracotta works by Renaissance masters. In this historical centre of fine art, Nollekens absorbed all he could from the Greek and Roman sculptors, perfecting in the process a Neoclassical style that quickly earned him a reputation and a small fortune. He had a natural flair for portraiture, and on his return to England in 1770 he set up a flourishing practice, making also a number of rococo designs for garden sculpture, and funerary monuments. He is best known for his portrait busts in plaster or marble, and the occasional mythological statue, such as Venus (1773, J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles). Like Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828), his leanings were towards the Baroque, but later in life he executed a number of portraits in a classical Roman style.

SCULPTURE (c.1600-1750)
Baroque/Rococo Sculptors
French Baroque Artists
Rococo Art (c.1700-1750)
Rococo Artists
Neoclassical Sculptors
Juan Martines Montanes (1568-1649)
Francois Duquesnoy (1597-1643)
Alessandro Algardi (1598-1654)
Bernini (1598-1680)
Alonso Cano (1601-1667)
Pierre Puget (1622-1694)
Francois Girardon (1628-1715)
Antoine Coysevox (1640-1720)
Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721)
Balthasar Permoser (1651-1732)
Andreas Schluter (1664-1714)
Guillaume Coustou (1677-1746)
Louis-Francois Roubiliac (1695-1762)
Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (1714-1785)
Etienne Maurice Falconet (1716-1791)
Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736-1783)
Jean Antoine Houdon (1741-1828)
John Flaxman (1755-1826)
Antonio Canova (1757-1822)
Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770–1844)

Biography

Born in London, the son of a Flemish genre painter from Antwerp, Nollekens trained in drawing and modelling from the age of 13 under the Flemish sculptor Peter Scheemakers (1691-1781), who was noted for his tomb-sculpture and portrait busts. In 1760, at the age of 23, he went to Rome, where he worked in the workshop of Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, restoring and imitating ancient stone sculptures, as well as terracotta figures by Renaissance artists like Michelangelo (1475-1564) and Giambologna (1529-1608). In 1762 he produced a marble bas-relief, Timoclea before Alexander, which was awarded a prize of 50 guineas by the Society of Arts, and in 1768 he produced an exceptionally accurate and sensitive copy of the antique Castor and Pollux, for Lord Anson. Of his larger works from this period, the most important is Mercury and Venus chiding Cupid (1768). Overall, his years in Rome were well spent. As well as learning from the masters and perfecting his carving technique, he also earned money as an art dealer, being especially popular with English tourists visiting Rome on the Grand Tour.

BEST WORKS OF SCULPTURE
For a list of the world's top 100
3-D artworks, by the best sculptors
in the history of art, see:
Greatest Sculptures Ever.

BEST SCULPTORS
For a list of the world's most
talented 3-D artists, see:
Greatest Sculptors.

EVOLUTION OF SCULPTURE
For details of the origins and
development of the plastic arts
see: History of Sculpture.

Portraiture

Returning to England in 1770, Nollekens quickly established a busy practice as a portraitist sculptor, specializing in marble or plaster portrait busts. In 1771 he was elected an associate member of the London Royal Academy, and in 1772 a full member. The following year he completed his famous statue of Venus (1773, J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles), by which time he was the most fashionable portrait sculptor of his day. In addition to King George III, his clients included a number of major British political figures, including William Pitt the Younger, Charles James Fox, the Duke of Bedford, Lord Canning, Lord Castlereagh, Lord Aberdeen, and Lord Liverpool, among many others. He also made busts of a number of important artists including the American portrait painter Benjamin West (1738-1820). Many of these works were influenced by Roman busts of the late Republic style.

SCULPTING MEDIA
For different types of carving,
and modelling, see:
Stone Sculpture
From igneous, sedimentary,
and metamorphic rocks.
Marble Sculpture
Pentelic, Carrara, Parian marbles.
Wood Carving
Chip carving, relief carving of
softwoods and hardwoods.
Bronze Sculpture
Lost-wax casting method,
sandcasting, centrifugal casting.

Other Works

In addition to portrait sculptures, Nollekens completed a number of mythological marble statues, such as Bacchus, Venus taking off her Sandal, Hope leaning on an Urn, Paetus and Arria, Cupid and Psyche, and Venus anointing Herself. However, despite being his favourite type of sculpture, and although possessed of a delicate and elegant rococo manner, most of these works lack life and originality. Nollekens also executed a large amount of funerary sculpture and tomb carvings, as well as a range of outdoor designs for gardens.

Nollekens made a huge amount of money from his art and lived to the grand old age of 85. Sadly, he was a notorious miser (he left £200,000 in his will) and became well known among the artist fraternity for his exceptional meanness. His eccentricity in this and other matters, was recorded in vivid detail by his pupil JT Smith (1766-1833), in the biography Nollekens and his Times (1828).

• For more facts about plastic arts in Ireland, see: Irish Art Encyclopedia.
• For details of sculptors in Ireland, see Irish Sculpture.
• For the evolution and development of the visual arts, see: History of Art.

• To update this mini-biography of neoclassical sculptor, Joseph Nollekens, click here.

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