Bust of a young woman (or man?) as Flora

Terracotta, on integral socle

Inscribed/dated on left shoulder: G. E. 1876 with old inventory number ‘65’

19.5 cm. / 7 ¾ ins high

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This diminutive yet captivating bust of a classical young subject wearing a garland of flowers is a fine example of terracotta modelling on a small scale, exhibiting stylistic influences from both nineteenth-century Neoclassical and eighteenth-century Rococo sculpture.

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There is no obvious antique or modern prototype for the present bust; this, together with the fact that it is inscribed and dated, indicates that it was created as an original work of art, rather than being a copy of another work or after the antique. The classically proportioned facial features, along with the long twisting loops of hair and serene gaze of the sitter turned sharply to dexter, are reminiscent of the works of the great Italian sculptor, Antonio Canova (1757-1822). Compare, for example, the heads of Canova’s figures, such as his Paris (1816, Munich, Neue Pinakothek)[1] and the Terpsichore (1811, Gypsotheca e Museo Antonio Canova, Possagno),[2] which both exhibit the same sharp turn of the classical head and long loops of hair.

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The truncation of the present bust in a trapezoidal shape at the shoulders and the turned socle and base-plate are also typical of Neoclassical sculpture, indicating that the author may have trained or worked for some time in Rome or another centre of classicism in mid nineteenth-century Italy. The free modelling of the hair along with the material used and the small scale of the present bust, on the other hand, suggest that the artist was acquainted with French Rococo sculpture, most notably the works of Claude Michel, Clodion (1738-1814) and Joseph Charles Marin (1759-1834), both of whom executed small figures and busts in terracotta. See, for example, Marin’s bust of a Bacchante (1786, Victoria and Albert Museum, acc. no. 890-1882), with its similarly voluminous hairstyle.

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The garland of flowers, elaborate all’antica hairstyle and idealised facial features would suggest that this bust shows a female in the guise of a classical goddess, such as Flora, the Roman goddess of Spring. The facial features, however, whose sharp brows, long nose and pronounced chin appear to be masculine, suggest that the present bust could be a very rare sculptural example of male cross-dressing. According to this reading, the bust could represent a beautiful young male subject embellished with feminine attributes, the subject perhaps being based on a real-life model who sat for the sculptor and was quickly captured in clay. This would make the present bust an interesting object for the study of gender fluidity in nineteenth-century European art.

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Although no author has been confirmed, the initial ‘G.E.’ may identify it with the German Romantic sculptor Gustav Eberlein (1847-1926), who studied in Rome in the early 1870s and whose mature works, such as his Boy with a Thorn (1879-86, Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin) demonstrate both classical training and Rococo influences.

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RELATED LITERATURE:

Adolf Rosenberg, Eberlein. Bielefeld and Leipzig, 1903, pp. 4-5, figs 1-2

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[1] For an image of the Paris, see the Neue Pinakothek website, last accessed 5th Nov 2024: https://www.sammlung.pinakothek.de/en/artwork/k2xnZZAxPd

[2] For an image of the Terpsichore, see Google Art Project, last accessed 5th Nov 2024: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/terpsichore-antonio-canova/twE0olXiJK_ybw?hl=it