Samuel Rogers and his Contemporaries
Henry Crabb Robinson to Samuel Rogers, [November 1848]
‘10 Western Cottages [November, 1848].
‘My dear Sir,—Masquerier and I are to dine with you on Tuesday, I am aware;
yet I send you the accompanying paper of subscriptions to the Flaxman Gallery.
The amount far exceeds what I expected to raise—and this will give you
pleasure—at the same time the cost of the repairs and putting up exceeds
to a still greater extent my expectation, and therefore I must beg for a
continuance of those active exertions of the friends of fine art which have
been already so successful. I was quite startled when I saw for a moment
Lady Chantrey at your house, for I
had intended to ask your advice, what would be the most decorous manner of
requesting that lady to add her name to our body?
‘It is impossible for any one to have set so noble an
example in making a present of all the works of her late ![]()
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honoured husband, not to rejoice in seeing that example followed. Besides, that
very act showed that she partook of the liberal spirit of Sir Francis. Had he been alive when I first
undertook to assist Miss Denman in her
anxious endeavours to preserve the works of her revered parent by adoption, he
was one of the first persons I should have applied to; and I am sure that he
would have relieved the Academy from the reproach which must attach to it if
the subscription be now closed as far as its members are concerned. Of the
amount—between 650l. and 660l.—only 20 guineas have been contributed by members of the
Academy. I believe this has been in part from ignorance and partly because the
statue of Flaxman by Watson has been confounded with a subscription
to the gallery. The statue has been given to us—and a most acceptable and
appropriate present it has been, but it will add to our outlay, as we of course
have to add a pedestal to it.
‘You are not perhaps aware that we have only about
100l. on hand, and therefore it will not be possible
for us to put up all the works unless we have a much larger addition to the
subscription than we have any right to expect. We shall, therefore, go on
putting up the pieces which may be deemed the most valuable, in the fittest
places as the means may be from time to time supplied. I am not without hopes
that we may obtain a large subscription from the Academy in its corporate
capacity—but this is mere hope and surmise on my part.
‘I am, dear Sir, faithfully yours,
Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (1781-1841)
English sculptor who worked as a statuary from 1804; he employed the poet Allan
Cunningham in his studio from 1814. He was knighted in 1835.
Lady Mary Anne Chantrey [née Wale] (1787-1875)
She married her cousin, the sculptor Francis Chantrey, in 1809, and eventually
contributed the bulk of her husband's estate to the Royal Academy.
Maria Denman (1776-1861)
The adopted daughter of John Flaxman (married to her elder sister Ann), afterwards his
heir and executor. She was an amateur artist who had known and admired William Blake in her
youth.
John Flaxman (1755-1826)
English sculptor and draftsman who studied at the Royal Academy and was patronized by
William Hayley.
John James Masquerier (1778-1855)
He studied at the Royal Academy Schools (1792-94) and pursued a career as a
portrait-painter in London and Scotland. He was a close personal friend of Henry Crabb
Robinson.
Henry Crabb Robinson (1775-1867)
Attorney, diarist, and journalist for
The Times; he was a founder
of the Athenaeum Club.
Musgrave Lewthwaite Watson (1804-1847)
On the advice of John Flaxman he abandoned the law to pursue a career as a sculptor,
studying at the Royal Academy School and opening a studio in London in 1828.
