Wept of Wish-ton-Wish
Artist
Joseph Mozier
(American, 1812-1890)
CultureAmerican
Datemodeled ca. 1857–58, remodeled 1864, carved 1866
MediumMarble
DimensionsOverall: 51 5/8 x 20 1/8 x 16 7/8 in. (131.1 x 51.1 x 42.9 cm)
Credit LineGift of James H. Ricau and Museum purchase
Object number86.494
Collections
On View
Not on viewLabel TextJoseph Mozier American (1812-1870) The Wept of Wish-ton-Wish, modeled ca. 1857-58, remodeled 1864, carved 1866 Marble Gift of James H. Ricau and Museum purchase 86.494 The Wept of Wish-ton-Wish was Joseph Mozier's most famous sculpture. The work takes its theme from James Fenimore Cooper's novel of the same title and depicts the book's heroine, Ruth Heathcote. Set in a seventeenth-century Connecticut frontier town called Wish-ton-Wish, the novel tells how the young Ruth was abducted from the village by Narragansett Indians and raised by the tribe. In time she embraced Indian culture. When Ruth's white relatives found her many years later and tried to reestablish ties, their plan ended in tragedy. Ruth's Indian husband was killed, and Ruth herself died heartbroken soon after. In death she became known as "the Wept of Wish-ton-Wish," a mournful nickname that alludes to the tears her mother shed after her abduction. Mozier's Wept of Wish-ton-Wish is a prime example of the theme of the "willing captive"-the white woman who, kidnapped by Indians, is so impressed by the naturalness and nobility of Indian life that she refuses to return to civilization. The subject is treated also in Chauncey Bradley Ives' The Willing Captive, on view nearby. Exhibition History"The Ricau Collection," The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., February 26 - April 23, 1989. Published ReferencesH. Nichols B. Clark, "Pairs of sculptures collected by James Ricau," THE MAGAZINE ANTIQUES, November 1997, 700-705.
