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Lot Essay
Sir Sidney Colvin was the first director of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge University, where he established the cast gallery of Antique Sculpture and also held the role of Slade Professor of Fine Art at Cambridge, in which capacity he regularly lectured on classical sculpture. He resigned these posts to become Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum (1883-1912). Through his friendship with Edward Burne-Jones, Colvin was introduced to Dante Gabrielle Rossetti.
Some time in the late 1860s Colvin met Frances Jane Sitwell, née Fetherstonhaugh (1839–1924) who was unhappily married to the Rev. Albert Hurt Sitwell. She separated from her husband in 1874 and for the next thirty years she and Colvin lived apart but maintained a close friendship. She acted as hostess at his official residence at the British Museum, and thanks to her influence it became a literary and artistic hub. Although the Rev. Sitwell died in 1894 Colvin and Sitwell did not marry until 1903; as Colvin did not feel able to support a wife in addition to his mother and he did not marry until after the latter's death.
Some time in the late 1860s Colvin met Frances Jane Sitwell, née Fetherstonhaugh (1839–1924) who was unhappily married to the Rev. Albert Hurt Sitwell. She separated from her husband in 1874 and for the next thirty years she and Colvin lived apart but maintained a close friendship. She acted as hostess at his official residence at the British Museum, and thanks to her influence it became a literary and artistic hub. Although the Rev. Sitwell died in 1894 Colvin and Sitwell did not marry until 1903; as Colvin did not feel able to support a wife in addition to his mother and he did not marry until after the latter's death.