Details of Sculptor

Surname

Cleruci

Alternative Surname

First Name

Charles

Initial of Surname

C

Year of Birth/Baptism

Flourished

1769-82

Year of Death

Biographical Details

Cleruci was a scagliola worker. Between 1769 and 1771 he was employed at Thoresby Park, Notts, by the architect, John Carr of York. In December 1769 there were payments to ‘Carlo Clerici and Company for work at the Dome’ and in the two following years he received nearly £600 for decorating the Marble Hall. There is also a note of a payment to ‘Loftus Clifford for Mr Clericy’s marble work’ (Earl Manvers’ Archives, 4420/21, Nottingham Univ Library). He was assisted by Ely Crabtree, who later set up as a plasterer in Lendal, York. In 1769 Cleruci was working and living at the town house of the Marquis of Rockingham in Grosvenor Square. In 1774 he was at Rockingham’s seat at Wentworth Woodhouse, Yorks, where he again worked under Carr. He was paid a guinea a week plus board and lodging, and made casts, pedestals, scagliola tables and vine leaf insets for marble chimneypieces. His principal and most spectacular work was in the Grand Saloon where he constructed niches, columns and pedestals. During his stay Clerici impregnated a family maidservant, who subsequently died (to the evident relief of the household). At the conclusion of his work in August 1782 he was paid £475 10s 10d, the whole of his salary for 8 years 259 days.
Literary References: Wragg 1959, 356-7; Gunnis 1968, 104; GPC