Earlier this year a statue was donated to the Stichting Vrienden van Beeckestijn by a former museum advisor for the province of Noord-Holland, Fries Berkhout.
Last Thursday it was unveiled in Beeckestijn‘s kitchen garden. It now forms a counterpoint to the statue of the Rape of Venus and Amor by Vulcan on the southern side of the house (photo).
The statue, showing Lucretia at the moment of her suicide, was made in 1777 by Ignazio Collino (1724-1793) and his brother Filippo (1737-1801). 1The brothers are also known under the name Collini. Both brothers studied sculpture in Rome, but went back to their birthplace Turin to work for the Savoye family in 1768. There they started their own sculpting school. It used to stand in the garden of Waterland, next door to Beeckestijn. 2Both estates have long been owned by the same family [Boreel], who ultimately lived on Waterland and rent out Beeckestijn for decades. The picture shows it in situ in 1943 (according to information from RCE, owners of the photo; clicking the image redirects there).
As the newspaper article (linked to above) suggests, the statue is almost home again. That is nice, of course. And it is a good thing that new life is given to this -till very recently- somewhat dull part of the garden. We can just hope that the subject matter of the statue does not have a negative influence on the struggling phase Beeckestijn has found itself in over the past years…
Footnotes
| ↑1 | The brothers are also known under the name Collini. Both brothers studied sculpture in Rome, but went back to their birthplace Turin to work for the Savoye family in 1768. There they started their own sculpting school. |
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| ↑2 | Both estates have long been owned by the same family [Boreel], who ultimately lived on Waterland and rent out Beeckestijn for decades. |
