UNEXPECTED 2-Ton Marble Masterpiece Gift

Winter approaches our ranch in southwest Colorado. The air is crisp and the surrounding mountain range is covered in snow. Soon we expect snowfall in the valleys to blanket everything in white silence. I have been a bronze sculptor my whole life and recently I've rekindled my dream of carving in marble. My husband and I live near Mesa Verde National Park where we repurposed our barns and ranch outbuildings into traditional marble carving studios. As we follow this ancient craft of marble carving we make new discoveries and retrace remnants of lost techniques of the masters who came before us. It sometimes feels like a treasure hunt as we study art history books looking for valuable clues and examining every detail of ancient art. All to unearth lost secrets and methods of the ancients. The adventure can be overwhelming and sometimes doubt creeps in. In the middle of this journey something completely unexpected came into our hands. This gift was so precious that it felt to us like an omen that our mission would succeed even in this fast-changing world. The sarcophagus of Eliza Smith Remy who lived from 1814 to 1872 carved in Italy in Carrara marble. We gently brought her into our carving studio and when I opened the plastic wrap I could not believe my eyes. Her eyes are closed, her hands gently resting on her chest. She seems so peaceful, carved to look like she was resting atop a funeral bier. Every form is executed with so much care. Her skin and each fold of her garments seem soft and pliant. The blanket she rests on was intricately detailed with decorations. On each corner is an angel laying her into her eternal rest. How did the sarcophagus of Eliza Smith Remy come into our hands? Marble sculptor Claire McArdle previously owned the piece. She in turn was asked to take it off the hands of widowed Edeltraud Johnson whose husband purchased it on an Italy trip in 2001 and brought it to the United States. Who was Eliza Smith Remy? According to an article in the Washington Post the depiction of Eliza was commissioned in the 1800s by her grandson the architect Charles Mason Remy. It is possibly one of the last surviving sculptures of an odd architectural site never to be completed, Virginia Mausoleum. He abandoned the project after severe repeated vandalism and the architect moved away from the United States to Florence, Italy where he died at the age of 99. Mason's commissioned sarcophagus of Eliza was never fully paid and remained in Italian workshops as an orphaned work. It is a fascinating story but what makes the sarcophagus so precious to us is that its sculptor Dante Gamba comes from a lineage of artisans of 19th century carvers in Pietra Santa, Italy. Anyone who has visited one of the world's most beautiful cemeteries, Monumento Staliano di Genua, knows of the hauntingly beautiful sculptures depicting love, grief and loss filling the cemetery's grounds. I have visited this strange place many times during my studies in Florence and I'm always in awe of the hundreds of marble statues. In the 19th century North Italy's economy was thriving and the cemetery became Europe's most prestigious borough ground. Italy's focus on honoring the afterlife resulted in high quality craftsmanship. There was a movement of classical sculpture consisting of hundreds of artisans who worked in the nearby workshops of the stone carving capital of Pietra Santa. Tra Santa means holy stone. It first gained international recognition when Michelangelo discovered the nearby precious marble quarry of Carrara. In the aftermath of World War II, the cemetery lost its status, the workshops shrank and much of the craftsmanship was lost. Today Pietra Santa is still the capital of stone carving and we travel there frequently to learn all the remaining knowledge of that craft. Eliza now rests in our workshop in her splendid beauty. The sarcophagus reminds us of a time when excellent craft and the ideal of classical beauty were still preserved. She is now a guiding light for us on our journey to rediscover the beauty of traditional marble carving.