ONE of the finest portrait busts carved in England during the late 17th century can be seen in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Made in 1673, it shows Christopher Wren at the age of 40, with rich curly locks tumbling to his shoulders and a loose shirt beneath the classical robe in which he's swathed. The features are alert, mobile, determined; high eyebrows suggest scepticism, with Wren's somewhat bulging eyes seemingly trained on a distant object that only he can see. Edward Pierce, the stone carver and mason who made this tour de force, perhaps after a lost French original, worked with Wren on several projects and must have been in his company many times. He knew his subject well and brilliantly captures the quality for which Wren has always been known: genius.
Every contemporary description of Wren confirms the evidence of the bust. Although diminutive in stature, he was a handsome man, whose dazzling gifts were recognised from childhood. As an adolescent at Oxford, he would be called 'that miracle of a youth Mr Christopher Wren'. Unlike some other prominent figures in the Royal Society-the uncouth Isaac Newton, the distinctly peculiar Robert Hooke he was invariably courteous and frequently to be seen in Hooke's company in the coffee houses around Whitehall, where he lived and worked.
この記事は Country Life UK の February 15, 2023 版に掲載されています。
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この記事は Country Life UK の February 15, 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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