DAMNED SOULS

Agostino Zoppo was active in Padua and Venice, where he was employed as a founder by the better-known sculptor Jacopo Sansovino (1486-1570). Today there are a small number of works in bronze attributed to him, including a group known as The Mountain of Hell in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv. A.62 – 1953) and an Oil Lamp in the form of a Bearded Acrobat in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (inv. 1982.60.93). The present bronze group depicting tormented souls in the flames of hell displays a number of stylistic similarities with these groups, as well as a technical peculiarity which is the appearance of tiny unrepaired holes in the surface of the bronze. These were where tiny chaplets would have been inserted to hold core material in place during casting.

Norris Castle was originally designed by James Wyatt for Lord Henry Seymour (1795-1830), on an estate adjoining Osborne House. It passed through a number of private owners, including the Duke of Bedford in the late 19th century, and was frequently visited by royalty throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.