A CLASSICAL Lorenzo Bartolini sculpture, featuring two Scottish sisters, has gone on display at the Scottish National Gallery for the first time since its acquisition last summer.
The exceptionally beautiful nineteenth-century marble work The Campbell Sisters Dancing a Waltz, carved in Florence around 1821-22, was saved for the nation after more than £500,000 was raised by the National Galleries of Scotland and Victoria and Albert Museum in London with generous support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund.
The statue in white carrara marble, which shows Emma and Julia Campbell dancing in flowing dresses and sandals, was sold to a foreign bidder at auction but was prevented from leaving the country in case the sale price could be matched in the UK.
The sisters’ uncle, the Sixth Duke of Argyll, is thought to have commissioned the piece from Bartolini in 1821 for about £500.
It had been on loan from the duke’s descendants to the National Galleries of Scotland until the family decided to sell it at Sotheby’s last year.
Michael Clarke, director of the Scottish National Gallery, said: “We are delighted to welcome the Campbell Sisters back to the Scottish National Gallery.
“It is absolutely stunning.”
Following the acquisition, the piece was shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum until mid-January, and has now returned to the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh, where it will be on display until 2020.
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