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Title:
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Eliza Seymour, Viscountess Clifden
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Artist: |
Baron Carlo Marochetti
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This bust, signed by Marochetti, and dated 1854, is traditionally supposed to be a portrait of Eliza Horatia Frederica Seymour, Viscountess Clifden, later Lady Stirling (1833-1896). One reason why it might have found its way to Ickworth, a country house belonging to the Hervey family, is that Eliza's mother, Lady Augusta Seymour, before her marriage was Lady Augusta Hervey. She was the daughter of Frederick Hervey,1st Marquess of Bristol. In 1868, Eliza was to become one of Queen Victoria's ladies in waiting. A photograph of her taken by Marochetti's friend, Camille Silvy shows her dressed as Fortitude, holding a sword, and this indication of a propensity for allegorical dressing-up may suggest that she modelled for Marochetti for such figures as those to be found on the Monument to King Carlo Alberto in Turin, and that to Lord Clyde in Waterloo Place, London. This is pure supposition. (There are copies of the two Silvy photographs in Camille Silvy's daybooks, held at the National Portrait Gallery, and these can be viewed online). Marochetti exhibited a 'marble bust of a lady' at the Royal Academy in 1854, which was remarkable for having slightly gilded hair and drapery. Critics were divided over whether this improved the effect, but two of them were rapturous about the bust, one, writing in the Morning Chronicle (20 June 1854) claimed that it was "one of the most exquisite productions of which this department in the art of sculpture [portrait busts] can boast, so purely feminine it is, and so completely natural". Neither of these appreciations, the other of which is in the Windsor and Eton Express (8 July 1854) are detailed enough in their descriptions to make it certain that it was of this bust that they were writing
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Material(s): |
Marble
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Medium: |
Unassigned |
Finish: |
- |
Technique: |
Carved |
Genre: |
Portrait Bust
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Location: |
Ickworth House (Sufffolk), , ,
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Colours: |
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Year: |
1854 |
Height: |
0.6 metres |
Width: |
0 metres |
Depth: |
0 metres |
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Key: |
5859 |
Acc. No.: |
5859 |
Col. No.: |
5859 |
Number of views: |
2435 |
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