Current Location: Founder's Entrance Hall Upper Landing
Titles
William Pitt (1759-1806), Statesman and Prime Minister
Maker(s)
Sculptor:
Nollekens, Joseph
Entities
Categories
Description
White marble, posthumous. The sitter is turned to the front, facing and looking half left. He is bare-headed, shows his own hair and is clean-shaven. He has a bare throat, with drapery round the shouldes and neck, with an end hanging in front over his right shoulder.
Notes
History note: Formerly at Orwell Park, Suffolk; bought by Messrs Leonard Partridge, London, from whom it was bought by the donor.
Legal notes
Given by the first Lord Fairhaven
Place(s) associated
Acquisition and important dates
Method of acquisition: Given
(1947)
by
Lord Fairhaven
Dating
19th Century, Early#
Production date:
AD 1806
: posthumous
Note
Son of Pitt the Elder, William Pitt the Younger was a prominent British statesman of the Tory party. Educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, he entered Parliament in 1781 and was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1782. He served as Prime Minister between 1783–1801 (the youngest in British history) and 1804–06. His death mask was the basis for this posthumous bust as well as for the full-length statue in the Senate House, Cambridge.
The sculptor Nollekens was trained in London by Peter Scheemakers. He then spent eight years in Rome (1762–70) working with Bartolomeo Cavaceppi restoring and copying antique marbles. On his return to England, he quickly gained a reputation for classicising portrait busts, monuments, and architectural sculpture. He became a Royal Academician in 1772 and continued to exhibit there until 1816. Nollekens was extremely prolific and successful but lived meanly, and was described unflatteringly as a miser by his biographer J.T. Smith. Smith stated that Nollekens and his workshop produced 74 marble versions of this particular bust which were sold at 120 guineas each, and 600 plaster casts sold at 6 guineas each. Given that the Fitzwilliam’s version is signed and dated 1806, it is likely to be amongst the first carved.
People, subjects and objects depicted
Project
Components of the work
Bust
Height 23 1/2 in
Plinth
Height 4 3/4 in
Materials used in production
White marble
Techniques used in production
Carving
: White marble, carved
Inscription or legends present
- Text: Nollekens Ft/1806
- Location: At the back
- Method of creation: Inscribed
References and bibliographic entries
Related exhibitions
Identification numbers
Accession number: M.18-1947
Primary reference Number: 30986
External ID: CAM_CCF_M_18_1947
Stable URI
Audit data
Created: Saturday 6 August 2011
Updated: Monday 18 December 2023
Last processed: Monday 18 December 2023
Associated departments & institutions
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
