Modern · Art Institute of Chicago · 107863
Ginevra
Hiram Powers, 1865–68
Art Institute of Chicago · Gift of Lauretta J. Holly, Frances Johnson, and Gilbert Henry Anderson Jr., in memory of their father, Gilbert Henry Anderson · Public domain
- Artist
- Hiram Powers
- Date
- 1865–68
- Medium
- Marble
- Dimensions
- 68.2 × 48 × 26.7 cm (26 13/16 × 18 7/8 × 10 1/2 in.)
- Era
- Modern
Why it matters
This statue depicts the title character of the poem “Ginevra,” from the 1822 book Italy by the English poet Samuel Rogers. In the poem, 15-year-old Ginevra disappears on her wedding night; her remains are discovered 50 years later in a chest, where she had hidden as a prank and accidentally trapped herself. Tragic literary heroines were popular subjects for 19th-century sculptors and painters because they appealed to the melodramatic and moralistic sensibilities of Victorian society. Two other works, Elaine (1917.3) by Toby Rosenthal and Nydia, The Blind Flower Girl of Pompeii (1896.77) by Randolph Rogers, more explicitly express similar themes. Hiram Powers presented Ginevra with a paucity of narrative details, however, with only the title offering evidence of her identity.