Celadon and Amelia
John Charles Felix Rossi, RA (Nottingham 1762 – London 1839)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1821 (exh at RA)
Materials
Marble
Measurements
1935 mm high
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 486409
Summary
Marble sculpture group, Celadon and Amelia by John Charles Felix Rossi, RA (Nottingham 1762 – London 1839). The group is undated, but was exhibited at the Academy in 1821. The subject is taken from Thomson's Seasons (1730) and depicts the monument in Summer when Celadon and Amelia, the 'matchless pair' of lovers, are overtaken by a thunderstorm (Amelia is about to be struck dead by a lightning bolt). They were on the point of entering a cottage, and this may explain why this position (recorded in 1835 two years before the 3rd Earl's death) was chosen in front of a false door. At that date, too, the adjacent window was a door leading into a conservatory, thus enabling a long view of the statue from both directions. Rossi was the son of an Italian immigrant doctor who in 1797 was appointed sculptor to the Prince of Wales, later George IV and he also served William IV. There are several monuments by him in St Paul's Cathedral. The unusually dramatic conception of this group sets it apart from most contemporary British sculpture. After a promising start as a gold medallist at the Royal Academy Schools, Rossi never gained the position which he thought was his due. In 1806 Flaxman referred to one of his St Paul's monuments as 'rather mason's work than that of a sculptor' and said that Rossi had 'by employing ordinary men at low wages, got much money by it, but had greatly suffered in reputation'. Rossi was clearly a difficult man, jealous of his rivals and of younger members of the Academy, who, he said, 'treated him with disrespect', but he was poor with a large family. He was awarded two large monuments in St Pauls', Lord Cornwallis, finished 1811, and Lord Rodney, finished 1815.
Provenance
Commissioned by the 3rd Earl of Egremont, thence by descent, until the death in 1952 of the 3rd Lord Leconfield, who had given Petworth to the National Trust in 1947, and whose nephew and heir, John Wyndham, 6th Lord Leconfield and 1st Lord Egremont (1920-72) arranged for the acceptance of the major portion of the collections at Petworth in lieu of death duties (the first ever such arrangement) in 1956 by H.M.Treasury.
Marks and inscriptions
CELADON AND AMELIA (engraved in base)
Makers and roles
John Charles Felix Rossi, RA (Nottingham 1762 – London 1839), sculptor