Sir Jacob Epstein 1880-1959

The Artist
Victor Waddington, Dublin
John G McConnell, Montreal
Theo Waddington Fine Art

New York, Ferargil Gallery, Sculpture by Jacob Epstein, 1927, no.4.

A. Haskell, The Sculptor Speaks: Jacob Epstein to Arnold Haskell - A Series of Conversations on Art, Heinemann, 1931, p.175 (another cast);
Jacob Epstein, Let There Be Sculpture, Michael Joseph, 1940, pp.104-5 (another cast);
R. Black, The Art of Jacob Epstein, World Publishing Company, New York and Cleveland, 1942, no.65, p.232 (another cast);
Jacob Epstein, Epstein: An Autobiography, Hulton, London, 1955, p.86, illustrated (another cast);
R Buckle, Jacob Epstein Sculptor, Faber & Faber, 1963, p.96, pl.147 (another cast);
Evelyn Silber, The Sculpture of Epstein, Phaidon, Oxford, 1986, no.95, illustrated (another cast).

Probably conceived in 1918 and cast in an edition of 8.

For the first three decades of the twentieth century, the fabled Marchesa Luisa Casati (1881-1957) triumphed as the brightest star in European society. In a quest for immortality, she had herself painted by Giovanni Boldini, Kees van Dongen and Augustus John, photographed by Man Ray, Cecil Beaton and Baron Adolph de Meyer and sculpted by Giacomo Balla, Catherine Barjansky and Jacob Epstein. She frightened Artur Rubinstein, angered Aleister Crowley and intimidated T.E. Lawrence. As muse to the Italian futurists F. T. Marinetti, Fortunato Depero and Umberto Boccioni, she conjured up an elaborate marionette show with music by Maurice Ravel. Accompanied by her pet boa constrictor, she checked into the Ritz Hotel in Paris where it escaped. Léon Bakst, Paul Poiret, Mariano Fortuny and Erté dressed her. She adorned herself with the jewels of Lalique and directly inspired the famed 'Panther' design for Cartier. Her parties became legendary; nude servants gilded in gold leaf attended her, bizarre wax mannequins sat as guests at her dining table, some of them even rumoured to contain the ashes of past lovers, she wore live snakes as jewellery and was infamous for her evening strolls, naked beneath her furs whilst parading cheetahs on diamond-studded leashes. Everywhere she went, she set trends, inspired genius and astounded even the most jaded members of the international aristocracy. Without question, the Marchesa Casati was the most scandalous woman of her day.

By 1930, Casati had amassed a debt of twenty-five million U.S. dollars. Unable to satisfy countless creditors, her personal possessions were confiscated and auctioned off at the Palais Rose in 1932. Among the bidders was Coco Chanel. On 1 June 1957, Luisa Casati died at 32 Beaufort Gardens. Following a requiem mass at Brompton Oratory, the Marchesa was interred in Brompton Cemetery, with one of her taxidermied Pekinese dogs resting at her feet.