Lot Essay
"The subject now treated is Sardanapulus. The Assyrian voluptuary sits half reclining on a throne-like chair, indolent and indifferent from satiety, but a king throughout; and while this is expressed with truth to the historic record of his character, the details of the costume are correctly and elaborately rendered, the well-curled beard and ringleted hair proclaiming the Oriental pleasure-loving despot" (Art Journal, Vol. XLI, 1879, p. 142). Such was The Times's description of William Wetmore Story's latest addition to his series of Oriental and Egyptian subjects.
Sardanapulus was the name given by ancient Greek historians, such as Ctesias 4th, and later by Byron in his tragedy of the same name (1821), to Ashurbanipal (d. 625 B.C.), the fortieth and last of the great Assyrian kings. Ashurbanipal was a highly cultured individual and his forty year reign is often seen as Assyria's golden age. Sculptures from the palace which he built at Nineveh represent the finest and most imaginative surviving examples of Assyrian art. He was also a collector of ancient writings and literate in an age when such skills were mainly restricted to an intellectual elite. Regarded as a licentious and effeminate monarch, Sardanapulus showed himself a brave warrior when the Medians rose against him. Defeated after two years of fighting, however, he collected all his treasures, concubines and eunuchs together into his palace and burnt them, throwing himself onto the pyre.
Considered in its day a major example of ideal sculpture, Sardanapulus has been a significant missing work from Story's oeuvre for at least seventy years and, due to its previously unknown whereabouts, discussion of the sculpture has been omitted from all 20th century appraisals of the artist's work. Living in an age when early archeologists, such as Austen Henry Layard, were excavating in the valleys of the Nile, Tigris, Euphrates and deserts of the Holy Land, Story drew his inspiration from the mysterious, tragic characters of the pre-Greek civilisations unearthed there. His Romantic search for heroic and exotic subjects from the ancient past resulted in works such as the much celebrated Cleopatra (1858; re-modelled 1864), Libyan Sibyl (1860), Saul (1863; re-modelled 1881) and the famous Assyrian Queen, Semiramis (1874), to name but a few. The Sardanapulus referred to in The Times review of 1879 (op cit.) pre-dates the present version by four years and may, if the sculptor's practice of re-working his subjects is duplicated here, have differed in its execution. The former was probably in the collection of Count János Pálffy who, owning at least ten of Story's works, was the sculptor's most devoted patron. The Pálffy collection was dispersed at auction in Bratislava in 1924 and many of the Story marbles that formed part of its content have never since been traced (see Sotheby's, 6 June 1997, lot 63, for Story's Orpheus, one of the few Pálffy marbles to have been re-discovered).
The present Sardanapulus, dated 1883, is most probably the second and only other example of the work executed. Unlike many of his American contemporaries in Rome, such as Hiram Powers (d. 1873) or Randolph Rogers (d. 1892), who were in the business of replicating their most popular works at the expense of carving new subjects, Story was prolific in his creation of new characters. Many of his full-size statues are, therefore, unique pieces and seldom were more than two or three examples of the same work carved. The statue was acquired, probably directly from Story's studio, by Cyril Flower, later Lord Battersea, and was placed in the vestibule of the latter's Marble Arch residence, Surrey House (see opposite page for a photograph of Sardanapulus in situ). A leading figure in the successive Liberal governments of the late Victorian era, Battersea (d. 1907) was M.P. for Brecon, South Wales (1880-1885) and later for South Bedfordshire (1886-1892), before being offered a peerage in the honours list of an ageing Gladstone. Whilst committed wholeheartedly to the demands of his constituency, Battersea's greatest passions lay elsewhere, as Lady Battersea points out in her memoirs: "Cyril was deeply interested in the House of Commons, and although he was a most popular member both there and in his constituency, his special talents did not lie in political work. His were not so much the attributes of a statesman, as they were those of the man of artistic taste" (see Constance Rothschild, Lady Battersea, Reminiscences, London, 1922, p. 194). As such, Surrey House was not just a meeting place for the Liberal Party, but equally its doors were opened to musicians, artists, writers and philanthropists and Battersea spared no pains in its decoration, hoping that the effect would arouse and satisfy the sense of beauty in his many and varied guests. Lady Frances Balfour, in her obituary of Battersea, commented on this facet of her deceased friend's character: "...when he loved the art, he sought out the man who had created it. He had the gifts of the architect and the eye of the mason; when his palaces of art were raised, he loved to deck them with colour and light" (Westminster Gazette, 28 November, 1907). So it was that together with Burne-Jones, Millais, Tissot, Whistler and other distinguished artists of the day to be welcomed into Surrey House was William Wetmore Story, whom Lady Battersea recalls as having given a lecture to other guests (Reminiscences, op cit., p. 196). The subject of the lecture itself is not recalled, but given the imposing presence that Sardanapulus must undoubtedly have had in his place in the vestibule, it would be difficult for the speaker not to make some reference, however self-deprecating or otherwise, to his own work.
On Lord Battersea's death in 1907, his widow moved from the house whose contents and decoration were surely a constant reminder of her loss. It is uncertain what the destiny of Sardanapulus was at this juncture. Whilst it is unlikely that the less stately proportions of Lady Battersea's new home at 10, Connaught Place, could have accommodated an object of such stature, the sculpture did not figure in Christie's sale of Lord Batterseas Collection of Objects of Art and Decorative Furniture from Surrey House, held on 2 April, 1909. It is equally improbable that the marble remained at Surrey House itself. On Lady Battersea's departure it ceased to be a residential property, probably standing empty until the years of the Great War, when it was occupied by the British Red Cross and Royal Air Force Aid Committee, falling into a state of disrepair afterwards and finally being demolished in 1927 to make way for the Regal Cinema (now the Odeon, Marble Arch). The next re-emergence of Sardanapulus was in the auction of 'Plant Machinery & Stock of a Stone and Marble Works', held by Messrs. Henry Butcher & Co., on site at Cumberland Market, Regents Park, on 19 August, 1932. The Marble Works in question was that of Messrs. J & A Crew who, in all probability, had removed the sculpture from Surrey House at the time it was vacated by Lady Battersea and had held it in stock since. Sardanapulus was acquired at the sale by the grand-father of the present owner, a well-known London hotelier, and was placed in the slightly incongruous setting of the ballroom at the Imperial Hotel, Russell Square (built 1906 and re-built 1966), where he remained until the early 1980s, at which point he was placed outside.
William Wetmore Story was undoubtedly the most important American sculptor in Rome during the latter half of the nineteenth century and his fame and significance were the subjects of several biographies published in the immediate years after his death. Previously unlocated and thought to be unrecorded in photographs, Sardanapulus is an important discovery, and deserves to be ranked high in any future study of Story's oeuvre.
Sardanapulus was the name given by ancient Greek historians, such as Ctesias 4th, and later by Byron in his tragedy of the same name (1821), to Ashurbanipal (d. 625 B.C.), the fortieth and last of the great Assyrian kings. Ashurbanipal was a highly cultured individual and his forty year reign is often seen as Assyria's golden age. Sculptures from the palace which he built at Nineveh represent the finest and most imaginative surviving examples of Assyrian art. He was also a collector of ancient writings and literate in an age when such skills were mainly restricted to an intellectual elite. Regarded as a licentious and effeminate monarch, Sardanapulus showed himself a brave warrior when the Medians rose against him. Defeated after two years of fighting, however, he collected all his treasures, concubines and eunuchs together into his palace and burnt them, throwing himself onto the pyre.
Considered in its day a major example of ideal sculpture, Sardanapulus has been a significant missing work from Story's oeuvre for at least seventy years and, due to its previously unknown whereabouts, discussion of the sculpture has been omitted from all 20th century appraisals of the artist's work. Living in an age when early archeologists, such as Austen Henry Layard, were excavating in the valleys of the Nile, Tigris, Euphrates and deserts of the Holy Land, Story drew his inspiration from the mysterious, tragic characters of the pre-Greek civilisations unearthed there. His Romantic search for heroic and exotic subjects from the ancient past resulted in works such as the much celebrated Cleopatra (1858; re-modelled 1864), Libyan Sibyl (1860), Saul (1863; re-modelled 1881) and the famous Assyrian Queen, Semiramis (1874), to name but a few. The Sardanapulus referred to in The Times review of 1879 (op cit.) pre-dates the present version by four years and may, if the sculptor's practice of re-working his subjects is duplicated here, have differed in its execution. The former was probably in the collection of Count János Pálffy who, owning at least ten of Story's works, was the sculptor's most devoted patron. The Pálffy collection was dispersed at auction in Bratislava in 1924 and many of the Story marbles that formed part of its content have never since been traced (see Sotheby's, 6 June 1997, lot 63, for Story's Orpheus, one of the few Pálffy marbles to have been re-discovered).
The present Sardanapulus, dated 1883, is most probably the second and only other example of the work executed. Unlike many of his American contemporaries in Rome, such as Hiram Powers (d. 1873) or Randolph Rogers (d. 1892), who were in the business of replicating their most popular works at the expense of carving new subjects, Story was prolific in his creation of new characters. Many of his full-size statues are, therefore, unique pieces and seldom were more than two or three examples of the same work carved. The statue was acquired, probably directly from Story's studio, by Cyril Flower, later Lord Battersea, and was placed in the vestibule of the latter's Marble Arch residence, Surrey House (see opposite page for a photograph of Sardanapulus in situ). A leading figure in the successive Liberal governments of the late Victorian era, Battersea (d. 1907) was M.P. for Brecon, South Wales (1880-1885) and later for South Bedfordshire (1886-1892), before being offered a peerage in the honours list of an ageing Gladstone. Whilst committed wholeheartedly to the demands of his constituency, Battersea's greatest passions lay elsewhere, as Lady Battersea points out in her memoirs: "Cyril was deeply interested in the House of Commons, and although he was a most popular member both there and in his constituency, his special talents did not lie in political work. His were not so much the attributes of a statesman, as they were those of the man of artistic taste" (see Constance Rothschild, Lady Battersea, Reminiscences, London, 1922, p. 194). As such, Surrey House was not just a meeting place for the Liberal Party, but equally its doors were opened to musicians, artists, writers and philanthropists and Battersea spared no pains in its decoration, hoping that the effect would arouse and satisfy the sense of beauty in his many and varied guests. Lady Frances Balfour, in her obituary of Battersea, commented on this facet of her deceased friend's character: "...when he loved the art, he sought out the man who had created it. He had the gifts of the architect and the eye of the mason; when his palaces of art were raised, he loved to deck them with colour and light" (Westminster Gazette, 28 November, 1907). So it was that together with Burne-Jones, Millais, Tissot, Whistler and other distinguished artists of the day to be welcomed into Surrey House was William Wetmore Story, whom Lady Battersea recalls as having given a lecture to other guests (Reminiscences, op cit., p. 196). The subject of the lecture itself is not recalled, but given the imposing presence that Sardanapulus must undoubtedly have had in his place in the vestibule, it would be difficult for the speaker not to make some reference, however self-deprecating or otherwise, to his own work.
On Lord Battersea's death in 1907, his widow moved from the house whose contents and decoration were surely a constant reminder of her loss. It is uncertain what the destiny of Sardanapulus was at this juncture. Whilst it is unlikely that the less stately proportions of Lady Battersea's new home at 10, Connaught Place, could have accommodated an object of such stature, the sculpture did not figure in Christie's sale of Lord Batterseas Collection of Objects of Art and Decorative Furniture from Surrey House, held on 2 April, 1909. It is equally improbable that the marble remained at Surrey House itself. On Lady Battersea's departure it ceased to be a residential property, probably standing empty until the years of the Great War, when it was occupied by the British Red Cross and Royal Air Force Aid Committee, falling into a state of disrepair afterwards and finally being demolished in 1927 to make way for the Regal Cinema (now the Odeon, Marble Arch). The next re-emergence of Sardanapulus was in the auction of 'Plant Machinery & Stock of a Stone and Marble Works', held by Messrs. Henry Butcher & Co., on site at Cumberland Market, Regents Park, on 19 August, 1932. The Marble Works in question was that of Messrs. J & A Crew who, in all probability, had removed the sculpture from Surrey House at the time it was vacated by Lady Battersea and had held it in stock since. Sardanapulus was acquired at the sale by the grand-father of the present owner, a well-known London hotelier, and was placed in the slightly incongruous setting of the ballroom at the Imperial Hotel, Russell Square (built 1906 and re-built 1966), where he remained until the early 1980s, at which point he was placed outside.
William Wetmore Story was undoubtedly the most important American sculptor in Rome during the latter half of the nineteenth century and his fame and significance were the subjects of several biographies published in the immediate years after his death. Previously unlocated and thought to be unrecorded in photographs, Sardanapulus is an important discovery, and deserves to be ranked high in any future study of Story's oeuvre.