Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Sculptor, of London and Dublin. John Nost the Younger may have been a son of JOHN NOST [1] JOHN NOST [1] , in which case he must have been born around the time of his father's death in 1710 or 1711, or one of the two sons of the John Nost, who carried on John Nost the Elder's business and died in 1729. On 17 October 1726 he was apprenticed to Henry Scheemakers in Westminster for seven years. It is possible that he then worked in the Nost workshop, which remained in the family until 1739,(1) but there is no record of his career until he settled in Dublin in about 1749. On his arrival he was immediately taken up by the Dublin Society, which commissioned busts of some of its founder members and, arranged for a number of pupils to become his apprentices.(2) He 'soon enjoyed an almost complete monopoly of sculptural work in Ireland'.(3) He made a number of visits to London: these included one in 1753 or 1754 to hold sittings with King George II for the equestrian statue in St Stephen's Green, another in 1763, when he even had a London address 'At Mr Clarke's, St Martin's-lane, opposite May's-buildings',(4) and another in 1765 to make a model for his statue of George III for the City Hall in Dublin. A much later visit in 1776 is said to have been much prolonged on account of his poor health. He died in Dublin in October 1780. His will of 24 October 1779 appointed his wife 'Ann Van Nost otherwise Armstrong' as his executor and made bequests to a widowed sister, Catherine Legross, and a nephew, Richard Lynd.(5) He appears to have had no surviving children.

Addresses: Aungier Street, Dublin, 1752(5)-1760;(6) 'in the Gardens of the Right Hon. Anthony Malone, the east side of Stephen's-green', 1763;(7) 21 Mecklenburgh Street, 1779-1780.(8)

See WORKS for Irish works only (excluding free-standing busts).



References

Genealogical and biographical information in this entry is from S. O'Connell, 'The Nosts: a revision of the family history', Burlington Magazine 129, December 1987, 802-6, and Paul Spencer Longhurst & Andrew Naylor, 'Nost's equestrian George I restored', Sculpture Journal II (1998), 33, which further amends O'Connell's account. There are entries on Van Nost in W.G. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists (1913), II, 478-487, Rupert Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 (revised edition, n.d.), 282, and Homan Potterton, Irish Church Monuments 1570-1880 (UAHS, 1975), 85.

(1) The Nost workshop belonged to an Anthony Nost in 1739, when it passed to John Cheere (O'Connell, op. cit., 803).
(2) Potterton, loc. cit.; the School of Modelling was not established until 1811.
(3) Gunnis, loc.cit.
(4) O'Connell, op.cit., 803; he is described as 'lately arrived from London' in Faulkner's Dublin Journal, 11-14 June 1763.
(5) P.B. Eustace, Registry of Deeds Dublin: Abstracts of Wills II 1746-85 (1954), 310 (no. 629).
(6) Faulkner's Dublin Journal, 21-25 Jan 1752.
(7) Faulkner's Dublin Journal, 22-26 Jan 1760.
(8) Faulkner's Dublin Journal, 11-14 Jun 1763.
(9) Faulkner's Dublin Journal, 7-9 Sep 1779 and 24-26 Aug 1780 (street number in latter edition misprinted or mistranscribed as 11 Mecklenburgh Street).


22 work entries listed in chronological order for NOST, JOHN (VAN) [2]*


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Building: CO. ARMAGH, MULLAGHBRACK (OR MULLABRACK), CHURCH OF ST JOHN (CI)
Date: 1749p
Nature: Monument to Sir Arthur Acheson, with bust.
Refs: W.G. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists (1913), II, 486; Homan Potterton, Irish Church Monuments 1570-1880 (UAHS, 1975), 86

Building: CO. WATERFORD, WATERFORD, CATHEDRAL SQUARE, CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL (CI)
Date: 1752p
Nature: Monument to Mrs Susanna Mason (d.1752).
Refs: W.G. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists (1913), II, II, 487; Homan Potterton, Irish Church Monuments 1570-1880 (UAHS, 1975), 86

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, CASTLE STREET, DUBLIN CASTLE
Date: 1753
Nature: Statues of Justice and Mars on piers of gate leading into Upper Castle Yard. .JVN paid for 'statuary work' at Dublin Castle for King's birthday, 1753.
Refs: MS. letter and account books of Thomas Eyre in IAA (Acc. 86/149), II, 14; W.G. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists (1913), II, 487;  Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005),352.

Building: CO. LONGFORD, TASHINNY, CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY (CI)
Date: 1753p
Nature: Monument to Judge Gore.
Refs: W.G. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists (1913), II, 487; Homan Potterton, Irish Church Monuments 1570-1880 (UAHS, 1975), 27(illus.), 86; Christine Casey & Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North Leinster (1993), 141-2

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, CHRISTCHURCH PLACE, CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL (CI)
Date: 1754
Nature: Monument to Thomas Prior in SW porch, , 'almost finished' in Feb 1754. For Dublin Society. (Epitaph by George Berkeley)
Refs: Faulkner's Dublin Journal, 23-26 Feb 1754; Homan Potterton, Irish Church Monuments 1570-1880 (UAHS, 1975), 86;  Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005), 335.

Building: CO. WATERFORD, CURRAGHMORE
Date: 1754
Nature: Life-sized statue of Catherine, Countess of Tyrone in grotto.
Refs: W.G. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists (1913), II, 487 (cites Faulkner's Journal, 3 Jun 1755)

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, ST STEPHEN'S GREEN, STATUE OF GEORGE II
Date: 1754-57
Nature: Bronze equestrian statue on high pedestal. King sits to JVN in 1754; model cast by 1756; statue unveiled 2 Jan 1758. (Pedestal designed by Joseph Jarratt?) Destroyed by land mine, 12 May 1937.
Refs: Faulkner's Dublin Journal, 29 Jun-2 Jul 1754, 10-13 Aug 1754, 17-20 May 1755, 16-20 Mar 1756; W.G. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists (1913), II, 480-481; E. McParland, 'A note on George II and St Stephen's Green', Eighteenth Century Ireland II (1987), 187-195(illus.);  Paula Murphy, Nineteenth-Century Irish Sculpture: Native Genius Reaffirmed  (Yale University Press: New Haven & London, 2010), 12,236,Figs. 4,314.


Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, O'CONNELL STREET UPPER, BLAKENEY STATUE
Date: 1758
Nature: Statue of General William, Lord Blakeney 'very curiously cast in fine brass' in Aug 1758 and erected in Sackville Street, 1759. Removed 1782.
Refs: Faulkner's Dublin Journal, 22-26 Aug 1758; W.G. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists (1913), II, 486

Building: CO. CORK, CORK, TUCKEY'S BRIDGE, STATUE OF GEORGE II
Date: 1759-1761
Nature: Equestrian statue of George II. Erected 7 Jul and unveiled 16 Jul 1761.(Moved to South Mall and taken down, 1862.)
Refs: Francis H. Tuckey, The County and City of Cork Remembrancer (Cork, 1837), R. Caulfield (ed.) The Council Book of the Corporation of the City of Cork (1876), 731,736; Faulkner's Dublin Journal, 22-26 Jan 1760; Complete Irish Traveller (1788), 151; W.G. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists (1913), II, 484,487;  Paula Murphy, Nineteenth-Century Irish Sculpture: Native Genius Reaffirmed  (Yale University Press: New Haven & London, 2010), 241-2.


Building: CO. GALWAY, TUAM, CATHEDRAL OF ST MARY (CI)
Date: 1763p
Nature: Monument to John Echelin 'may well be by Van Nost' (Potterton)
Refs: Homan Potterton, Irish Church Monuments 1570-1880 (UAHS, 1975), 86

Building: CO. OFFALY, TULLAMORE, CHURCH OF ST CATHERINE (CI)
Date: 1764-1766
Nature: Monument to Earl of Charleville.
Refs: Faulkner's Dublin Journal 11-14 Oct 1766; W.G. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists (1913), II, 486; Homan Potterton, Irish Church Monuments 1570-1880 (UAHS, 1975), 60-61(illus.), 86.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, CORK HILL, ROYAL EXCHANGE
Date: 1765
Nature: Statue of George III, presented to merchants of Dublin by Duke of Northumberland, 1765.
Refs: J. Warburton, J. Whitelaw and R. Walsh, History of the City of Dublin (1818), I, 522; W.G. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists (1913), II, 484,487;  Paula Murphy, Nineteenth-Century Irish Sculpture:  Native Genius Reaffirmed  (Yale University Press:  New Haven & London, 2010), 12(illus.).

Building: CO. CORK, ROSTELLAN CASTLE
Date: 1766
Nature: 'Mr Van Nost has now finished a very grand statue of Sir Edward Hawke, at the command and the sole expense of the Earl of Inchiquin, to be erected at his lordship's seat in the harbor of Cork.'
Refs: Faulkner's Duiblin Journal, 26-29 Jul 1766

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, CHRISTCHURCH PLACE, CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL (CI)
Date: 1767p
Nature: Monument to Lord Chancellor John Bowes (d.1767) in S transept of crypt.
Refs: W.G. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists (1913), II, 486; Homan Potterton, Irish Church Monuments 1570-1880 (UAHS, 1975), 86;  Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005),336.

Building: CO. WEXFORD, NEW ROSS, CHURCH STREET, CHURCH OF ST MARY (CI)
Date: 1768p
Nature: Monument to Viscount Loftus.
Refs: Homan Potterton, Irish Church Monuments 1570-1880 (UAHS, 1975), 86

Building: CO. WATERFORD, WATERFORD, CATHEDRAL SQUARE, CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL (CI)
Date: 1770
Nature: Monument to Nicholas and John Fitzgerald.
Refs: W.G. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists (1913), II, 486; Homan Potterton, Irish Church Monuments 1570-1880 (UAHS, 1975), 59(illus.),86

Building: CO. MEATH, MOYGLARE, CHURCH OF ST PAUL (CI)
Date: 1772p
Nature: Monument to Robert Shields and his son 'might well be by Van Nost' (Potterton).
Refs: Homan Potterton, Irish Church Monuments 1570-1880 (UAHS, 1975), 86

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, PATRICK STREET, ST PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL (CI)
Date: 1775
Nature: Monument to Archbishop Smyth. Designed and executed by JN and finishedby Henry Darley (Hibernian Magazine, Apr 1775) but given to John Smyth by Pool & Cash.  According to Casey the monument was designed by John Smyth, carved by Van Nost and installed by Henry Darley.
Refs: Homan Potterton, Irish Church Monuments 1570-1880 (UAHS, 1975), 85-6;  Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005), 620.

Building: CO. CORK, CORK, EXCHANGE
Date: 1779
Nature: Full-length statue of Alderman Hugh Lawton in 'fine metal bronzed' finished and to be erected in Exchange.
Refs: Faulkner's Dublin Journal7-9 Sep 1779

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, JAMES'S STREET, CHURCH OF ST JAMES (CI, OLD)
Date: 1780
Nature: Monument to William Henry Wall, erected in churchyard.
Refs: Faulkner's Dublin Journal, 24-26 Aug 1780

Building: CO. ROSCOMMON, KILMORE, CHURCH (CI)
Date: ?
Nature: Monument with full length effigy possibly by Van Nost (Potterton).
Refs: Homan Potterton, Irish Church Monuments 1570-1880 (UAHS, 1975), 86

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, PARNELL SQUARE, ROTUNDA GARDENS
Date: ?
Nature: Metal statues of Antinous, Venus de Medici, Mercury, Apollo, Janus and sitting Venus. For Bartholomew Mosse.
Refs: Ian Campbell Ross, ed., Public Virtue, Public Love: the early years of the Dublin Lying-In Hospital (1986), 70,29