Collection of 12 Grand Tour Souvenirs, Italy

alabaster and marble
3-7″ h., ca. 1880

 

A remarkable find!

Among the lessons of 30 years of searching out souvenir architectural models is that these mementos, almost always, turn up singly, and only very rarely in sets with a small number of pieces. For example, a mid – 19th century model of the Temple of Vespasian may still be found with its original companion model of the Temple of Castor and Pollux. Or, an offered 19th century bronze casting of Paris’ Colonne Vendome may still be paired with a replica of that city’s Colonne de Juillet.

Imagine, then, our great surprise in discovering this set of a dozen, later 19th century, carved alabaster and marble models. All, we were told, had come from the same collectors – a claim easy to believe, owing to multiple similarities among these souvenirs. Might all (even the Pisan and Venetian replicas) have been purchased one Roman afternoon, in some small shop in the days before some English tourist (these were found near London) was scheduled to return home? Of course, we cannot know.

We do know, however, that this traveler possessed a sharp eye, for included in the dozen are several scarce subjects, especially the Temple of Saturn, Colosseum, and Arch of Titus.