Ginevra (first version)
Object Details
- Exhibition Label
- Hiram Powers (1805-73) was among the first American sculptors to establish an international reputation, rising to fame in the late 1840s with his Greek Slave, a life-size marble sculpture of a chained, nude woman. Few could have predicted Powers' incredible success from his humble beginnings on a farm in Ohio or his time in Washington, DC, where he made somber plaster portraits of four early presidents and other luminaries. Powers moved to Florence, Italy, with his wife and young children in 1837, lured there by its abundance of fine marble and highly skilled stone carvers. He quickly realized there was much to gain from making ideal compositions of nude figures drawn from literary, biblical, and historical themes. Powers set up a studio dividing labor among several assistants and, using the latest technologies such as the pointing machine, to create numerous replicas of his most popular designs in marble. Although he always intended to return to the United States, Powers remained abroad until his death and became an unofficial ambassador for American culture. He was a central figure in the expatriate colony in Florence, where he masterfully marketed his work to British nobles and American collectors touring Europe.
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase in memory of Ralph Cross Johnson
- Data Source
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Date
- modeled 1838
- Object number
- 1968.155.15
- Artist
- Hiram Powers, born Woodstock, VT 1805-died Florence, Italy 1873
- Restrictions & Rights
- CC0
- Type
- Sculpture
- Medium
- plaster
- Dimensions
- 24 x 16 1/2 x 12 in. (60.9 x 41.9 x 30.4 cm)
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture
- On View
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor, 19A
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor
- Topic
- Dress\historic\classical dress
- Study\sculpture model
- Figure female\bust
- Literature\Shelley\Ginevra
- Record ID
- saam_1968.155.15
