Pasquale Romanelli

Mary Caroline Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Dowager Duchess of Sutherland (1848-1912), Carbisdale Castle, Scottish Highlands, circa 1906;
Colonel Theodore Salvesen (1863-1942), Carbisdale Castle, Scottish Highlands, 1933;
by family descent to Captain Harold Keith Salvesen (1897-1970), Carbisdale Castle, Scottish Highlands, 1942;
gifted to the Scottish Youth Hostels Association, 1945

Overall the condition of the marble is good with minor dirt and wear to the surface consistent with age. There is particular dirt in the crevices and some splashes of orange paint, notably to the headdress. There are a few other dirt residues, including to the back. There are a few small chips and abrasions to the corn in the girl's proper right hand, and there may be some small chips and abrasions to the large sheaf of wheat. There are a few small chips to the edges of the base. There is a small chip to the headdress at the back on the proper left side. The marble would benefit from a light cleaning. The base is in good condition. There are a few small chips and losses to the edges of the different segments of the base.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Among Old Testament heroines, Ruth is perhaps the most romanticised. The eponymous character of the Book of Ruth is a Moabitess married to an Israeli husband, whose family has relocated to Moab. Following the deaths of most family members including Ruth’s husband, the widowed young woman bravely decides to depart for Israel with her mother-in-law, Naomi, despite being a foreigner: “where you go, I will go.” In Bethlehem, she becomes a hard-working gleaner on a field belonging to Boaz, a distant relative. Boaz so admires Ruth’s sense of duty towards her family that he asks for her hand in marriage, and they have a family of their own.

Ruth was a popular subject among 19^th-century sculptors active in Italy, notably Giovanni Battista Lombardi and the American Randolph Rogers, whose famous depiction of the gleaning heroine is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. no. 99.7.1). Romanelli’s model precedes those by Lombardi and Rogers, having been exhibited in Paris in 1851. It is this Ruth who arguably best conveys the character’s piety and modesty. Despite some baring of flesh, her figure is largely covered by her historic garments and, in her kneeling position with sheafs of wheat in both hands, Ruth is believably caught in the act of her physically demanding work. Her romantic relationship with Boaz is hinted at through the longing upwards gaze. The present marble exhibits Romanelli’s attention to detail in the highly realistic carving of the wheat and the beautifully modelled hair and headdress.

The Florentine sculptor Pasquale Romanelli achieved an international reputation for his finely carved mythological and biblical marble figures. Romanelli began his training at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence under Luigi Pampaloni but was soon taught by the foremost Tuscan neoclassical sculptor, Lorenzo Bartolini. Finding Bartolini’s favour, he went on to become his collaborator and, upon the master’s death in 1850, the successor of his studio. Romanelli’s mythological and allegorical compositions were highly prized by a cosmopolitan clientele, and he exhibited select models in Paris. One such work, La Delusa, which he presented in 1851, was acquired by the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. In addition to collectors’ marbles, Romanelli executed numerous important commissions for monuments, such as those to Vittorio Fossombroni in Arezzo, Masi in Pavia, and Demidoff in Florence. Romanelli’s final tribute to his master, Bartolini’s tomb monument, is housed in the Church of Santa Croce in Florence. After Romanelli’s death in 1887, his son Raffaello and grandson Romano continued his legacy which lives on to the present day; the Romanelli studio, now a private museum, remains a rare survival in Florence.

RELATED LITERATURE
A. Panzetta, Nuovo dizionario degli scultori italiani, Turin, 2003, p. 781

Carbisdale Castle: A History

Carbisdale Castle is a magnificent Scots Baronial residence situated in the heart of the Highlands, overlooking the beautiful Kyle of Sutherland. Constructed between 1906 and 1917, it was the last Castle to be built in Scotland. Its history is one of intrigue, scandal, war and peace, at the centre of which lies the formidable figure of its first resident, Mary Caroline, Dowager Duchess of Sutherland (1848-1912), the Duchess Blair. Married three times, her first husband, Captain Arthur Kindersley Blair of the 71^st Highland Light Infantry Regiment, died mysteriously in a hunting accident in 1883. In the months leading up to her husband’s death, Mary Caroline had embarked on a love affair with the 3^rd Duke of Sutherland. Rumour swirled around the untimely death and, according to one writer ‘the Duke was whispered to have been responsible’. When his first wife died in 1889 there was no bar to the Duke wedding his long term mistress. The two caused a major scandal by marrying only four months after the Duchess’ passing. Mary Caroline was branded the  ‘Duchess Blair’ by the Victorian public, the implication being that she was a social climber.

The tale of the Duchess Blair took a further twist with the death of the Duke, since his will left her the majority of the Sutherland inheritance. His natural heirs were incensed, contesting this legacy. During the course of legal proceedings it emerged that the Dowager had destroyed documents, and she was sentenced to six weeks imprisonment. An agreement was eventually reached providing the Dowager with a substantial financial settlement, including the stipulation that the family construct a residence befitting her station. The result, Carbisdale Castle, was built to her exacting standards, and, over a period of time, was gradually furnished with the magnificent collection of statuary and painting being offered in this sale. The Dowager nevertheless remained embittered by her lost inheritance and she constructed the Castle around a tower with clocks on only three sides. The wall without a clock faced Sutherland lands, illustrating the Duchess’ claim that she would not give the family the time of day.

The Castle and its collection were generously donated to its current custodians, the Scottish Youth Hostels Association (SYHA), by Captain Harold Salvesen in 1945, who had inherited it from his father, Colonel Theodore Salvesen. Scots of Norwegian descent, during the Second World War the family gave refuge to King Haakon VII of Norway at Carbisdale. It was here, in 1941, that the Norwegian King signed an agreement with the Soviet Union that Russian troops would vacate Norway after they had liberated the country from Nazi forces. From 1945 to 2010 this historic Castle, complete with a tumultuous history and said to be haunted, operated as a popular youth hostel, under the care of SYHA.

The Collection comprises an extraordinary narrative sweep which charts the development of European sculpture in the 19^th century, from the elegant Neoclassicism of the early part of the century – exemplified by works such as the Venus Italica after Antonio Canova – to the fantastical Romanticism of the Belle Époque years – seen in marbles such as Pasquale Romanelli’s Andromeda and the Sea Monster. Appropriately, two of the most beautiful sculptures are the Venus by Lawrence Macdonald and the Nymph at the Stream by David Watson Stevenson, two leading Scottish sculptors. Wider British sculpture is represented by Henry Weekes’ The Young Naturalist with its girl with billowing hair and its rocky base with intricately carved seaweeds. Carbisdale is the quintessential Victorian collection, a point underlined by the presence of two charming satyr’s by Emil Wolff, one of Queen Victoria’s favourite artists. The wonderful array of pictures, most of which are quality 19^th-century copies of Old Masters or original British landscapes, hints at the Duchess Blair’s desire to recreate the splendour that she had lost with the death of her husband, whose own Bridgewater Collection, was one of the greatest in Europe.