IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Stolen tortoises returned to their rightful home
Four bronze tortoises stolen from a National Trust property in Dorset 30 years ago have been returned. Commissioned by 19th- century collector and pet tortoise owner William John Bankes (1786–1855), the tortoises (part of a set of 16) were created by Paris-based sculptor Baron Carlo Maroche!i. Wishing the sculptures to be as accurate as possible, Bankes loaned one of his pet tortoises for Maroche!i to use as a model. (Readers may be more familiar with Maroche!i’s famous lions, which guard Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square.) A "er a cast was made of the creature, Bankes collected it from the artist’s studio and wrote to his sister Anne, ‘ Think of my carrying a live tortoise in a bag all the way from the Palais Royal!’
For 140 years the sculpted tortoises supported four Verona marble urns in the grounds of Bankes’ family home, Kingston Lacy. But, on 19th July 1992, one of the gardeners noticed that four were missing. The remaining tortoises were swi "ly removed and replaced with replicas. A "er years of trying to retrieve the stolen tortoises, they reappeared. ‘ I was astonished to be contacted by Tim Knox, director of the Royal Collection and a former head curator at the National Trust, to say he had seen a cast bronze tortoise, made by Maroche!i, listed for auction,’ says James Rothwell, national curator for decorative arts at the National Trust. The tortoise’s owner had bought it online and then consigned it for sale. When he and the auction house discovered it had been stolen, it was withdrawn from sale and returned to Kingston Lacy.
But what of the other three? Maroche!i’s tortoises were all branded with the Roman numeral ‘I’ and an extensive trail eventually led to an antiques dealer, who had acquired all four from a scrap metal dealer, unaware of their origins. He was delighted to reunite them with their companion. Visitors to Kingston Lacy will now be able to see the formerly lost tortoises on display. nationaltrust. org.uk/kingston-lacy