HUGIJENOT ARTISTS DESIGNERS AND CRAYPSNEN IN GREAT ...

88.
Within a month, the same Minutes record,
'Mr. Roubilliac the Statuary attended with a Modell of Sir JQhn Cass
Effigies to be set up in the Niche in the Front of the School and such
of the Trustees present as remembred. Sir John in his Lifetime gave Mr.
Robilliac the best Description they could of Sir John's person'.31
By November, the Treasurer was able to report that Roubiliac
had completed the statue, and Roubiliac was paid f1OO for his work.
It was suggested that 'it would be proper for some of the Trustees to go
and see the Statue at Mr. Roubilliac's in Saint Martin's Lane'. 31 By
February, 1752,the statue was in place, and the decision was made
to inscribe the pedestal with the founder's name'in Characters as large
and legible as possible and that Mr. Roubilliac the Statuary do put
his own Name with the Date of the year 1751 in the proper place at
the Bottom of the Pedestal.'32
The trustees were evidently delighted with Roubiliac's
rendering of their founder in his Aldermanic robes. The extent of their
approval is indicated by the fact that Roubiliac was given another
commission as a result. When Sir Crisp Gascoygne's father-in-law, Dr.
John Bamber, a wealthy physician of Mincing Lane, died in 1753, the
commission for a marble bust to be placed on his monument went to
Roubiliac. It was set up in Barking Church, near Dr. Bamber's manor
house, Bifrons.33
While Roubiliac was working on the statue of Sir John Cans, he
was also engaged in designing monuments to the 2nd Duke and Duchess
of Montagu, for St. Edmund's Church, Warkton, Northamptonshire.(See
Appendic C.) The 2nd Duke's father, Ralph Montagu, played a vital
role patronizing and welcoming first generation refugee craftsmen and
tradesmen. His son continued this family tradition, making an annual
contribution to 'La Soupe' the Huguenot charity house in Spitalfields
from at least 1 726 until 17k6. The account books at Boughton show
that the Montagu family continued to employ Huguenot craftsmen and
tradesmen, John Poitevin, Perruquemaker, Peter Dunoyer, bookseller,
and Jacques Regnier, printseller, to name a few. 35 The latter was a relative
of Poubiliac's fourth wife, Nicole Celeste Regnier. Unfortunately the
date of Poubiliac's fourth marriage has not yet come to light, and the
evidence for this marriage is contained in the sculptor's will. Nicole
Celeste Regnier ran the family printahop in Newport Street, and bills for
prints from the shop survive in the accounts at Petworth House.3°