Leopold John Bernays was a clerk in holy orders. He was born on 28 December 1820. He was the son of Adolphus Bernays (professor, Kings College London)and Martha Arrowsmith. He married Mary, daughter of John Gorton, on 20 June 1846 at St. Thomas Chapel, Hackney. He was the officiating minister at several family weddings and [read more]

Popular, witty and intelligent, Canning gained an early political following as an excellent public speaker. Though of humble Irish origins, George Canning was taken under the wing of wealthy relatives in London who provided for his education at Eton and Oxford. Conscious of the need to secure an income, Canning initially pursued a legal career [read more]

This unusually large parian bust produced by Robinson & Leadbetter, is possibly after the lithographic print published by Joseph Koehler. German dramatist, poet, and literary theorist, one of the greatest figures in German literature, Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805) was born in Marbach, Germany and educated at the direction of a domineering duke, whose [read more]

The original marble by Chaudet was executed around the time that Napoleon proclaimed himself Emperor in 1810. This later, weathered, plaster copy however gains intrinsic appeal from the interesting provenance. Madeleine Castaing (18941992) and her husband Marcellin were pillars of the artistic community of Montparnasse and became intimate friends of such avant-garde artists and writers [read more]

Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier is known today as the founder of modern chemistry, for his pioneering studies of oxygen, gunpowder, and the chemical composition of water. In 1789, his theories were published in the influential `Traité Elementaire de Chimie’. The illustrations in this book were prepared by his wife, who is believed to have studied with the [read more]

Produced by Wedgwood & Sons in July 1858 this fine parian bust is after the designs of Edward Willian Wyon (1811-1885). Wyon studied at the Royal Academy schools from 1829, and became a celebrated sculptor, exhibiting at the Royal Academy regularly from 1831 to 1876. Among his commissions were works intended for reproduction by Wedgwood [read more]