sculpture
Artwork
Accession Number
983.344Description
One three-dimensional carved alabaster sculpture of a baby laying on its stomach on a large thick rectangularly shaped pillow with carved braided piping at the edges. The baby's legs and feet are bare and in a kicking motion. The left (lower) leg is a repair made of plaster. The baby's head is held straight up and the torso held upright by the baby's arms. A large bonnet with a wide frilled band covers the baby's head. The baby is wearing a short sleeved shift. The artist's name is carved into the top of the pillow at the far side of the baby.Narrative
This sculpture was created by P. Emilio Fiaschi (Italian 1858-1941) of Florence, Italy in about 1890. It was probably sold to someone making the so-called Grand Tour of Europe.The Castle Society's founding President, the late James K. Nesbitt, was extremely fond of this sculpture. Craigdarroch's Curator, Bruce Davies remembered: "Mr. Nesbitt named the figure "Serena". I don't know why he did this. He always displayed it on a table in the northeast corner of the library so that he could see Serena from the Society's front desk, where he sat for hours welcoming visitors and writing his newspaper columns. He often told me how much he loved that sculpture."
