Details of Sculptor

Surname

Spang

Alternative Surname

First Name

Michael Henry

Initial of Surname

S

Year of Birth/Baptism

Flourished

Year of Death

1762

Biographical Details

Little is known of Spang’s origins, but he was a native of Denmark who came over to England about 1756 and remained here until his death. In 1758 he received a premium of 39 guineas for modelling the ‘seal of the Society of Arts used for letters’ from a design by Cipriani. He used wax as a preliminary medium in his work.
In 1759 Spang made chimneypieces for several parade rooms at Kedleston at a total cost of £990 (11-13). He drew a design for a painted ceiling in the drawing room, celebrating naval victories over the French, but this was not realised since Adam did not favour frescoed ceilings. In 1759 he also procured a model of a ship for Lord Scarsdale. In 1760 he carved the dolphins and prows of ships on the stone screen of the Whitehall entrance to the Admiralty (14), and in the same year executed three statues for the front of Spencer House, London (15).
His monument to James Thomson, † 1748, was erected in Westminster Abbey about 1760. It has a life-size seated figure of Thomson in a toga, a book in one hand and the Cap of Liberty in the other. On the circular pedestal on which Thomson’s arm rests are four enchanting reliefs of the seasons, commemorating his most famous poem (1).
Spang was on the list of artists who met at the Foundling Hospital in 1760 together with William Tyler, Joseph Wilton, Richard Hayward and Roubiliac (Builder 1859, 849). He exhibited with the Society of Artists from l760-62 (3, 8, 9, 16-19). One of his exhibits was an ecorche figure (a flayed human body), which JT Smith was later to identify as Spang's major achievement, familiar to every artist who studied anatomy (5). He signed a bronzed terra-cotta statuette of William Hogarth (6). Bilbey notes a reference in the VAM records to the similarity between the Hogarth and another statuette in the collection, previously identified as Matthew Prior and ascribed to L F Roubiliac, which may have been executed by Spang.
The sculptor left little or no money at his death. A sale of his belongings was held at Little Stanhope Street, near Mayfair Chapel, on 21 December 1762. Among the lots were various models and a marble bust. In 1768 the Society of Artists had to provide 11 guineas in order to apprentice his son, Henry, to a peruke-maker (Archives, Soc of Artists, ref untraced). Spang’s widow, Mary, married a Mr Brown shortly after the death of her first husband, but on the recommendation of Sir William Chambers drew an annual pension from the Royal Academy from 1769 until her death in 1785. This varied from three to eight guineas (RA Council Minutes, vol 1, fols 27, 136, 159, 180, 203, 220, 241, 257, 273, 287, 305, 330, 345, 361).
Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 361; Hardy and Hayward 1978, 194-7; Pyke 1981, 38; Kedleston 1998, passim; Bilbey 2002, 155; Postle 2004, 58
Auction Catalogues: Spang 1762