New photography by Ed Pollard captured with a digital camera-2008.

The Willing Captive

Artist Chauncey Bradley Ives (American, 1810 - 1894)

Datemodeled ca. 1862-68, carved 1871

MediumMarble

DimensionsOverall: 73 x 64 3/8 x 27 5/8 in. (185.4 x 163.5 x 70.2 cm)

ClassificationsAmerican art

Credit LineGift of James H. Ricau and museum purchase

Object number86.480

Terms

Indians
Kidnapping
Love
Civilization
White
Neoclassical
Rome, Italy

Collections

American Art before 1945

On View

On view

DescriptionThis is a multi-figured marble sculpture of an Indian standing nobly at center, flanked by his "captive" wife and her mother, who implores for her return. The Indian holds a long spear and wears a tall headdress. The woman, the mother, on his right is on her knees with her hands together in a pleading fashion. He has his left arm around a young girl with long hair wearing a drape tied about the waist. The young woman holds onto the man with both arms. Over the Indians' right arm is a long cloak. He looks downward at the young woman.

Label TextChauncey Bradley Ives American, 1810—1894 The Willing Captive, modeled ca. 1862-68, carved 1871 Marble This imposing multi-figure composition was modeled in Rome where Chauncey Bradley Ives had maintained a studio since 1844. The subject presents an amalgam of colonial-era stories of conflict and exchange between settlers and Native Americans. Here, the young girl on the right must choose between her Euro-American mother kneeling on the left and her Native American husband. Though the sculpture appeals heavily to romantic sentiment typical of the Victorian period, the semi-nude figures demonstrate Ives’s thorough study of classical statuary and embrace of neoclassical style. Gift of James H. Ricau and Museum purchase 86.480