A FINE AMERICAN WHITE MARBLE BUST OF PROSERPINE, by Hiram Powers, the goddess rising from a bed of leaves, her head turned slightly to dexter, her hair delicately held in a band of wheat sheaves, ringlets falling down her nape, signed H. POWERS. SCULP. (on circular wood socle), 19th Century

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

細節

出版

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
L. Taft, The History of American Sculpture, New York, 1969, pp. 60-1, fig. 6
W. Gerdts, American Neo-Classic Sculpture, New York, 1973, pp. 92-3, fig. 81
R. Wunder, Hiram Powers: Vermont Sculptor, Taftsville, Vt., 1974, pp. 17-8, figs. 8-9
Whitney Museum of American Art, 200 Years of American Sculpture, New York, 1976, p. 41, pl. 7
W. Craven, Sculpture on America, New York, 1984, p. 115

拍品專文

Hiram Powers (1805-1873) created his first ideal bust shortly after his move to Florence, this was his Ginevra. The second was to be his Proserpine, the goddess was shown crowned with a wreath of wheat and the bust itself emerged from a woven basket overflowing with tube-roses and narcissi. This model however, proved to be too laborious and expensive for his carvers to execute commercially, and the basket was modified. The second version, like the present example, rose from an intricate lacework of leaves, a mesh of ivy springing from acanthus. Of all Powers' popular ideal busts, the Proserpine became his most celebrated and was produced in two sizes. The present bust is of the slightly smaller size, and reveals the exquisite execution and purity of design typical of the American master.