The bust of a cleric just added to Aurea Carter's stock oozes quality. It clearly is a cut above, so then it comes as no surprise to discover impressed Ralph Wood numerals in the socle.
Courtesy Aurea Carter
Courtesy Aurea Carter
The number "82" is listed by Falkner as a "bust of a divine". But just who might this divine be?? In my opinion, the bust represents the Rev. George Whitefield (pronounced, I am told, as Whitfield).
The Rev. George Whitefield, an evangelical Anglican preacher and a contemporary of the Rev. John Wesley, was born on December 17, 1714. He and Wesley were friends, but by 1741, the two men had chosen separate paths: Whitefield helped establish Calvinistic Methodism, while Wesley and his supporters established Wesleyan Arminianism.
Whitefield was a dramatic emotional speaker, cross-eyed and of small stature, with a booming voice that reached huge crowds. He popularized preaching in the open, a practice that enabled him to reach people who would not have entered a church. He preached in Scotland, Ireland, and Europe, but his impact was most profound in America, which he visited seven times and where his name became a household word. He died in Newburyport, Massachusetts, on September 30, 1770, and he was buried beneath the pulpit of Newburyport’s First Presbyterian Church.
Given the importance of Whitefield in his time, it is not surprising to discover that others too made his bust. Enoch Wood/Wood & Caldwell made the bust below. It is impressed on a medallion on the back “THE REVD. GEORGE WHITFIELD, DIED SEPT. 30, 1770. AGED 56. ENOCH WOOD SCULP. BURSLEM”. An identical bust in the Victoria and Albert Museum (83-1874) is impressed “Neale & Co”, suggesting that Enoch Wood may have modeled this bust while in Neale’s employ and before he became an independent potter in 1783.
Whitefield was a dramatic emotional speaker, cross-eyed and of small stature, with a booming voice that reached huge crowds. He popularized preaching in the open, a practice that enabled him to reach people who would not have entered a church. He preached in Scotland, Ireland, and Europe, but his impact was most profound in America, which he visited seven times and where his name became a household word. He died in Newburyport, Massachusetts, on September 30, 1770, and he was buried beneath the pulpit of Newburyport’s First Presbyterian Church.
Given the importance of Whitefield in his time, it is not surprising to discover that others too made his bust. Enoch Wood/Wood & Caldwell made the bust below. It is impressed on a medallion on the back “THE REVD. GEORGE WHITFIELD, DIED SEPT. 30, 1770. AGED 56. ENOCH WOOD SCULP. BURSLEM”. An identical bust in the Victoria and Albert Museum (83-1874) is impressed “Neale & Co”, suggesting that Enoch Wood may have modeled this bust while in Neale’s employ and before he became an independent potter in 1783.
Courtesy John Howard
I would guess that the Ralph Wood bust of Whitefield was made circa 1787, in the midst of the relatively short Ralph Wood era. The Enoch Wood bust on the other hand, is not as easy to date because it could have been made over a longer period of time, either by Enoch Wood or by the Wood and Caldwell partnership.
I don't know who made the bust below, but isn't it nice to see a titled example?
I don't know who made the bust below, but isn't it nice to see a titled example?
Courtesy John Howard
I used to think of busts as rather boring, but I have learned the error of my ways. I have been working with a collection that has a fabulous selection of busts, and they are fantastic pieces of pot that offer amazing glimpses of the people that shaped the world then and now. Without Whitefield, our western world would look quite different. He is considered to have been a key figure in the Great Awakening that was critical in the development of democracy. His teaching that all men are equal before God is thought to have played a pivotal role in the evolution of the principles that established the American nation.
With apologies for the varying fonts in this posting. I just can't fix it!
With apologies for the varying fonts in this posting. I just can't fix it!
