Like the idiot I can sometimes be, I forgot to inlcude images of The Veiled Vestal Virgin in yesterday’s Chatsworth Interiors post.
She used to reside in the Sculpture Gallery and that is of course where she was seen by Elizabeth Bennet ( played by Kiera Knightley) in the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice.
Last year she was moved to the exhibition space on the top floor of Chatsworth, but now she lives in the Oak Room next to the Chapel.
The Veiled Vestal Virgin is lifesize and is incredibly intricate as you can see from the photographs,(which can all be enlarged by clicking on them),and was made from marble by the sculptor, Raffaelle Monti (1818 – 1881). She was commissioned by the sixth Duke of Devonshire -The Bachelor Duke- on 18 October, 1846. She was completed in 1847
My apologies for the omission ….
9 comments
June 24, 2010 at 6:30 pm
Raquel
This sculpture is fabulous! One can think it is a really fabric veil, not marble! At least in photography.
June 24, 2010 at 6:38 pm
jfwakefield
And in reality too- it is very hard restraining one fingers – it screams out to be touched! (I didnt , truly!)
June 24, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Cathy Allen
It is amazing, isn’t it? Sublime (a word I don’t use very often!).
June 25, 2010 at 12:35 am
Kelly
Breathtakingly beautiful! I don’t know if I could resist touching her either.
~ Kelly
June 25, 2010 at 11:26 am
jfwakefield
So hard to resist! Such a feat to carve something so delicately from stone….
June 25, 2010 at 2:19 pm
Caitlin
Lovely, isn’t she. Thanks for tracking her down for us. I wonder how often people ask the guides about where she went? :)
June 25, 2010 at 8:29 pm
jfwakefield
Last year we missed her completely. We had to ask a guide in the Sculpture Gallery as to her whereabouts ,and he wanted us to go back to the top floor to see her in the exhibition Room.Our feet were demolished by this time so we gave up!
July 2, 2010 at 10:09 am
imogen88
Oh I adored this in the film, and how it was used. Thank you, Julie. It’s magnificent and escapes comprehension at how those marble folds are formed. Perfectly divine.
July 2, 2010 at 10:11 am
jfwakefield
Its a tour de force-and one of the most favourite things visitors like about Chatsworth:-)