Rosa Bonheur’s A Shepherd in the Pyrenees, presented by the Duke to his wife, was acquired next, together with Gérome’s Le Duel après le Bal and Protais’ Avant et après le Combat.
From the Soltykoff Sale in Paris, for the sum of 54,000 francs, came the four large portraits in Limoges enamel representing Henri d’Albret, King of Navarre, Antoine de Bourbon, Louis de Bourbon, and Catherine de Lorraine.
Plate XX.
The Minerva of Chantilly.
Greek Bronze.
In 1865 Baron Triqueti, who often represented the Prince at these sales, was sent to Paris to acquire the famous Pourtales vase, a Greek amphora with red figures of the time of Phidias. For this interesting work of art he paid 10,000 francs; whilst two small Greek bronzes—one representing Jupiter and the other a statuette of Minerva—were knocked down to him for 8,000 and 19,300 francs respectively. Upon this occasion the Duke was bidding against the Louvre, the British Museum, and Monsieur Thiers. These two bronzes, which were found near Besançon, are of unequal merit; the Jupiter is of only average workmanship; but the Minerva statuette is considered one of the greatest treasures at Chantilly. Léon Heuzey places it in the late archaic period at a time when the Greeks were still endeavouring to ennoble and beautify their goddess before they finally arrived at the height of their ideal in the famous Athena of Lemnos. The fact that this statuette was found at Besançon indicates how highly Greek Art was valued, not only in Rome, but also in Cisalpine Gaul; for such small portable figures often accompanied their owners on their journeys, and who knows what great personage it may have been who brought this exquisite little Minerva with him to Gaul? We know that Tiberius never travelled without his much-cherished Amazon of the Vatican.