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Lot Essay
The original bronze was excavated at Pompei in 1862 and is now in the Naples Museum. Reproductions were made by the Chiurazzi foundry in Naples, see Chiurazzi catalogue, no. 91.
Doris Duke purchased her Los Angeles home, Falcon Lair, high above the canyons of Beverly Hills, in 1953 and frequented it for forty years. The Spanish style house already had a storied Hollywood past, as it had been the home of Rudolph Valentino in the 1920's. Valentino named the house Falcon Lair after he purchased it in 1925, intending to share it with his wife Natacha Rambova, but they divorced almost immediately after Valentino bought the house. Valentino died in 1926, however, and the estate and its contents -- mostly Italian and Spanish Renaissance style furniture and decorations -- were dispersed that same year at auction to help pay off Valentino's debts.
Doris Duke purchased her Los Angeles home, Falcon Lair, high above the canyons of Beverly Hills, in 1953 and frequented it for forty years. The Spanish style house already had a storied Hollywood past, as it had been the home of Rudolph Valentino in the 1920's. Valentino named the house Falcon Lair after he purchased it in 1925, intending to share it with his wife Natacha Rambova, but they divorced almost immediately after Valentino bought the house. Valentino died in 1926, however, and the estate and its contents -- mostly Italian and Spanish Renaissance style furniture and decorations -- were dispersed that same year at auction to help pay off Valentino's debts.