Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Sculptor, of London, for whom see Rupert Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 (revised edition, [1968]), 28-31.   John Bacon the younger, son of John Bacon the elder (1740-1799), designed and executed two monuments for Ireland, the first to Archbishop Richard Robinson, Baron Rokeby (died 1794) in Armagh Cathedral and the second to George Augustus Rochfort, second Earl of Belvedere (died 1814), in Tyrrellspath Church of Ireland church, Co. Westmeath.   The Robinson monument, which takes the form of a bust on a plinth, is signed 'Bacon sculptor London 1802', yet has been persistently attributed to JOSEPH NOLLEKENS JOSEPH NOLLEKENS ;  Mulligan suggests that the bust may be by Nollekens and the setting by Bacon.(1)   The Rochfort monument, a large sculptural group, is a close copy of the monument to Samuel Whitbread in Cardington church, Bedfordshire, which was designed by John Bacon the elder at the end of his life, and which, according to Gunnis, was completed by the younger Bacon.

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References

All information in this entry not otherwise attributed is from Homan Potterton, Irish Church Monuments 1570-1880 (UAHS, 1975), 35-36, and Christine Casey & Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North Leinster (1993), 530.


(1) Kevin V. Mulligan, The Buildings of Ireland: South Ulster (2013),105.


3 work entries listed in chronological order for BACON, JOHN [2]*#


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Building: CO. ARMAGH, ARMAGH, CATHEDRAL CLOSE, CATHEDRAL OF ST PATRICK (CI)
Date: 1802
Nature: Monument to Archbishop Richard Robinson in form of bust on plinth. Signed 'Bacon Sculptor London 1802'. Bust is often attributed to Nollekens;  Mulligan suggests that the bust may be by Nollekens and only the setting by Bacon.
Refs: Homan Potterton, Irish Church Monuments 1570-1880 (UAHS, 1975), 35-36;  Kevin V. Mulligan, The Buildings of Ireland: South Ulster (2013), 105.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, COLLEGE GREEN, BANK OF IRELAND
Date: 1813
Nature: Statue of George III executed by JB to design by Thomas Kirk. (In Maynooth College, Co. Kildare, 2010.)
Refs: Engraving of statue with dedicatory inscription by JB for sale by Bloomsbury Auctions, 4 Nov 2010, Lot 326;  Paula Murphy, Nineteenth-Century Irish Sculpture:  Native Genius Reaffirmed  (Yale University Press:  New Haven & London, 2010), 12(illus.)

Building: CO. WESTMEATH, TYRRELLSPASS, CHURCH OF ST SINAN (CI, CLONFAD PARISH)
Date: 1814
Nature: Monument to George Rochfort, 2nd Earl of Belvedere (1738-1814). Sculptural group showing recumbent earl with his mourning wife kneeling at his feet and figure of Faith supporting his head and pointing upwards to an angel above.
Refs: Homan Potterton, Irish Church Monuments 1570-1880 (UAHS, 1975), 35-36,Pl. 30;  Christine Casey & Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North Leinster (1993), 530.