ABSTRACT
The duque de Villahermosa's palaces in Bonava and Pedrola were decorated with copies and original ancient sculptures, ranging from monumental marbles to bronze statuettes. That Ferdinando sent her sculptures by Giambologna was a particularly significant indicator of his desire to have her as an ally. The collections of Lerma, Pedro Franqueza y Esteva and Rodrigo Caldern and the condesa de Lemos illustrate the prevalence of religious sculptures in contemporary collections as well as the rather fixed definition of taste of the period in Spain. In addition to sculptures that may have come from Italy, there were also sculptures from local excavations. Garden sculptures continued their importance, with statues and fountains, sometimes in the hundreds, dispersed throughout the property. The inventories published here document the sustained popularity of Neapolitan religious sculptures. The survey of noble collections allows for a few general observations about sculpture collecting from Portraits, especially series of busts of Roman emperors, remained popular throughout the period.
