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A marble sculpture, which had long been mistaken for a simple garden ornament, is now expected to sell for up to £18,000 at auction after spending more than seventy years outside unnoticed. Thomas Jenner-Fust, who is the director of Chorley’s Auctioneers, discovered the bust during a routine evaluation of a property located in the Cotswolds. Covered in lichen and thought by the family to be made of reconstituted stone, the piece was revealed to be a significant work by Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, a key 19th-century artist and feminist.
Jenner-Fust remarked that this finding serves as a powerful reminder that some of the most valuable art pieces may not reside in grand estates but instead can be hiding in plain view, waiting for rediscovery. The sculpture is scheduled to be auctioned at Chorley’s in Gloucester. Hosmer, who was born in Massachusetts in 1830, is recognized as the first professional female sculptor in the United States. Spending much of her career in Rome, she gained international recognition in a predominantly male field. Additionally, Hosmer lived openly as a gay woman during a period when homosexuality was widely condemned and often criminalized. “She was somebody who was exceptional – a real trailblazer and a feminist icon,” Jenner-Fust said.
The bust depicts Daphne, a figure from Greek mythology known as Apollo’s first love, and bears the Latin inscription “me fecit Roma,” which means “Rome made me.” This was Hosmer’s debut sculpture, with only a small number ever produced. Historians at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York have verified only three marble versions to survive, all displayed in museums across the United States. While the exact path by which the sculpture ended up in the Cotswolds is unknown, the family believes an ancestor purchased it at an auction in the mid-20th century. Archival black-and-white photographs from the 1950s show the bust prominently positioned in the garden.
The current homeowners were reportedly “quite surprised” to learn the true identity and value of the sculpture, having become “blinded by familiarity” over decades. They had no awareness that the bust was made of marble, nor that it was a rare and valuable work. Jenner-Fust advised others to exercise caution when clearing out older residences, warning against discarding items that could prove important. He described the process as “a bit like a treasure hunt,” emphasizing the excitement in never quite knowing what might be uncovered next. For auctioneers like himself, such discoveries offer reassurance that there are still valuable artifacts waiting to emerge from obscurity
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