Art Collections of Holkham Hall - Sculpture

Sculpture

The collection of 60 Ancient Roman marble sculptures is amongst the finest in any private collection in the world. The collection consists of both life size and greater than life size statues and busts that include, several of the Twelve Olympians, characters from Greek mythology, ancient Greek philosophers and ancient Romans of the imperial era, plus other sculptures. Most have been repaired to varying extents. The full length statues are mainly displayed in the Statue Gallery along with busts which are also to be found throughout the State Rooms.

Matthew Brettingham the Younger dispatched the first consignment of sculptures from Rome in 1749, due to the difficulty in getting permission from the Papal authorities to export the sculpture of Isis the second consignment was not dispatched until 1751. After which sculptures were export annually until the last shipment in the summer of 1754.

Among the finest of the works are:

The bust of Thucydides dated 100–120 AD, of Carrara marble 79.5 cm high, purchased by Matthew Brettingham. With only minor repairs this is one of the finest busts of the era to survive. This powerful characterisation presents the historian in late middle age with a strong-boned squarish face with a high broad forehead. Receding temples and bald patch. There are three furrows on the brow make this a convincing portrait.

The goddess Artemis/Diana dated to 190-200 AD, this is believed to be a copy of a mid 4th century BC. Hellenistic original, with only minor repairs. Purchase in Rome by Thomas Coke on 13 April 1717 for 900 crowns (about £250) Thomas's most expensive purchase. The marble statue is 1.86 metres high, shown wearing a peplos, holding a bow in the left hand, the right hand is reaching for an arrow held in a quiver on the sculpture's back.

Marsyas dated to 180–190 AD, probably a copy of a 2nd century BC. Greek statue. Originally owned by Cardinal Annibale Albani it was purchased by Matthew Brettingham. The marble statue is 2.01 metres in height. The bearded figure is naked, left elbow leaning on a tree stump, in a contrapposto stance, there is a lion skin knotted across its chest and hanging down the back. The right arm is bent upwards holding a cudgel.

The Empress Livia dated mid-1st century AD, purchased for 300 crowns by Matthew Brettingham. Made from Parian marble 2.23 metres in height, the statue is contrapposto, dressed in a floor length chiton girt under the breasts, forming an apoptygma or overfold, with short sleeves. A cloak is pulled to the crown of the head and envelopes the lower body, crossing the left shoulder and drawn across the front of the body and is draped over the left forearm. In the left hand is held a bunch of wheat ears.

The god Poseidon/Neptune dated late 1st to early 2nd centuries AD is thought to be a copy of a Greek sculpture of the 1st half of the 2nd century BC, purchased in Rome in 1752 by Matthew Brettingham for 800 crowns. Made from Parian marble, it is 1.73 metres high, the god is depicted naked, standing, the left leg is slightly bent and drawn back resting on the ball of the foot, the left hand holds onto a trident resting on the ground, the right arm is raised slightly. The head has thick curly hair and a beard.

Sculptures marked with an * were purchased by Thomas Coke on his Grand Tour, any marked # were purchased by Matthew Brettingham the younger.

The Roman statues include:

• The Statue Gallery: the southern exedra: Satyrs one playing a flute# & one wearing a pigskin#, south of the fireplace: Meleager#, Marsyas# & Poseidon/Neptune#, above the fireplace: Apollo*, north of the fireplace: Dionysus/Bacchus#, Artemis/Diana* & Aphrodite/Venus#, the northern exedra: Athena/Minerva# and Demeter/Ceres#.
• The North Tribune: Isis# repaired with a head from another statue, Livia#, statue repaired with a head of Lucius Verus* & unidentified man wearing a toga (purchased as Lucius Antonius)*.
• The Marble Hall: in the niches of the apse: A statue repaired with a head of Septimus Severus# & a heavily restored statue of Julia Mamaea* within the niches of the exedra an Ephebos restored as a Satyr# & a heavily restored Satyr playing cymbals*.
• Private Rooms: Tyche/Fortuna# (purchased as Isis) and a torso of a draped male (purchased as Jupiter*, it was this statue that William Kent intended to restore and place in the centre of the stairs in the Marble Hall, thus placing the main god of Olympus at the literal centre of the House).

The Roman busts include depictions/portraits of:

• The Marble Hall: On a half-column outside the door to the State Sitting Room is the bust of Roma dated 130–140 AD, the head is of white marble mounted on a Post-Roman body of Rosso Antico marble (probably purchased in Rome by Edward Coke in 1737).
• The Statue Gallery: Cybele* in the pediment above Apollo, flanking the northern exedra Lucius Cornelius Sulla# & Thucydides#, flanking the southern exedra Lucius Junius Brutus# & Pseudo-Seneca#, between the windows an unidentified man# and a woman# (these last two are not part of Thomas Coke's arrangement of the sculptures).
• The North Tribune: Above the doors, Emperor Philip as a youth# & Faustina the Elder#.
• The South Tribune: Above the doors and bookcases, Hadrian#, Julia Mamaea#, Julia di Tito#, Caesar Marcus Aurelius*, Gallienus# & Geta#.
• The North Dining Room: In oval niches above the fireplaces Aelius Verus# & Juno#, flanking the apse Marcus Aurelius# & Caesar Geta#, these last two busts have white marble heads mounted on Post-Rome bodies of variegated marble.
• The Saloon: Above the central door Hera/Juno#.
• Private Rooms: Zeus/Jupiter*, Artemis (acquired c1737 origin unknown), Salonina#, Nerva*, Plato#, Caracalla#, Gordian III#, Maecenas# & a badly eroded male head possibly Greek, c400 BC. acquired by the 5th Earl in 1955.

Other Roman sculptures include:

• The Statue Gallery: Between Apollo and the fireplace an oval white marble relief of Julius Caesar# in profile, it is enclosed in an 18th century dark veined marble frame.
• The South Vestibule: Flanking the north door, the Ash Altar of Caius Calpurnius Cognitus* 1st quarter of 1st century AD and the Cinerarium of Petronius Hedychrus* 1st quarter 2nd century AD.
• Private Rooms: Profile relief of Carneades#, A statuette of the Nile river god#, Sarcophagus of T. Flabius Hermetes#, Marble Oscillum# depicting a cavorting satyr, A Herma# & fragments of a sarcophagus decorated with sea-creatures*.

There are several sculptures dating from the Post-Roman era:

• The Marble Hall: contains a series of plaster casts of eight sculptures, in the niches of the east wall: Apollo, Flora, Bacchus, Isis, in the niches of the west wall: Aphrodite, Hermes, St. Susanna and Capitoline Antinous, plus a plaster copy of Louis-François Roubiliac's marble bust of Thomas Coke above the door in the apse the original is part of his tomb in Tittleshall church, and on marble half-columns Francis Chantrey's marble busts of 'Coke of Norfolk' and a second one of Thomas Coke. There is a set of four white marble reliefs in the apse flanking the niches (added by 'Coke of Norfolk'): Thomas Banks's The Death of Germanicus, Richard Westmacott's Death of Socrates, Stoldo Lorenzi's Lorenzo I & Francis Chantrey's The Passing of the Reform Bill 1832 plus a marble plaque of two woodcock by Chantrey.
• The Drawing Room: Marble copies of busts of Marcus Aurelius and Caracalla on the mantelpiece, and plaster busts of Faustina, Carneades, Pythagoras and Zeno above the doors.
• The South Dining Room: Four plaster busts above the doors.
• The South Vestible: consisting of a rectangular room beneath the Portico linked by five arches to a semicircular section beneath the Saloon, that has a large niche flanked by smaller ones each side of the north door, these used to house plaster casts of statues, to the west: Dancing Faun, Apollo Belvedere and Ganymede and to the east: Ptolemy, Meleager and The Venus des Belles Fesses. There also used to be busts on brackets between the piers of the arches: Cicero, Plato, Lysias and Seneca.
• The Long Library: above the pedimented bookcases a marble bust of Alexander Pope and plaster copies of busts of Venus, Cybele and A Vestal Virgin.
• The Classical Library: six plaster busts above the four bookcases and doors on the side walls.
• Private Rooms: A series of 18th century marble copies of ancient busts, including: Homer and Alexander the Great. 'Coke of Norfolk' commissioned marble busts including Napoleon and Charles James Fox
• The Corridor linking the Guest-Wing to the North Tribune: in niches flanking the bookcase and window, plaster casts of Venus de' Medici, A Camillus, Urania and Apollino (Medici Apollo).