. Memories of an old collector . e hall where the treasurer hadbeen placed. Beside himself with rage,he reproached the expert with his over-charge ; then, seizing the ivory statu-ette of the actor from the table, heheld it out to Passinati, saying, Youhad better content yourself with this,for you will never get sixty was speechless at his good 96 MEMORIES OF fortune, for he recognised the worth ofthis ivory, though the Prince did hurried off with it to Sambon, theNeapolitan antiquarian, who at onceoffered him 1,000 francs. Sambon tookthe ivory to Paris, where a few year
. Memories of an old collector . e hall where the treasurer hadbeen placed. Beside himself with rage,he reproached the expert with his over-charge ; then, seizing the ivory statu-ette of the actor from the table, heheld it out to Passinati, saying, Youhad better content yourself with this,for you will never get sixty was speechless at his good 96 MEMORIES OF fortune, for he recognised the worth ofthis ivory, though the Prince did hurried off with it to Sambon, theNeapolitan antiquarian, who at onceoffered him 1,000 francs. Sambon tookthe ivory to Paris, where a few yearslater he sold it at a large profit to anamateur. Then comes Castellani onthe scene, who, seeing the statuette inthe amateurs rooms, gives him 6,000francs for it, and keeps it till he the sale after his death the beautifulfigure, which has often been repro-duced,^ was bought by M. AugusteDutuit, in whose fine collection atRouen it is still to be seen. See, for example, the Denkmdler of Bau-meister, pi. Iviii. (coloured).. STATUETTE OF TRAGIC ACTORIn Ivory. AN OLD COLLECTOR 97 CHAPTER VI Everyone knows the Villa Albaniand its beautiful collection of ancientmarbles. This villa, which containssculptures more magnificent than areto be found in many museums, belongsto the successors of the first PrinceTorlonia, of whom I have spoken inthe preceding chapter. The only statuein the Albani collection which was notan antique was a bust of the Cib6, donein the fifteenth century, and AlessandroCastellani was clever enough to inducethe millionaire Torlonia to sell this tohim. I do not know what argumentshe may have used, but anyhow Castel-lani got it for a hundred pounds, andsold it again for a few tens of thousandsof francs to the Berlin Museum. Ofcourse it is easy to understand that the H 98 MEMORIES OF professional dealer in antiquities triedto get a good bargain, and succeeded ;but how a man, with an income of mil-lions and a taste for sculpture, couldhave parted with one of the
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