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Lot Essay
Born at Fribourg in Switzerland, the Duchess Edale de Castiglione-Colonna spent most of her life in Nice and the Italian Riviera. Having studied drawing under Fricero and sculpture under Imhof, she settled in Rome where she married Duke Carlo Colonna in 1856. Her husband dying soon afterwards, the Duchess retired for a short period to the Monastery of Trinita dei Monti but later moved to Paris and worked in the studio of Madame Lefèvre-Deumier. She exhibited at the Salon from 1863 to 1870 under the pseudonym Marcello and founded the Musée Marcello in Fribourg, where the greater part of her work is kept. Many of her sculptures, preliminary sketches and paintings are also to be found in the Fribourg Museum.
The bust of the Chef Abyssin was originally modelled in marble and bronze in 1869 in Rome and exhibited at the Salon in Paris in 1870. Bessis records only two other bronze versions of the subject, one of which is in the Foundation Marcello, Fribourg. She suggests that the fondeur may well be M. Marnyhac, Paris, who is recorded as purchasing in 1870, from the sculptor, the original version together with the rights to all future editions in bronze and marble. The sculptor seems to have been particularly fascinated by her subject matter, as the numerous drawings, watercolour studies and paintings of her model held in the Fribourg Museum testify. Marcello's sensitive handling of the material and her careful attention to detail are clearly visible in the rugged, weather-beaten features and penetrating regard of the Arab, as well as his majestically draped djellaba.
The bust of the Chef Abyssin was originally modelled in marble and bronze in 1869 in Rome and exhibited at the Salon in Paris in 1870. Bessis records only two other bronze versions of the subject, one of which is in the Foundation Marcello, Fribourg. She suggests that the fondeur may well be M. Marnyhac, Paris, who is recorded as purchasing in 1870, from the sculptor, the original version together with the rights to all future editions in bronze and marble. The sculptor seems to have been particularly fascinated by her subject matter, as the numerous drawings, watercolour studies and paintings of her model held in the Fribourg Museum testify. Marcello's sensitive handling of the material and her careful attention to detail are clearly visible in the rugged, weather-beaten features and penetrating regard of the Arab, as well as his majestically draped djellaba.