Lady Russell-Cotes
Merton and Annie Russell-Cotes travelled to many countries. It had been suggested by a friend that when they were in Rome they should commission busts of themselves in marble. In his autobiography, Home and Abroad, Merton records ‘We … made the necessary arrangements with Signor Gazzeri, a sculptor of considerable fame to execute the work for us’.
Annie was a charming, insightful and intelligent woman. She was a member of the Ethnological Society and became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature for her travel writing. She was known as ‘the Good Fairy of Bournemouth’ for her charitable work. She donated land and money to fund the building of the Russell-Cotes Children’s Home and Russell-Cotes Nautical School. Situated side by side in Parkstone, Poole, both institutions provided support to orphaned, destitute or sick children.
On her 66th birthday in 1901, Merton gave his wife, Annie, East Cliff Hall – now the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum. This gift was an expression of deep love for his wife and celebrated their life together travelling and collecting around the world. They gifted their Victorian house and Edwardian galleries to the people of Bournemouth in 1908.
Born in Modena in 1866, Ernesto Gazzeri later moved to Rome where, inspired by his classical surroundings, he became a marble sculptor of repute. He was known for sculptural portraits and funerary monuments, among some of his most celebrated works include his monument to renaissance philosopher Tommaso Campanella (1923) located in the Italian town of Stilo and the large scale The Mystery of Life statue (1928) at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Southern California. He also executed genre works and mythological subjects.
