DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1519#0010
x INTRODUCTION.
deposited at Malta, no change in the previous arrangements was made by the agent, Mr. Gropius, to whose hands
the matter had been confided by the principals, who by this time had separated and were following their
respective avocations, the one in Sicily and the other at Smyrna. The home authorities, bent earnestly on the
acquisition of the treasures for the British Museum, despatched Mr. Taylor Combe, the keeper of the antiquities
of that institution, to bid on their behalf, not doubting that the sale would be held at Malta, as indeed was
most natural, seeing that it was the place of their deposit. Meanwhile the sale took place as originally intended,
at Zante, in the absence of the treasures which were to be submitted to the hammer; and the statues
were purchased, through M. Wagner, who had been despatched from Rome for that purpose, for H. R. H. the
Crown Prince of Bavaria.
The disappointment of the English parties on learning the result may be more easily conceived than expressed
in words. On re-assembling, they found themselves committed through their legally appointed agent, Mr. Gropius,
to support a sale effected much to their own disadvantage, and bound to assert, at the risk of much odium,
the legal right of the Prince to the purchase. After some discussion and correspondence between the respective
governments, that right was at length confirmed, and the statues were given up to the Prince, by whom
they were finally deposited in the Museum at Munich.
Thus, though defeated in their long cherished object of securing these works of ancient art for their own
country, the author feels that he and his deceased coadjutor, Mr. Foster, were unconscious of having neglected
any means of obtaining them consistent with propriety ; and he has always the consolation of knowing that they
have been placed in an asylum where they have been appreciated by the entire European public, and in the hands
of a Prince who is surpassed by none in his enlightened patronage of the fine arts, and especially of the master-
pieces of Grecian skill, in a country renowned for its devotion to such glorious and elevating studies.
deposited at Malta, no change in the previous arrangements was made by the agent, Mr. Gropius, to whose hands
the matter had been confided by the principals, who by this time had separated and were following their
respective avocations, the one in Sicily and the other at Smyrna. The home authorities, bent earnestly on the
acquisition of the treasures for the British Museum, despatched Mr. Taylor Combe, the keeper of the antiquities
of that institution, to bid on their behalf, not doubting that the sale would be held at Malta, as indeed was
most natural, seeing that it was the place of their deposit. Meanwhile the sale took place as originally intended,
at Zante, in the absence of the treasures which were to be submitted to the hammer; and the statues
were purchased, through M. Wagner, who had been despatched from Rome for that purpose, for H. R. H. the
Crown Prince of Bavaria.
The disappointment of the English parties on learning the result may be more easily conceived than expressed
in words. On re-assembling, they found themselves committed through their legally appointed agent, Mr. Gropius,
to support a sale effected much to their own disadvantage, and bound to assert, at the risk of much odium,
the legal right of the Prince to the purchase. After some discussion and correspondence between the respective
governments, that right was at length confirmed, and the statues were given up to the Prince, by whom
they were finally deposited in the Museum at Munich.
Thus, though defeated in their long cherished object of securing these works of ancient art for their own
country, the author feels that he and his deceased coadjutor, Mr. Foster, were unconscious of having neglected
any means of obtaining them consistent with propriety ; and he has always the consolation of knowing that they
have been placed in an asylum where they have been appreciated by the entire European public, and in the hands
of a Prince who is surpassed by none in his enlightened patronage of the fine arts, and especially of the master-
pieces of Grecian skill, in a country renowned for its devotion to such glorious and elevating studies.