32 FRANCIS HARWOOD
English (active in Florence),
active 1748-1783
Bust of a Man, 1758
Black sandy limestone
(pietra da paragone) on a
yellow Siena marble socle
With socle: 69.9 cm (27Vi in.)
Inscribed along the bottom of
the proper left side and back:
F. Harwood Fecit 1758
88.SA.114One of the few English sculptors to settle permanently in Italy, Harwood devoted
most of his career to supplying British aristocrats with copies and reductions of famous
antiquities, as well as with marble urns and chimneypieces to decorate their country
houses. The Museum's bust appears to be Harwood's only known portrait that is not
directly based on an ancient or contemporary prototype. It is by far his most beautiful
and original work. The sitter is depicted with a broad, smooth, muscular chest and
shoulders that end in a sweeping arc. The nudity of the chest, the shape of the
termination, and the placement of the bust on a rounded, classical socle recall
ancient portrait busts and reflect Harwood's antiquarian interests. They also serve
to ennoble the sitter by associating him with ancient precedents.
The identity of the sitter is unknown. His particularized facial features and the
inclusion of a small scar at the top of his forehead above his right eye suggest that the
sculpture portrays a specific individual. This, along with the bust's dignified expression
and antique associations, makes the portrait exceptional not only within Harwood's
oeuvre but also within the broader history of European representations of people of
color. First brought to Britain in 1555, by the eighteenth century Africans were familiar
figures in English society. However, their depiction in art remained largely stereotyped.
In paintings they were usually portrayed as servants and relegated to the background.
In sculpture, their features and costume were generalized to serve as symbols of
exoticism. Harwood's bust, by contrast, is a rare, if not unique, eighteenth-century
European portrait of a black individual. PAF92 EUROPEAN SCULPTURE