Proserpine
Marble
21 x 16 x 9 1/2 in
Biography
Hiram Powers was born in Vermont, and at the age of thirteen moved with his family to Cincinnati. His father died shortly after the move, forcing Hiram to find work. After developing his mechanical skills at Luman Watson’s clock-and-organ factory, in 1825 he became an apprentice to the Prussian sculptor Fredrick Eckstein. Power’s work attracted the real-estate tycoon and art patron, Nicholas Longworth. Longworth sponsored his trip to Washington, D.C., and introduced him to President Andrew Jackson. Several politicians sat for him, and his bust of the President Jackson is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1837 Powers, along with his wife and two children, settled in Florence, where he remained for the rest of his life. His talent, of which he had a high opinion of, led him to be acknowledged as one of the preeminent portraitists. In addition to portraits he created idealized sculptures, including Proserpine, and his most famous statue The Greek Slave. The later was conceived in 1841, and carved in 1844. Inspired by the Greek war for independence, it depicts a beautiful Greek girl, abducted by the Turks and about to be sold into slavery. Shown in England, and later major American cities, the fame this work brought him ensured that he would never lack commissions.
