A newly discovered bust of Boyle

A marble bust of Boyle made by the Italian sculptor, Giovanni Battista Guelfi (fl. 1714-34), for Boyle's distant relative, the 3rd Earl of Burlington, has recently come to light and is currently for sale at the Chelminski Gallery, 616 King's Road, London, SW6. The bust, which was originally displayed at Lord Burlington's Palladian villa, Chiswick House, and is believed to date from about 1723, is virtually identical to that commissioned by Queen Caroline for her grotto at Richmond in 1732-3. The latter survives in the royal collection at Kensington Palace and has long been well-known (it is discussed by R.E.W. Maddison in his exhaustive account of Boyle's portraiture, and is reproduced as the frontispiece to the 2nd edition of J.F. Fulton's Bibliography of Boyle, though in both places it is misattributed to J.M. Rysbrack). However, this other version of Guelfi's bust has hitherto been entirely unknown to Boyle scholars.

Enquiries concerning the bust should be addressed to Hilary Chelminski at hilary@chelminski.com.