Provenance

 

The provenance of the two monkeys is not known, part of the contents of a deceased estate. For the moment there is no further known history. How did they get to England? Were they unrecognised trophies brought back from the Grand Tour in the 18th century? If the monkeys were sent to Spain with the rest of the fountain were they given to the Prince of Wales in 1623? If so they would be in an odd condition for a Royal gift! Had they already been sold in the public auction in Madrid of the Duke of Lerma’s possessions that began in the autumn of 1619 after his fall from power? There is no mention of monkeys in the inventory of Antonio de Medici 1621 describing piece by piece the contents of the Casino Medicio at San Marco and no mention of monkeys in the catalogue of the collections of Charles I by Abraham Van Der Doort in 1640. The whereabouts of the famous missing monkeys for hundreds of years provides a field for endless speculation. Enquiries were made at 300 stately homes in Great Britain to try and locate bronze monkeys with similar poses and of similar measurements. An appeal was made on the television programme Find a Fortune presented by Carol Vorderman on Sunday, 22nd August 1999, seeking information on provenance and the whereabouts of other similar monkeys. 

 

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