Studio of Francis Chantrey, John Nicholson

John Nicholson travelled to London in 1827 and visited the studio of leading portrait sculptor Francis Chantrey. One of Chantrey’s assistants made a plaster bust of Nicholson, which remained with his family. The bust was given to Tony Harrison during the first run of his play Poetry or Bust in 1993. For Harrison, the bust was a warning against the corrupting influence of commerce on creative practice. Reflecting on his literary heroes he wrote: “Nicholson swapped his integrity for a bust, that m