Journal |
MDCCC 1800
Monographic journal issue | 10 | 2021
Research Article | Rossi’s Saint Anthony, from Beckford’s Oratories to Sir Francis Cook’s ‘Sanctuary’ in Monserrate Palace, Portugal
Rossi’s Saint Anthony, from Beckford’s Oratories to Sir Francis Cook’s ‘Sanctuary’ in Monserrate Palace, Portugal
Abstract
William Beckford’s statue of Saint Anthony, sculpted by John Rossi, included one of the most valued pieces of his art collection. As this paper argues, this statue was modeled after a sixteenth century sculpture of the Church of Saint Anthony located in Lisbon. The statue played a major role at Fonthill Abbey, where it was displayed in a sumptuous sanctuary. The same occurred in Lansdown Tower, enthroned in a new oratory. After Beckford’s death, the art collector Francis Cook purchased the statue for his Monserrate estate in Sintra, where Beckford lived between 1794 and 1795. The Lansdown sanctuary was then recreated in Monserrateas an intriguing homage to Beckford.
Submitted: Feb. 18, 2021 | Accepted: April 19, 2021 | Published July 26, 2021 | Language: en
Keywords Monserrate • Fonthill Abbey • Francis Cook • William Beckford • Saint Anthony • Lansdown Tower • John Charles Rossi
Copyright © 2021 Maria João Baptista Neto. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/MDCCC/2280-8841/2021/10/008
