Emil Wolff

Mary Caroline Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Dowager Duchess of Sutherland (1848-1912), Carbisdale Castle, Scottish Highlands, circa 1906;
Colonel Theodore Salvesen (1863-1942), Carbisdale Castle, Scottish Highlands, 1933;
by family descent to Captain Harold Keith Salvesen (1897-1970), Carbisdale Castle, Scottish Highlands, 1942;
gifted to the Scottish Youth Hostels Association, 1945

Edinburgh, Royal Scottish Academy, Virtue and Vision: Sculpture and Scotland 1540-1990, 18 July - 15 September 1991

F. Pearson (ed.), Virtue and Vision: Sculpture and Scotland 1540-1990, Royal Scottish Academy, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1991, Room List, unpaginated;
I. Roscoe, E. Hardy and M.G. Sullivan, A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain 1660-1851, New Haven and London, 2009, p. 1397

Love the Conqueror: Overall the condition of the marble is very good with minor dirt and wear to the surface consistent with age. There is some minor veining to the marble consistent with the material, notably at the base and the bottom of the legs. There are a few small chips and abrasions to the edges of the marble base. The wood plinth is in good condition with minor splitting to the wood consistent with the material, and some small chips and abrasions. Servant of Bacchus: Overall the condition of the marble is very good with minor dirt and wear to the surface consistent with age. There is minor veining to the marble consistent with the material, notably at the back and at the back of the lion skin. There is a slightly open vein, consistent with the material, running across the bottom of the neck, and another running through the proper right calf muscle. There are a few small chips and abrasions to the edges of the marble base.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This charming pair of mythological infants were carved by the German Neoclassical sculptor Emil Wolff, nephew and student of Johann Gottfried Schadow (1764-1850). Active in Rome, he worked with Rudolf Schadow (1786-1822) and Bertel Thorvaldsen (1789-1838), whose influence is felt throughout his work. Wolff received significant commissions from both the Prussian and British monarchies; the Royal Collection houses numerous of his works including his magnificent statue of Prince Albert (1846, inv. no. RCIN 2070). Love the Conqueror, also called Winter, was noted by Heinrich Stieglitz on a visit to Wolff's studio in 1848: 'exceedingly appealing was the smaller figure of Winter as a boy clothed in a wolfskin which he draws over his head'. Another version of the model was exhibited in the 1990 exhibition Ethos und Pathos (op. cit., pp. 358-359, no. 306).

RELATED LITERATURE
Ethos und Pathos, Die Berliner Bildhauerschule 1786-1914, exh. cat., Staatliche Museen, Berlin, 1990, pp. 358-359, no. 306

Carbisdale Castle: A History

Carbisdale Castle is a magnificent Scots Baronial residence situated in the heart of the Highlands, overlooking the beautiful Kyle of Sutherland. Constructed between 1906 and 1917, it was the last Castle to be built in Scotland. Its history is one of intrigue, scandal, war and peace, at the centre of which lies the formidable figure of its first resident, Mary Caroline, Dowager Duchess of Sutherland (1848-1912), the Duchess Blair. Married three times, her first husband, Captain Arthur Kindersley Blair of the 71^st Highland Light Infantry Regiment, died mysteriously in a hunting accident in 1883. In the months leading up to her husband’s death, Mary Caroline had embarked on a love affair with the 3^rd Duke of Sutherland. Rumour swirled around the untimely death and, according to one writer ‘the Duke was whispered to have been responsible’. When his first wife died in 1889 there was no bar to the Duke wedding his long term mistress. The two caused a major scandal by marrying only four months after the Duchess’ passing. Mary Caroline was branded the  ‘Duchess Blair’ by the Victorian public, the implication being that she was a social climber.

The tale of the Duchess Blair took a further twist with the death of the Duke, since his will left her the majority of the Sutherland inheritance. His natural heirs were incensed, contesting this legacy. During the course of legal proceedings it emerged that the Dowager had destroyed documents, and she was sentenced to six weeks imprisonment. An agreement was eventually reached providing the Dowager with a substantial financial settlement, including the stipulation that the family construct a residence befitting her station. The result, Carbisdale Castle, was built to her exacting standards, and, over a period of time, was gradually furnished with the magnificent collection of statuary and painting being offered in this sale. The Dowager nevertheless remained embittered by her lost inheritance and she constructed the Castle around a tower with clocks on only three sides. The wall without a clock faced Sutherland lands, illustrating the Duchess’ claim that she would not give the family the time of day.

The Castle and its collection were generously donated to its current custodians, the Scottish Youth Hostels Association (SYHA), by Captain Harold Salvesen in 1945, who had inherited it from his father, Colonel Theodore Salvesen. Scots of Norwegian descent, during the Second World War the family gave refuge to King Haakon VII of Norway at Carbisdale. It was here, in 1941, that the Norwegian King signed an agreement with the Soviet Union that Russian troops would vacate Norway after they had liberated the country from Nazi forces. From 1945 to 2010 this historic Castle, complete with a tumultuous history and said to be haunted, operated as a popular youth hostel, under the care of SYHA.

The Collection comprises an extraordinary narrative sweep which charts the development of European sculpture in the 19^th century, from the elegant Neoclassicism of the early part of the century – exemplified by works such as the Venus Italica after Antonio Canova – to the fantastical Romanticism of the Belle Époque years – seen in marbles such as Pasquale Romanelli’s Andromeda and the Sea Monster. Appropriately, two of the most beautiful sculptures are the Venus by Lawrence Macdonald and the Nymph at the Stream by David Watson Stevenson, two leading Scottish sculptors. Wider British sculpture is represented by Henry Weekes’ The Young Naturalist with its girl with billowing hair and its rocky base with intricately carved seaweeds. Carbisdale is the quintessential Victorian collection, a point underlined by the presence of two charming satyr’s by Emil Wolff, one of Queen Victoria’s favourite artists. The wonderful array of pictures, most of which are quality 19^th-century copies of Old Masters or original British landscapes, hints at the Duchess Blair’s desire to recreate the splendour that she had lost with the death of her husband, whose own Bridgewater Collection, was one of the greatest in Europe.