DOI Kapitel:
Painters, Sculptors, Architects, Engravers, and their Works
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61295#0451
NICOLAUS — NORTHCOTE. 429
and painting. Sometimes rich enamel and jewels were used with
gilding and engraving.
Nogari, Giuseppe (1700-1763). A portrait painter whose works
have been frequently brought to England. There is usually some-
thing attractive about them. His color is rich, and his expression
powerful. His Oriental heads are especially good.
Nollekens, Joseph, born in London (1737-1823). Pupil of Peter
Scheemakers. In 1760 he went to Rome. He had already given
proof that his talents were worth cultivation. He was very poor
when he arrived in Italy, but some works which he sent home were
well sold, and he added to his income by making collections of rare
and antique fragments, etc., which found good sale among con-
noisseurs, while he retained a fine collection for himself. We can-
not form a very exalted idea of the man when we know that he also
smuggled silks, laces, gloves, and other articles by filling his plaster
casts with them; he not only did this but also boasted of it, saying
that his bust of Sterne held the lace ruffles which he wore to court 1
When he returned to England he had such a reputation that he
became at once the fashion, and his studio was filled with people
desiring portrait busts, for this was the one thing for which he
became famous. In 1771 he was elected to the Royal Acad. Soon
after this he was married to Miss Mary Welch. The busts, statues,
and monuments executed by Nollekens are very numerous. He and
his wife were well agreed in the practice of economy, and he became
rich; it is said that after her death he was somewhat more self-in-
dulgent. Nollekens loved to model small figures and groups in clay;
he had them baked and would not sell them, so they became very
numerous. Lord Yarborough was a true friend and generous patron
to the sculptor, and to him he owed much of his success. There is
little that is pleasant in the review of his life, and his biographer
(Smith) speaks justly when he says, after enumerating more than
1000 of his works, “ Such and so numerous are the works of Nolle-
kens, who will long be remembered, not only as having held a con-
spicuous rank among contemporary artists, in an era abounding in
men of genius, but as having, by assiduity rarely surpassed, and
parsimony seldom equalled, amassed a princely fortune; from which,
however, his avaricious spirit forbade him to derive any comfort or
dignity, excepting the poor consolation of being surrounded, in his
dotage, by parasites who administered to his unintellectual enjoy-
ments, and flattered even his infirmities, in the hope of sharing the
vast property which death would force him to resign.”
Northcote, James, born at Plymouth (1746-1831). Pupil of Sir
Joshua Reynolds. He visited Rome, became dissatisfied with por-
trait painting, and attempted historical and poetical subjects, but he
never produced anything above mediocrity. His portraits were de-
cidedly his best works. Northcote was also an author. He contrib-
and painting. Sometimes rich enamel and jewels were used with
gilding and engraving.
Nogari, Giuseppe (1700-1763). A portrait painter whose works
have been frequently brought to England. There is usually some-
thing attractive about them. His color is rich, and his expression
powerful. His Oriental heads are especially good.
Nollekens, Joseph, born in London (1737-1823). Pupil of Peter
Scheemakers. In 1760 he went to Rome. He had already given
proof that his talents were worth cultivation. He was very poor
when he arrived in Italy, but some works which he sent home were
well sold, and he added to his income by making collections of rare
and antique fragments, etc., which found good sale among con-
noisseurs, while he retained a fine collection for himself. We can-
not form a very exalted idea of the man when we know that he also
smuggled silks, laces, gloves, and other articles by filling his plaster
casts with them; he not only did this but also boasted of it, saying
that his bust of Sterne held the lace ruffles which he wore to court 1
When he returned to England he had such a reputation that he
became at once the fashion, and his studio was filled with people
desiring portrait busts, for this was the one thing for which he
became famous. In 1771 he was elected to the Royal Acad. Soon
after this he was married to Miss Mary Welch. The busts, statues,
and monuments executed by Nollekens are very numerous. He and
his wife were well agreed in the practice of economy, and he became
rich; it is said that after her death he was somewhat more self-in-
dulgent. Nollekens loved to model small figures and groups in clay;
he had them baked and would not sell them, so they became very
numerous. Lord Yarborough was a true friend and generous patron
to the sculptor, and to him he owed much of his success. There is
little that is pleasant in the review of his life, and his biographer
(Smith) speaks justly when he says, after enumerating more than
1000 of his works, “ Such and so numerous are the works of Nolle-
kens, who will long be remembered, not only as having held a con-
spicuous rank among contemporary artists, in an era abounding in
men of genius, but as having, by assiduity rarely surpassed, and
parsimony seldom equalled, amassed a princely fortune; from which,
however, his avaricious spirit forbade him to derive any comfort or
dignity, excepting the poor consolation of being surrounded, in his
dotage, by parasites who administered to his unintellectual enjoy-
ments, and flattered even his infirmities, in the hope of sharing the
vast property which death would force him to resign.”
Northcote, James, born at Plymouth (1746-1831). Pupil of Sir
Joshua Reynolds. He visited Rome, became dissatisfied with por-
trait painting, and attempted historical and poetical subjects, but he
never produced anything above mediocrity. His portraits were de-
cidedly his best works. Northcote was also an author. He contrib-