ITALIAN, ROMAN, CIRCA 1840

The present marble skull formed part of the collection of the Danish aristocrats Baron Henrik and Baroness Christine Stampe. At their home, Nyso Manor, they entertained many of the most important Danish writers and artists of their day, including Bertel Thorvaldsen whose portrait of the Baroness is in the Thorvaldsen Museum (illustrated in A. E. Kai Sass, Thorvaldsens Portraetbuster, Copenhagen, 1963, II, p. 355). Thorvaldsen actually lived at Nyso for most of the last six years of his life. The present skull was always said to have come from his hand, although there is sadly no documentation to prove it.