James Lovell
Carver, Marble Mason.
fl. 1747 - 77.
some notes.
Nothing is known of Lovell’s background or training, but
McCarthy suggests that he may have been a pupil in the studio of Peter
Scheemakers and Laurent Delvaux. The earliest evidence of his activities dates
from 16 January 1747, when he received a payment of £100 from Sir James
Dashwood, perhaps for decorative work at West Wycombe Park. He was then working
at Stowe where on 31 January he was paid £8 14s ‘on balance for a year’s
carving’, followed by another payment of two guineas on 23 May (Stowe Building
and Repair Accounts in McCarthy 1973, 222). Over the course of the next 30
years Lovell executed a considerable amount of carving at Stowe, including
chimneypieces, architectural ornaments in various materials, reliefs and
statues (15, 17, 20, 23-30).
Lovell was seen by Gunnis as a protégé of Horace Walpole
because of two linked commissions. In 1756 Lovell carved the Montagu family
monument at Horton (3). Walpole apparently designed this and supervised
Lovell's work, for he wrote to Frederick Montagu on 28 August 1756, ‘I saw
Lovel today, he is very far advanced, and executes to perfection; you will be
quite satisfied; I am not discontent with my design now I see how well it
succeeds’ (HWC, vol 9, 195). Two years later Lovell carved the monument to
Galfridus Mann (4), designed by Walpole’s friend Richard Bentley. There is no
evidence of further patronage by Walpole. Other monuments by the sculptor
include the Fitzwalter, a ‘large and magnificent architectural work, with a
white-marble urn set in an alcove of green marble’ (Gunnis 1968, 244) (2).
He worked with the architect Sanderson Miller on a number of
occasions, for instance at Wroxted Abbey, Belhus and Hagley Hall. He supplied a
rococo chimneypiece for the hall at Hagley (13) and one in the dining room is
also thought to be his work because it has terms identical to those of the
state dressing room chimneypiece at Stowe (15). Furthermore, Lovell appears to
have supervised the decorative work at Hagley. For Miller’s own house, Radway
Grange, Warks, he made a statue which Bishop Pococke described as, ‘Caractacus
in chains, modelled, under Mr Miller’s directions, by a countryman of great
genius now established in London’ (Dickins and Stanton 1910, 270) (8). Lovell
worked in conjunction with the London carpenter and builder John Hobcraft at
Stowe, Belhus, Croome Court and at Newton Paddox, Warks, where he received a
payment of £293 17s for unidentified work in 1768.
Walpole noted that Lovell had his premises in ‘Mortimer
Street near Oxford Road’ (HWC, vol 35, 644) but by September 1766, when one of
Lovell’s employees, a Thomas Austin, was tried for stealing a piece of Siena
marble from his master, he had moved to Charles Street. Another assistant, John
Marsden of Titchfield Street, Marylebone, gave evidence in the case (The
Proceedings of the Old Bailey, ref t17660903-20, 3 September 1766).
Two years
later ‘James Lovell, of St Mary le Bonne, carver and mason’ became bankrupt
(London Mag, 1768, vol 37, 711), because of his over-reliance on a narrow
circle of aristocratic patrons. He was obliged to move to premises in Wall
Street, which he rented from Lord Temple for £20 a year. In spite of these
difficulties he continued in business until 1777 or later.
EH
Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 244; McCarthy 1973,
220-32; Cornforth 1989, 152-5; Beard 1993, 88-110; Craske 2000 (2), 113 n35
Info above lifted from - http://liberty.henry-moore.org/henrymoore/sculptor/browserecord.php?-action=browse&-recid=1694
List of Works
1. Sir Thomas Lyttelton Bt (†1751) Funerary
Monument (designed by Sanderson Miller c.1754. (destroyed)
2. Benjamin, Earl Fitzwalter. Funerary
Monument.1756. Chelmsford Cathedral, Essex
3. Edward and Henrietta Montagu Funerary Monument 1756 Horton, Northants
4. Galfridus Mann (†1756) Funerary Monument (designed by
Richard Bentley) 1758 Linton, Kent
5. General James
Wolfe. Funerary Monument 1760. Westerham Church,
Kent
6. Bishop Richard Osbaldeston Funerary Monument †1764 Hutton Buscel, N R Yorks
7. Thomas Trotman Funerary
Monument ?1777 Bucknell, Oxon
8. Statue of Caractacus (or ‘Ancient Briton’) (designed by Sanderson Miller). Radway
Grange, Warwicks, gardens
9. Belhus, Essex Several Chimneypiece 1754-1757 demolished
1956
10. ‘A new French
chimney piece, all of statuary marble, black coves’ Chimneypiece 1758 Croome Court, Worcs, lady’s dressing room
(National Trust)
11. ‘Statry Marble with three mouldings’ Chimneypiece 1758 Croome
Court, Worcs, ‘dressing room over lord Coventry’s dressing room’ (National
Trust)
12. ‘Two Marble Chimney Pieces Black Marble Coves’ Chimneypiece 1758 Croome Court,
Worcs, saloon (National Trust)
13. Rococo Chimneypiece c1760 Hagley
Hall, Worcs, in the hall
14. Two Chimneypiece Belhus,
Essex ?1767 untraced
15. Chimneypieces Several Stowe House, Bucks, including
those in the state dining room and state bedroom 1752-1777
16. Ornaments for ceilings Architectural
Sculpture 1751 Wroxton Abbey, Oxon
17. ‘two cupids with branches in their hands’ Architectural Sculpture 1752 Stowe
House, Bucks
18. Capitals (designed by Thomas Prowse and Sanderson
Miller) Architectural Sculpture 1754 Warwick
Shire Hall
19. Gothic ornaments Architectural
Sculpture 1754 Belhus Essex. demol 1956
20. Interior ornaments Architectural
Sculpture 1752-1754 Temple of Concord and Victory, Stowe
House, Bucks, gardens (National Trust)
21. Gothic ornaments Architectural
Sculpture 1757 demolished 1956,
22. Marble and wood carving. 1758-1761. Croome Court, Worcs (National Trust)
23. Four muses. c1762. Anglesey Abbey, Cambs (National Trust).
24. Twenty-one medallions commemorating the Seven Years War
(from designs by James Stuart).1763 Temple of Concord and
Victory, Stowe, Bucks, pronaos and cella, gardens (National Trust)
25. Festoons and other ornaments. c1767 Corinthian Arch,
Stowe, Bucks, gardens (National Trust)
26. Religion and Liberty; Ceres and Flora, two pairs of
figures. c1774 Stowe House,
Bucks, south front parapet
27.Six roundel reliefs. 1775. Stowe House, Bucks, east and
west wing window lunetttes
28. Composite capitals. 1775-1776 Queen’s Temple, Stowe
House, Bucks, gardens (National Trust)
29. Two roundel reliefs of dancing figures representing the
seasons, frieze depicting the ‘sacrifice of Bacchus’, doorcase and ornamental
details. 1776 Stowe House, Bucks, south
front portico
30. Plaster reliefs and ornaments. 1773-1777. Stowe
House, Bucks, interiors
31.Tabernacle.nd St
Jaques, Douai, France.
____________________
THE NORFOLK HOUSE CHIMNEYPIECE
ALMOST CERTAINLY DESIGNED BY GIOVANNI BATTISTA BORRA AND
CARVED BY JAMES LOVELL.
English. Circa 1755.
The Great Room, Norfolk House, St. James’s Square, London
Info and photograph from
White Hall at Hagley Hall.
Lovell.
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