Barbe's Tomb

As I walked through Brompton Cemetery I was struck by the splendid mausolea of the Victorian wealthy. This might not have been the place to live, nor even to die, but it was certainly the most fashionable place to be buried. Whereas the poor lay in unmarked graves, and the very poor in mass graves, the well-to-do designed grandiose shrines to their own and their loved ones’ memories. One in particular caught my attention. It was not the largest but it was, I think, the most beautiful. Built for Barbe Maria Theresa Sangiorgi (1834-1893), the wife of restaurateur Auguste Kettner, it is just a little off the main route. 

The tomb has a carved Italian boy of decidedly handsome features standing over the grave, scattering petals upon the dead woman’s resting place. There is something really quite moving about it; I was briefly mesmerised by the figure’s melancholic beauty. I have seen plenty of carved angels, but this sculptor knew well his trade.

Signora Barbe no longer has her famous ristorante, though even today, it is still open to diners. We do not know if she knew Jesus Christ as her own saviour. If she did, then her death was more beautiful than the sculpture, and her current home more salubrious than Kensington. If she rejected Him, the lad mourns indeed, for hers is an eternal death.