Manco Capac.
Ralph Willett inv. Wm. Collins fec. James Caldwall sculp.
[n.d., c.1785.]
Etching, 285 x 530mm (11¼ x 20¾").
A bas-relief frieze or panel showing Manco Cápac holding his spear in a decorated oval at the centre flanked by relevant decorative motifs and embellishments including a llama motif. In Inca mythology, Manco Cápac was the first king of the Kingdom of Cuzco. Cuzco was a small kingdom in the Andes that began as a small city-state founded by the Incas around the 12th century. In time, through either warfare or peaceful assimilation, it began to grow and was succeeded by the Inca Empire. Manco Cápac is thought to have reigned until about 1230, though some put his death at 1107. From a series of designs by Ralph Willett (1719 - 1795), book and art collector, as realised by William Collins (1721 - 1793), modeller and sculptor. Collins had a large practice during the last half of the eighteenth century as a modeller of friezes and bas-reliefs for chimneypieces, reredoses, &c. He was one of the first members of the St. Martin's Lane Academy, and a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists, and signed the roll declaration in 1765, being one of the first directors of that society. He contributed to the first exhibition in 1760, and continued to exhibit up to 1768. This design formed part of Willett's decorative scheme for the estate of Merly in Great Canford, Dorset, which he purchased in 1751. In 1772 he built two wings, that on the south-east being a library (adorned with fanciful designs in arabesques and frescoes) eighty-four feet long, twenty-three wide, and twenty-three high.
[Ref: 11851] £190.00
[n.d., c.1785.]
Etching, 285 x 530mm (11¼ x 20¾").
A bas-relief frieze or panel showing Manco Cápac holding his spear in a decorated oval at the centre flanked by relevant decorative motifs and embellishments including a llama motif. In Inca mythology, Manco Cápac was the first king of the Kingdom of Cuzco. Cuzco was a small kingdom in the Andes that began as a small city-state founded by the Incas around the 12th century. In time, through either warfare or peaceful assimilation, it began to grow and was succeeded by the Inca Empire. Manco Cápac is thought to have reigned until about 1230, though some put his death at 1107. From a series of designs by Ralph Willett (1719 - 1795), book and art collector, as realised by William Collins (1721 - 1793), modeller and sculptor. Collins had a large practice during the last half of the eighteenth century as a modeller of friezes and bas-reliefs for chimneypieces, reredoses, &c. He was one of the first members of the St. Martin's Lane Academy, and a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists, and signed the roll declaration in 1765, being one of the first directors of that society. He contributed to the first exhibition in 1760, and continued to exhibit up to 1768. This design formed part of Willett's decorative scheme for the estate of Merly in Great Canford, Dorset, which he purchased in 1751. In 1772 he built two wings, that on the south-east being a library (adorned with fanciful designs in arabesques and frescoes) eighty-four feet long, twenty-three wide, and twenty-three high.
[Ref: 11851] £190.00