Description:
bust of young girl with long hair tied back and ruffled dress on circular marble base
Label Text:
"The May Queen" is an example of the taste for American decorative parlor sculpture that persisted into the third quarter of the nineteenth century. Carved in pure white Cararra marble, "The May Queen" has a delicacy and innocence appropriate to the medieval May Day ritual.
French crated this sculpture during a trip to Florence, Italy, as a gift for his patron Joel Goldthwait, who had helped fund the trip. In keeping with the practice of other sculptors, he made a clay model then hired Italian artisans to carve the bust in marble. "The May Queen" is an example of the artist's early neo-classical style, based on ancient Greek and Roman sculpture. The little girl wears sprays of hawthorn, associated with May Day, in her hair and across the bodice of her dress, which is based on the Classical Greek "chiton" or tunic.
Tags:
children; girls Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1915.8.1 |
