Coooool.
I'm about to dive into this rabbit hole, and if an Ideal Head doesn't say "Time is. Time was. Time is past." I'm going to be severely disappointed.
(Edit: Ok, seriously, what's the story behind the donation? If I had my grubby mitts on something that exquisite, I'd never give it up, doubly so if it was "by descent").
Re:Museum Items Go Missing
by iamacyborg on Saturday December 16, 2023 @12:40PM
(#38666179)
It's the usual stuff, family member dies, stuff has to be split up between siblings, taxes are due, auction house cheats family members, etc.
Amusingly, he was also involved in the restoration of artefacts looted by Napoleon during his conquests. So much so that the sculptor, Antonio Canova gifted him with one of 4 Ideal Heads as a thanks for returning works to the Vatican. The bust remained in our family until the mid 90’s and can now be seen in the Ashmolean in Oxford.