Page 126 - An account of the Lodge of Nine Muses No. 235. 1777 to 2012UGLE

126 An Account of the

This our Latinists may be left to construe. Edwards proceeds:
Mr Cipriani’s abilities as an artist were very high, particularly as a designer. In
the knowledge of the human figure he was preeminent, and his example was of
great use in correcting the taste of the students at that time in the Academy. Yet it
must be allowed that his coloring was not equal to his power of design.
He made many ... beautiful designs, most of which were engraved by Bartolozzi ....
As a man he was very elegant in his manners, with most liberal sentiments,
ever ready to assist those who solicited his instructions.
Cipriani had two sons, the elder of whom had a post in the Treasury.
The younger showed a talent for painting and studied under his father, but
“not meeting with the employment he wished, forsook the art, and became an
officer in the Huntingdon militia”.
While limited by the rather insipid classicism of his day, Cipriani was
an accomplished artist; the miniatures are designed with much grace and are
executed with the utmost delicacy.
They are painted on ivory and are mounted in frames of silver-gilt with solid
backs engraved with the words “Lodge of the Nine Muses”. The actual sight size
measured inside the frame, is about 2¾ by 2¼ inches. The coloured plates will
give a better idea of them than any verbal description, though a little of the finish
is inevitably lost in reproduction. (See Plate 8a, 8c, 8d and Plate 8b, 9a, 9b, 9c.)
The miniatures are regularly worn by the officers at all meetings of the Lodge,
hanging from the usual collars. 47
The engraving of the Master’s jewel, praised by the Freemasons’ Magazine for
February 1796, and previously referred to, was the first of a series which appeared
in that paper at intervals during the following months. A complete set of these
engravings was presented on 14 April 1902, by Bro. R. C. F. L. Wright, a visitor
to the Lodge. Unfortunately the magazine changed hands, and the promised
description of the candlesticks never appeared. The engraver, Leney, was a pupil
of Bartolozzi. The series consists of engravings of the five jewels mentioned
above with the puzzling addition of a sixth miniature, apparently of the same set
but entitled “The Jewel worn by the P.M. of the Lodge of Symbolic Masons.”

47 In 1977 photographic copies were made to be worn while the originals are placed on display
at each meeting. These copies faded and were replaced in 2007 by the compiler of this
edition. Prints of these appear pages 127 and 128.