Cast from the relief commissioned by the Earl of Ellesmere which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1836, number 1143. Sir Richard Westmacott learnt his craft first from his father and from 1793 in Rome, where he received a gold medal at the Académie de Saint-Luc. He then worked in Florence and returned to England in 1797, visiting en route Bologna, Venice and Germany visiting its museums. He immediately commenced on exhibiting at the Royal Academy until 1839. He executed numerous statues for Westminster Abbey and from 1820 produced work inspired by the classics. His work can also be seen in St Paul’s Cathedral and Lincoln’s Inn Field. ‘This beautiful little bas-relief was executed in marble some years ago, and is now in the possession of the Earl of Ellesmere. The pendant, similar in size and style, represents a sylph sporting with a butterfly. Both belong to the picturesque and decorative style of sculpture, and have that flowing wavy grace, in form and combination, which we associate with the arabesques; but they are distinguished from the merely vague and capricious creations which disport in the genuine arabesques, (or what we are pleased to call so), by a touch of significance and sentiment which would there be out of place. We do not know what may have been the intention of the artist in this graceful conception. It is plainly a sylph, who sits beneath the bell without bending its slender stalk; and according to the Rosicrucian theory, the sylphs were once women; so whispered Ariel in the ear of Belinda: “As once your own, our beings were of old, And once enclosed in woman’s beauteous mould; For when the Fair in all their pride expire, To their first elements their souls retire. The sprites of fiery termagants in flame Mount up, and take a Salamander’s name; Soft yielding minds to water glide away, And sip with nymphs their elemental tea; The graver prude sinks downward to a gnome, In search of mischief still on earth to roam; The light coquettes in Sylphs, aloft, repair, To sport and flutter in the fields of air!” Then according to this sylphic mythology, was not this lovely Blue Bell once a Blue? Has she not left “the gross world in which she wandered” - alone in her aspirations, disdainful of her womanly vocation; and does she now sit drooping in penance on her Blue Bell, and thinking of all she left below? Whatever maybe the interpretation, the conception is most elegant, and the engraver Mr. Rofe, has succeeded perfectly in rendering the delicacy of the original.’ (1) A contemporary wrote of this composition: Under this unassuming title is represented one of the most exquisitively beautiful bas-reliefs, both as to design and execution, we have ever seen, it is said that Lord Northwick has given another proof of his taste and judgment in adding this little gem to his collection. (1) Richard Westmacott Jr, Bluebell, The Art Journal, London 1849, page 56
Fraser's Literary Chronicle, 1836, page 414 The Art Journal, London 1849, page 56 (illustrated) Rupert Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors, The Abbey Library, London 1951, page 428