JOHN FRANCIS MOORE (D. 1809)

A STATUARY MARBLE BUST OF THE RT. HON. CHARLES WOLFRAM CORNWALL (1735-1789), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, LAST QUARTER OF THE 18TH CENTURY.

Signed I:F:Moore, Fect.

The Rt. Hon. Charles Wolfran Cornwall (1735-1789) was Speaker of the House of Commons from 1780 to 1789 having crossed the floor to join the government in 1774 in support of their opposition to the American Revolution. On his death in 1789, John Moore was commissioned to create his memorial in the chapel of the Hospital of St Cross, Winchester. Perhaps best known today for his full-length portrait statue of William Beckford (1709-1770), builder of Fonthill Splendens in Wiltshire (located in The Guildhall, London), Moore also produced memorials, chimneypieces and a few portrait busts.

Cornwall was painted by Gainsborough in 1785. This portrait also bears close comparison with a watercolour portrait of Cornwall from the series 'Speakers of the House of Commons’ (National Portrait Gallery Reference Negative No. 43130).

In addition to the present bust, only two other portraits by Moore are known today, that of Sir John Rushout in Worcester Infirmary from 1769, and the one in Spencer House, London, believed to represent William, 2nd Earl of Bessborough, from 1775.