In the rooms of the Nelson you can't see any longer a butler or
the many servants, the kitchens, the stoves and the fireplaces are off
and everything is still, but in the great silence comes to the memory
the history and the magic of the place remained unaltered but also the
sufferings of the poor people of Bronte dispossessed for centuries of
its wealth.
The rooms preserve objects of common use
and many works of art belonged to the
Nelson, furnishings and furniture of great value of various styles, vases
and watches of the XIX° century, chests of excellent making, and
excellent majolica, prints and paintings of English authors (Luny,
Spencer, Elliot) china and the Nelson coat of arms. Unfortunately
the Museum, just three years after the purchase by Bronte's Council,
suffered in 1984 a very
grave robbery of about twenty precious works (between paintings
and furniture) that yet have not been recovered.
Salvo Nibali, impassioned scholar and researcher of Sicilian monasticism,
in his book "Il Castello Nelson" (The Nelson Castle)
(1985) reports a list of the things stolen:
° disciple of G. Dughet: Figures
in a wood landscape
° Meadows:
Wood landscape with farmers and animals
° disciple
of J. M.W. Turner: Figures on
a sidewalk
° J. Wyck:
Soldiers in a wheat field
° Monomy:
Ships, battles and barges in rough sea;
° Lietenant
William Elliott: Victory with admiral Hood near Bastia.
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Between the objects of common use
and the relics of various
kind,
found in the rooms of the Museum
there are two
crystal glasses and the bottle with which, before dying,
the admiral Nelson toasted to Victory
after the defeat of the French float
to
the open sea of Cape Trafalgar (21 October 1805). |
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° Thomas
Luny: Action during the battle of the saints and the Capture
of the city of Paris.
° Incisione
su vetro a colori raffigurante la morte di Nelson.
Together
with these pictures were also stolen furnishings and furniture of
great value and styles; a walnut table of style XVII° century, four
walnut bedside tables, a mirror, and three walnut chests of drawers of the
XVIII° century.
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