Chatsworth

The Sculpture Gallery

A Picture of the 'Sculpture Gallery'

The 6th Duke indulged his love of stone and sculpted figures in this room which he built to display his collection of what was then modern sculpture. On the left as you enter is the Discobolus, by Matthaus Kessels (1784-1836). The Spinning girl, of 1819, is by Rudolf Schadow (1786-1822) and The Wounded Achilles, by Filippo Albacini (1777-1858).

On the right is Mars restrained by Cupid by John Gibson (1786-1866), Ganymede and the Eagle of Jove by Adamo Tadolini (1788-1868), Hebe, Cup-bearer to the Gods and The Sleeping Endymion with his Dog by Antonio Canova (1757-1822).

For the group of Mars and Cupid, Gibson needed an exceptionally large block of the best Carrara marble, which was finally delivered at his studio in Rome drawn by twenty buffaloes and with 'the whole town out to watch'. The round bas-reliefs on the walls are Day on the right and Night opposite, by Bertel Thorbaldsen (c.1770-1844). The rectangular reliefs on the right of scences from the legend of Achilles are by the same sculptor, and those on the left, by Schadow, show rape and battle scenes from the story of Castor and Pollux.

In the middle of the Gallery, Napoleons sister, Princess Pauline Borghese, by Campbell, and his mother by Canova, (bought in 1818), sit in their white marble chairs. These and Endymion were among the most treasured purhcases of the 6th Duke. He admired Canova above all other sculptors. Later in the 19th century, these works went out of fashion. Now they are sought after once more and a major exhibition of neo-classical art in London in 1972 put them back in the public eye. A portrait of Canova after Lawrence hangs between the tapestries on the right.