van Nost, John the Younger

fl.1751

1780

John Nost the younger was the nephew of the far more famous John Nost the elder for whom he worked and, as Vertue remarked, ‘drove on the business, but never studied, nor did himself anything tolerable.’ He moved to Dublin about 1750 and, finding no competition, made his reputation there. Gunnis notes that Van Nost took a mask of Garrick from which he made a bust. He also states that the mask came into the possession of Charles Mathews while ‘endless copies of the bust were afterwards put on the market; indeed, Macklin, the actor, said to Nollekens that one “was in every barber’s shop-window, as a block for wigs”.’