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Lot Essay
Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel (1585-1646) formed the first important collection of Classical Sculpture in this country. Enamoured of this art by visiting Italy in his youth with Thomas Coke and later Inigo Jones and making his first acquisitions of sculpture, he later appointed an agent, the Rev. William Petty, to visit Athens and Turkey to purchase sculpture on his behalf. With enormous energy he set about collecting over 200 statues, busts, sarcophagi, altars and inscriptions, scoring over his patron's closest rival, the Duke of Buckingham. These were shipped back to England, where by 1618 they had become the focal point of Howard's sculpture gallery in Arundel House in the Strand.
Sadly, Thomas Howard's love of the antique was not shared by his heirs. His grandson, Henry, 6th Duke of Norfolk, pulled down Arundel House and many of the pieces were sold off or buried under the rubble. Sir William Fermor bought some of the more important items, which were subsequently bequeathed to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, where they became the basis of its sculpture collection. In 1691, Thomas Howard's great-grandson, the 7th Duke of Norfolk, gave a number of items to a former servant Boyder Cuper, who used them to adorn a pleasure garden that he had opened on the Thames Embankment at Lambeth, which came to be corruptly known as 'Cupid's Garden'. Pleasure gardens were fashionable haunts, offering latern-lit strolls, live music out of opera season, refreshments and occasional fireworks displays. Here they were seen and recorded by John Aubrey in his publication Natural History and Antiquities of Surrey, vol. V, in 1712. They were then spotted by John Freeman of Fawley Court, Henley-on-Thames, and his friend Edmund Waller of Hall Barn, Beaconsfield, who purchased them for £75 and divided them between their respective homes.
John Freeman began to redesign his garden at Fawley Court to incorporate a folly (also called a "temple" or "chapel") in Gothic Style, to hold some of his new marbles. He produced a number of sketches including the front elevation, which incorporates two draped figures, including this draped female, either side of the arched window (J. Harris, A Passion for Building, The Amateur Architect in England, 1650-1850, Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 2007, no. 45). The sculptures remained at Fawley court for more than two and a half centuries, passing through the hands of the various owners. Denys Haynes, former Keeper of the Greek and Roman Department of the British Museum, rediscovered these lost Arundel marbles in the late 1960s.
Sadly, Thomas Howard's love of the antique was not shared by his heirs. His grandson, Henry, 6th Duke of Norfolk, pulled down Arundel House and many of the pieces were sold off or buried under the rubble. Sir William Fermor bought some of the more important items, which were subsequently bequeathed to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, where they became the basis of its sculpture collection. In 1691, Thomas Howard's great-grandson, the 7th Duke of Norfolk, gave a number of items to a former servant Boyder Cuper, who used them to adorn a pleasure garden that he had opened on the Thames Embankment at Lambeth, which came to be corruptly known as 'Cupid's Garden'. Pleasure gardens were fashionable haunts, offering latern-lit strolls, live music out of opera season, refreshments and occasional fireworks displays. Here they were seen and recorded by John Aubrey in his publication Natural History and Antiquities of Surrey, vol. V, in 1712. They were then spotted by John Freeman of Fawley Court, Henley-on-Thames, and his friend Edmund Waller of Hall Barn, Beaconsfield, who purchased them for £75 and divided them between their respective homes.
John Freeman began to redesign his garden at Fawley Court to incorporate a folly (also called a "temple" or "chapel") in Gothic Style, to hold some of his new marbles. He produced a number of sketches including the front elevation, which incorporates two draped figures, including this draped female, either side of the arched window (J. Harris, A Passion for Building, The Amateur Architect in England, 1650-1850, Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 2007, no. 45). The sculptures remained at Fawley court for more than two and a half centuries, passing through the hands of the various owners. Denys Haynes, former Keeper of the Greek and Roman Department of the British Museum, rediscovered these lost Arundel marbles in the late 1960s.