John Gibson, 1790–1866, British, active in Rome, Italy
Title:
Aurora
Date:
between 1843 and 1845
Materials & Techniques:
Marble
Dimensions:
Overall: 20 1/2 x 12 x 7 1/8 inches (52.1 x 30.5 x 18.1 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Inscribed on supporting column on back of bust: "OPVS | ROMAE"
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1978.5
Classification:
Sculptures
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
woman | nude | portrait
Currently On View:
Not on view
Exhibition History:
Taste & Beauty in Three Dimensions: Paul Mellon and British Sculpture (Yale Center for British Art, 2002-10-23 - 2004-02-15)
Publications:
Acquisitions : The First Decade 1977-1986 : Yale Center for British Art, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1986, p. 21, no. 60, N590.2 .A7 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Duncan Robinson, Acquisitions : The First Decade 1977 - 1986, , Burlington Magazine, vol. 128, October 1986, p. 21, no. 60, N1 .B87 128:3 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Taste & beauty in three dimensions : Paul Mellon and British sculpture, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Conn., 2002, p. [4], no. 9, V 1426 (YCBA)Angus Trumble, The Marble Bust, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 2004, no. 18, V 1304 (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
This is a small-scale reduction of the head and shoulders of a much larger statue. In the artist’s own words that statue represented “Aurora, Goddess of the morning, Mother of the stars and of the winds, just risen from the ocean with the bright star Lucifer glittering over her brow.” The subject was inspired by lines from John Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667), remembered while the artist strolled in the gardens of the Villa Borghese in Rome: “Now Morn, her rosy steps in the Eastern clime / Advancing, sowed the earth with orient pearl.” Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016