J. G. Bubb

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Bubb's monument to William Pitt the Younger in the Guildhall in London

James George Bubb (1781–1853) was a prolific sculptor in marble and

Italian Opera House in London was the largest undertaken in Great Britain at that time.[1]

Early career

Born in London the son of Fanny and James Bubb, a tobacconist with a shop on The Strand, he was probably the James George Bubb who was christened at St Martin-in-the-Fields on 23 September 1781.[2] In 1797, aged 15, Bubb was apprenticed to the sculptor John Fontum for seven years.[3]

Bubb had a prize-winning beginning at the

Royal Academy Schools from 1801 and won a silver medal in 1805. Before 1806 he worked in the studio of John Charles Felix Rossi RA and John Bingley; Bingley said that Bubb "did studiously attend to the duties of his profession and was employed in the several works carried on in that period, particularly in marble, viz. Captain Faulkener's monument in St Paul’s". He regularly exhibited his work from his father's tobacco shop as a young man which in 1806 caused Lawrence Gahagan, who lost out on an important commission to Bubb, to describe him disparagingly as "Tobacconist Bubb".[4]

In 1806 while still relatively unknown he secured the commission to sculpt the monument to

Corporation of London believing they had gone for the cheapest option rather than the best and questioned if Bubb was suitably experienced to deliver the monument satisfactorily. When asked for a reference Rossi wrote that as Bubb had not "been employed during his continuance with me upon anything by which he could acquire any practical skill in the execution of such works as the one proposed" he could not "give any opinion as to the executive ability of Mr Bubb". Joseph Farington believed that Bubb had been guilty of sharp practice having "canvassed the Members of the Common Council and gave cards on the back of which he put the mark which he put on his model that it might be known".[4][7]

Royal Academy

His bust of

bas-relief for the Commercial Rooms in Bristol from about 1811 show his growing skill and ability. He married Margaret Alice Blakey in London in 1812[9] and after working for Eleanor Coade who had developed Coade stone[6][10] he honed the skills he learnt from her and embarked on a career working extensively as a modeller using a composition material of his own design, a form of terracotta he named ‘lithargolite’.[4]

In 1818 after the bankruptcy of his terracotta modelling business he and Rossi went into partnership despite their previous antipathy to provide a large number of sculptures for the new Customs House in the City of London for which they used Bubb's composition material ‘lithargolite’. The figures represented the arts and sciences, commerce and industry, and inhabitants of various countries of the world. A clock dial, nine feet in diameter, was supported by colossal figures symbolising Industry and Plenty, and the royal arms by figures of Ocean and Commerce.[11][12] However, their work was poorly received and within six years the badly-constructed building had been demolished.[4]

Later years

Bubb's statue of St Andrew outside St Andrew's Garrison Church in Aldershot in Hampshire

Bubb again used his terracotta-like composition ‘lithargolite’ for his frieze for the

Elizabeth I for the Royal Exchange in London which can now be found at Lime Walk at Hatfield House having been removed there in 1855 after they were taken from the façade of the Royal Exchange after a fire,[15][16] while in 1829 he proposed to create a sculpture of George Washington in artificial stone for Pennsylvania in the USA.[1]

His statue of St Andrew is positioned outside

Royal Caledonian School in Bushey in Hertfordshire
in the 1990s.

Decline

Bubb exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1830 and 1831 after which his business began to gradually decline leading in 1833 to a sale of his "architectural sculpture, casts &c" which included Zoffany’s 'Life Class at the Royal Academy', which was sold to Joseph Browne. In 1835 he applied to the Artists' General Benevolent Institution (AGBI) for financial relief having had little work during the previous two years. Bubb stated that he was living in poverty and his landlord had seized and sold his stock in lieu of rent while he had a wife and two children to support. Later it was noted that his wife had run off with a young man who had been living with him as a pupil. In 1839 Bubb was employed by John Marriott Blashfield on experimental terracotta work at Canford Magna in Dorset where Sir John Guest was building inexpensive model cottages for agricultural workers. Also in 1839 Bubb produced a statue of Pomona but these are his last known works.[4]

Today Bubb is largely forgotten but when he is remembered it is not favourably, the majority of his major works having since been destroyed or dismembered, while the low opinion of his fellow-sculptors including those who had lost out on commissions to him have given the impression that he was a sculptor of little artistic talent with a reputation for sharp practice.

Italian Opera House and in 1929 described him as one of the "Illustrious Obscure" with a "genius for relief".[4][17][18]

Family

On 9 May 1812 he married Margaret Alice Blakey, daughter of Henry Blakey of Bush Lane in London. They had a son, Francis Bubb. Sadly his wife eloped with an apprentice who was lodging in their house.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b c Proceedings of Councils - The Register of Pennsylvania, Volume 4 (1829) - Google Books pg 326
  2. ^ James George Bubb in the England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 - Ancestry.com (subscription required)
  3. ^ James George Bubb in the London, England, Freedom of the City Admission Papers, 1681-1930 - Ancestry.com (subscription required)
  4. ^ a b c d e f James George Bubb - A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851 Archived 15 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Henry Moore Foundation website
  5. ^ Monument to William Pitt by James George Bubb - National Gallery of Art database
  6. ^ a b c J. G. Bubb - Public Sculptures of Sussex database
  7. ^ Joseph Farington, The Diary of Joseph Farington, ed. K. Garlick, A. Mackintyre, K. Cave, E. Newby (17 vols., 1978–1998, Yale University Press) Vol 8, pg 2919
  8. ^ Bust of Admiral Lord Nelson by J. G. Bubb - National Maritime Museum website
  9. ^ James George Bubb in the London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1932 - Ancestry.com (subscription required)
  10. ^ A pair of Regency 'Artificial Stone' architectural masks early 19th century, by James George Bubb to a design by Thomas Hope - Sotheby's On-line Catalogue (2008)
  11. Longman, Hust, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green
    . p. 117.
  12. ^ Timbs, John (1858). Curiosities of London. London. pp. 305–6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. ^ Farington, vol 16, pg 5652
  14. ^ Bankruptcy of James George Bubb - The London Gazette, 1 July 1820 pg 1641
  15. ^ Stone Frieze of Queen Elizabeth I by Bubb - Hatfield House website
  16. ^ J. G. Bubb in The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Volumes 31-32, J. Limbird, London (1838) - Google Books pg 50
  17. ^ Katharine Esdaile, Dictionary of Sculptors, English or Working in England: including Modellers, Artists who Designed Monuments and Others Connected with the Art of Sculpture, (1929) (1), pgs 33-8
  18. ^ R. Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660--1851, London, (1965) pp. 66-67
  19. ^ Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis
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