Rob Hall Antiques

Description

A plaster bust of William Shakespeare by Lewis Brucciani and is a c. 1830 a copy of the original by John Cheere. Lewis Brucciani (1785-1848) was born in Barga, close to Lucca, in 1785 and christened Antonio Luigi Brucciani. The village of Brucciano, near Barga, presumably gives rise to the Brucciani name. Lewis Brucciani came to England in about 1820 and was in business in Lambeth by 1822. He married Lucy Lucasey in 1823. His wife took out insurance in 1824 in trust for him as an artificial flower manufacturer, and later the same year also as a plaster figure maker, but it was not until 1828 that Lewis Brucciani set up in business in Drury Lane. As a plaster figure, bust and ornament manufacturer, he took out insurance on several occasions including at 5 Little Russell St in 1834, covering his store, utensils and goods for £600, in 1835 for £800, in 1839 on his household goods, manufacturory, utensils and stock for £900 and jointly with Dominick Brucciani in November 1841. His wife, Lucy Brucciani, died in 1838. His stock in trade and fixtures were offered for sale in 1840 (Wade 2019 p.12, n.40). In the 1841 census he was recorded at 5 Little Russell St, as a figure maker, age 55 (ages were rounded down to the nearest five in this census), together with his British-born second wife, Ann, age 40, his nephew, Dominic Brucciani, also a figure maker, age 25, born overseas, and Mary, age 20, British-born. He retired to Barga in about 1844, dying there in 1848 (information from Bruno Caproni).


The bust is in country house condition with losses and repairs to the socle.

Measuring: 54cm tall

London, England, c. 1830