Slow return home…
Nearly thirty years after they were stolen from a country mansion in Dorset, four historic bronze tortoises have been recovered and returned home, thanks to an entry spotted in an auction catalogue
The four tortoises were part of a set of sixteen bronze sculptures created in 1853 by Italian-born sculptor Baron Carlo Marochetti, for Kingston Lacy, the former home of 19th-century collector William John Bankes.
The tortoises supported the urns at Kingston Lacy for over 140 years, admired by successive generations of the Bankes family and by National Trust visitors after the property passed to the charity in 1982. However, four of the sculptures were stolen in 1992. The theft was reported to the police, and staff swiftly removed the remaining bronze tortoises for safe keeping, replacing all sixteen with replicas commissioned soon after, which have remained in place ever since.
Recently, the National Trust was contacted with the news that the sculptures had been listed for auction. When the seller and the auction house were informed of the history of the items, they were removed from sale and returned to Kingston Lacy, where they can now be seen once again by visitors.