CHATSWORTH FINE ART SALE April 29th, 30th & May 1st 2026

82 IMPERFECTIONS NOT STATED Fonsie Mealy’s Est. 1934 798. A marble Roman Court Dwarf, so-called“Aesop” A 19th century version of a 2nd Century AD marble sculpture in the collection of the Villa Albani-Torlonia in Rome. Provenance: Powerscourt House, Co. Wicklow
Purchased in Italy by either the 6th or 7th Viscount Powerscourt.
* Amongst the thousands of Graeco-Roman sculptures discovered in excavations from Renaissance times onwards, the great majority represent the human figure in an idealized way, emphasizing the ‘perfect’ forms of men and women. Although there was a tradition in Hellenistic art of depicting people with physical deformities, very few such sculptures have survived, a fact that makes this Powerscourt House portrait all the more important in the history of Greek and Roman Classical art. The Powerscourt sculpture is likely a nineteenth century copy of an original Roman marble portrait bust, discovered in the Baths of Caracalla in 1758 and acquired soon after by Cardinal Alessandro Albani. It has been in the collection of the Villa Albani-Torlonia in Rome ever since. However the Albani sculpture may itself be a Roman copy of a Greek Hellenistic original. Over the centuries the Albani sculpture has been studied by scholars and drawn by artists, including Fragonard and Ingres. Underlining its importance, plaster casts of the Albani sculpture can be found in museums worldwide, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, and the National Galleries of Scotland.
Representing a naked hunchback, the Powerscourt sculpture is a skilled marble version of the Villa Albani original. Although the head and shoulders are proportionate, and the man’s expression astute and untroubled, the upper body is misshapen, continuing the grotesque tradition of the Hellenistic period. At first glance, the handsome head might be that of a philosopher, perhaps a young Aristotle. However, the Greek author Aesop, famous for his animal fables, was traditionally described as a hunchback, and for many years, this sculpture was thought to be a portrait of him. Nowadays, this identification is not certain. In his 1912 Greek and Roman Portrait Sculpture, Anton Heckler commented on the Albani sculpture: “Another work of great value as a document in the history of civilization is the half-length of a court dwarf, formerly called Aesop, in the Villa Albani, Rome. The deformed hump- backed body is crowned by a bearded head full of crafty intelligence, the quips and sarcasms of which were invoked to drive away the demons of fear and sorrow from the Emperor.” A sculpture bust of Aesop is mentioned by Mervyn Wingfield, 7th Viscount Powerscourt, in his 1903 Description and History of Powerscourt. It stood on a console in the Saloon, alongside portraits of Homer, Seneca, Demosthenes, and members of the Powerscourt family. Peter Murray 2026 €2,000 - €3,000