. Memories of an old collector . s-sion still more beautiful than that I took the /rates figureout of my pocket. Castellani becamegreen. He did not attempt to denythe superiority of my bronze, butwithout loss of time tried to get me tosell it to him. I treated him as he hadtreated me about the gem, and offered 20,000 francs (800/.); Irefused again. In the end I let himhave the bronze for 10,000 francs, on G 2 84 MEMORIES OF condition he threw in the stone whichI coveted. The bronze was sold by Castellani tothe British Museum, and a rather badengraving of it has been publi
. Memories of an old collector . s-sion still more beautiful than that I took the /rates figureout of my pocket. Castellani becamegreen. He did not attempt to denythe superiority of my bronze, butwithout loss of time tried to get me tosell it to him. I treated him as he hadtreated me about the gem, and offered 20,000 francs (800/.); Irefused again. In the end I let himhave the bronze for 10,000 francs, on G 2 84 MEMORIES OF condition he threw in the stone whichI coveted. The bronze was sold by Castellani tothe British Museum, and a rather badengraving of it has been published byMr. Murray. ^ I am at a loss toimagine why, in the British Museum,this figure is said to have come fromTaranto, for it was found in an openfield near the Lake of Bracciano. Ofthis I am absolutely sure.^ History of Greek Sculpture, vol. ii. pi. xxxiii. ^ It was Castellani who designated Taranto asthe place where the bronze was found, but someyears ago the name was changed to the Bronzefrom the Lake of Bracciano.—A. S. fto^.c- ^y>^^ AN OLD COLLECTOR 85 CHAPTER V From the time that Castellani re-enteredRome in the wake of the ItaHan army,and had contrived, by means of thehigh prices he offered, to attract tohimself all the dealers in antiquitiesto be found in the city, the bosomsof the confraternity were bursting withjoy, persuaded, as they were, that theirgolden age had set in. But their satis-faction was of brief duration, for it wasnot long before Castellani began to ex-plore on his own account the ancientprovinces comprising the Papal States,which for so many years had beenclosed against him. He established inall parts, even in mountain villages soremote that access to them was onlypossible either on foot or with a mule,agents carefully trained by himself, 86 MEMORIES OF who allowed no interesting work of artto escape them, whether it was foundin a church or a palace, in a tradesmanshouse or a peasants hut. Guided bytheir reports, Castellani himself visitedthe
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