Augustine Berville, Sculptor
(fl. 1754-1759)
Sculptor
From A Dictionary of Irish Artists 1913
He was of a French family and studied modelling in the Dublin Society's School. John O'Keeffe, who was his fellow-pupil, refers to him as "a most enthusiastic Frenchman." He lived in Cope Street, and did "gentlemen's likenesses modelled in the most excellent and beautiful manner," as he tells us in an advertisement in the "Universal Advertiser," August, 1754. In the same year he advertised a bust of Malone, in plaster. He made a particular kind of pasteboard stucco for ornamenting houses, ("Faulkner's Journal," 7th May, 1754), and was the first to introduce this work which he perfected after seven years close application. In this material he did "ornaments for ceilings, and history pieces in alto-relievo, beasts, birds, flowers, etc., all ready for immediate fixing" ("Universal Advertiser," April 1757).* In 1756, describing himself as a "paper stucco worker," he petitioned the Dublin Society for assistance in his work, but was refused.
* A John Gordon of Temple Bar, "Stucco maker of Papier Maché," did similar work for cornices and ceilings about 1762.
« William Bertrand | Contents and Search | Angelo Maria Bigari »