AFTER GIOVANNI MARIA BENZONI (1809-1873) A late 19th Century life size carved white and grey veined carrara marble figure of Diana the huntress, in classical dress with right arm raised holding an arrow and a quiver of arrows strapped to her back with the bow held in her left hand, next to a seated lurcher, her right leg slightly raised, standing on a circular plinth and separate base, supported on an associated tapering terracotta stand embossed with flowers and reeded bands, unsigned but bears a later inset copper plaque inscribed attributed to the above, 167cm high, total height including base and plinth, 237cm high (some small areas of restoration), ILLUSTRATED Provenance - Purchased in the early 1960s from a monumental stonemason in the Bromsgrove Worcestershire area, once residing under a privet hedge. Later cleaning and areas of restoration to hands feet and arrow are noted. Research by the vendor has shown that soon after 1950 she was owned by a horse dealing family who decided to have a relative buried at Bromsgrove Cemetery. At this point they introduced Diana as a headstone. Some time later, the family decided to purchase a plot of land to accommodate several burials and it was at this point that she was no longer required. On making inquiries to the Victoria and Albert Museum they were informed that she was carved after the original by an Italian in 1880s. A similar statue also resides in the Hermitage in St Petersburg, Russia and the Worcester Art Museum, in Worcester, Massachusetts.

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