Pandora
Artist
Chauncey Bradley Ives
(American, 1810 - 1894)
CultureAmerican
Datemodeled 1851, remodeled 1863
MediumMarble
DimensionsOverall: 66 1/2 x 21 x 20 3/4 in. (168.9 x 53.3 x 52.7 cm)
Credit LineGift of James H. Ricau and Museum purchase
Object number86.476
Not on view
DescriptionMarble statue of Pandora. Remodeled 1863.Label TextChauncey Bradley Ives American (1810-1894) Pandora, modeled 1851, remodeled 1865 Marble Gift of James H. Ricau and Museum purchase 86.476 In Greek mythology, Pandora holds a position comparable to Eve's in the ancient Greek version of creation. After Zeus charged the fire-god Prometheus with the task of making a man out of clay, he ordered the god Hephaestus to make a clay woman, Pandora, and had the Four Winds breathe life into her. Among the many gifts she received from the gods-her name means "the gift of all"-was a box containing all of the world's evils. She was warned never to open it, but like Eve, her curiosity ultimately got the better of her. She opened the box and released evil into the world. Like an ancient Roman sculpture of the goddess Venus, Ives's monumental marble presents Pandora as an idealized nude in a graceful pose, her weight resting on one leg. He chose to illustrate the dramatically charged moment of contemplation before action, as Pandora innocently ponders the box, her upraised right hand poised to lift its top. Though 19th-century American audiences were generally conservative regarding nudity in sculpture, Pandora received virtually no criticism on that count. Victorian Americans tended to favor the unclothed female figure far more than the male form, seeing in it a more acceptable reflection of the classical notion of beauty. In any case, Pandora became one of Ives's most famous works, and between 1863 and 1891 he oversaw the production of at least nineteen replicas. Exhibition History"The Ricau Collection," The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., February 26 - April 23, 1989.
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