HUGIJENOT ARTISTS DESIGNERS AND CRAYPSNEN IN GREAT ...

12.
It has already been emphasized that Huguenot artists arid craftsmen
caine to Britain in large numbers during the 1680's and during the 1690's
with encouragement from William III. It has not, however, been fully
realised, that persecution of the Huguenots in France continued well into
the late eighteenth century. It was only with the event of the French
Revolution in 1789 that the Huguenots were able to enjoy freedom of worship
again in France. It is therefore of interest to note, that when the
engraver Andrew Lawrence, who was, incidentally, of Huguenot descent, died
in Paris in 17k7, he was buried at midnight in a timberyard outside the
Porte Sainte Antoine, 'the usual burial place of Hereticks'. Thomas
Major, a friend and colleague, reported that 'Lawrence's body was conducted
in a Hackney Coach, guarded by order of the Cominissaire du Quartier by
four soldiers, armed to protect them from the insolence and rage of the
Populace, who otherwise might have torn them in pieces, so strong are
the prejudices of the common people which are continually fomented by
the Romish Clergy against the Protestants'. 2° The situation in France
was evidently ambiguous, as some Huguenots managed to return to live
there in the first half o the eighteenth century, although the extent
to which they compromised their faith is not known.
Huguenot artiFts and designers continued to leave France for Britain
in the eighteenth century, and Roubiliac's arrival in the 1730's should
be seen against this background. Other artists, whose families had settled
in Geneva, Berlin or Holland, probably came to Britain in search of work,
tempted by the additional attraction of a fully established Huguenot
community, which meant not only freedom of worship, but established
connections with the British aristocracy, and therefore patronage.
The appropriate Huguenot roles of private chaplain and tutor to noble
families played a vital part in the patronage of Huguenot artists and
craftsmen. Monsieur Huet, a Huguenot minister, was acting as steward to
the 1st Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth, where many of the craftsmen
employed in the rebuilding at that time were Huguenots. An interesting
letter, preserved at Chatsworth, from M.Huet to Mr.Jaines Whildon, dated
February 8th, 1699/1700, reveals Mr Huet's predicament as a minister.
'I am mightily obliged to you for your advice about the living, but I
am not in a condition to make use of it, the want of the Anglish tongue
hinders me of such things and I am now to old to learne well enough
to be understood by the people and to serve a parish by a proxy I never
liked for fear to be saved by proxy too - So I have said nothing of it
to his grace.' This is not the only example of a Huguenot minister being