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Lot Essay
The present lot and its history are emblematic of the fascination for the Greco-Roman antique world among the English aristocracy in the 18th and 19th centuries. Those travelling around Italy as part of their ‘Grand Tour’ would visit the major cities and important archaeological sites purchasing souvenirs to furnish their residences back home. Such items were typically ancient sculptures or pieces directly copying ancient models; they were not only decorative mementos of travels abroad but intended to demonstrate their owner’s worldliness and appreciation for ancient culture.
The present lot is an 18th-century version, after an athénienne housed in the Galleria dei Candelabri in the Museo Pio Clementino in the Vatican, which was created by Pope Clement XIV (d. 1774) and Pope Pius VI (d. 1799). It is first recorded in 1892 in the Compton Place Inventory, a country house in Eastbourne, East Sussex. A photograph of the gallery in the house shows the work in situ, at the end of the room in front of the window. Although named after Spencer Compton, Britain’s second Prime Minister, by the late 1800s the house, designed by Colen Campbell, had passed into the ownership of the Dukes of Devonshire. It is possible that the present lot was one of the many artworks brought back to England by the 6th Duke of Devonshire, one of the most important British collectors of the 19th century.
COMPTON PLACE
Built in 1726 on the site of an earlier Elizabethan manor house and designed by Colen Campbell, Compton Place was completed by William Kent following Campbell’s early death in 1729. The house was commissioned by Sir Spencer Compton (c. 1764-1743), treasurer to the Prince of Wales, later George IV. The Prince of Wales was Colen Campbell's chief patron, and so it was natural for Spencer Compton to turn to him for its design. Campbell’s influence is particularly felt in the decoration of the interiors of Compton Place - the Duke's Bedroom was considered at the time ‘one of the most opulent examples in England’, with a stucco relief following Titian's Venus and Adonis (G. Beard, Decorative Plasterwork in Great Britain, London, 1975, p. 68).
Compton Place passed to Sir Spencer Compton’s nephew, the 5th Earl Northampton upon his death, it then passed by marriage to George Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington who renovated the building in 1806, adding stucco to the flint exterior. The estate then passed to his grandson the 7th Earl of Devonshire where it has remained by descent.
The present lot and its history are emblematic of the fascination for the Greco-Roman antique world among the English aristocracy in the 18th and 19th centuries. Those travelling around Italy as part of their ‘Grand Tour’ would visit the major cities and important archaeological sites purchasing souvenirs to furnish their residences back home. Such items were typically ancient sculptures or pieces directly copying ancient models; they were not only decorative mementos of travels abroad but intended to demonstrate their owner’s worldliness and appreciation for ancient culture.
The present lot is an 18th-century version, after an athénienne housed in the Galleria dei Candelabri in the Museo Pio Clementino in the Vatican, which was created by Pope Clement XIV (d. 1774) and Pope Pius VI (d. 1799). It is first recorded in 1892 in the Compton Place Inventory, a country house in Eastbourne, East Sussex. A photograph of the gallery in the house shows the work in situ, at the end of the room in front of the window. Although named after Spencer Compton, Britain’s second Prime Minister, by the late 1800s the house, designed by Colen Campbell, had passed into the ownership of the Dukes of Devonshire. It is possible that the present lot was one of the many artworks brought back to England by the 6th Duke of Devonshire, one of the most important British collectors of the 19th century.
COMPTON PLACE
Built in 1726 on the site of an earlier Elizabethan manor house and designed by Colen Campbell, Compton Place was completed by William Kent following Campbell’s early death in 1729. The house was commissioned by Sir Spencer Compton (c. 1764-1743), treasurer to the Prince of Wales, later George IV. The Prince of Wales was Colen Campbell's chief patron, and so it was natural for Spencer Compton to turn to him for its design. Campbell’s influence is particularly felt in the decoration of the interiors of Compton Place - the Duke's Bedroom was considered at the time ‘one of the most opulent examples in England’, with a stucco relief following Titian's Venus and Adonis (G. Beard, Decorative Plasterwork in Great Britain, London, 1975, p. 68).
Compton Place passed to Sir Spencer Compton’s nephew, the 5th Earl Northampton upon his death, it then passed by marriage to George Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington who renovated the building in 1806, adding stucco to the flint exterior. The estate then passed to his grandson the 7th Earl of Devonshire where it has remained by descent.