Page:Anecdotes of painters, engravers, sculptors and architects, and curiosities of art (IA anecdotesofpaint01spoo).pdf/325

 prizes in the Society of Arts? eh!" Nollekens answered, "Yes," upon which the actor shook him kindly by the hand, inquired concerning his studies, and invited him to breakfast the next morning. He did more—he sat to him for his bust, and when the model was finished, he gave him twelve guineas This was the first bust he ever modelled.

NOLLEKENS' TALENTS IN BUST SCULPTURE.

The bust of Sterne, which he afterwards executed at Rome in terra cotta, materially increased his reputation; and the applause that it received probably warned the sculptor of his talents in that branch of the art, in which he afterwards became so distinguished. It forms a truly admirable image of the original, and Nollekens, to his last hour, alluded to it with pleasure. "Dance," he used to say, "made my picture with my hand leaning on Sterne's head—he was right." This striking bust is now in the collection of Mr. Agar Ellis. His talents in bust sculpture were universally acknowledged, and when Mr. Coutts, the banker, applied to Fuseli, then keeper of the Royal Academy, for the best sculptor to execute his bust, the painter replied, "I can have no difficulty in telling you; for though Nollekens is weak in many things, in a bust he stands unrivalled. Had you required a group of figures, I should have recommended Flaxman, but for a bust, give me Nollekens."