Samuel
Artist
Emma Stebbins
(American, 1815-1882)
Datemodeled ca. 1865-66, carved 1870
MediumMarble
DimensionsOverall: 39 3/4 x 15 5/8 x 9 7/8 in. (101 x 39.7 x 25.1 cm)
ClassificationsAmerican art
Credit LineGift of James H. Ricau and Museum purchase
Object number86.521
Collections
On View
Not on viewLabel TextEmma Stebbins American (1815-1882) Samuel, modeled ca. 1865-66, carved 1870 Marble Gift of James H. Ricau and Museum purchase 86.521 Born into wealth in New York City, Emma Stebbins built her artistic career in Rome, where she joined the group of American women sculptors centered around Harriet Hosmer. While Hosmer and most other Americans there entrusted their sculptural designs to Italian master carvers for replication, Stebbins insisted on doing her own carving. Her purism in this regard significantly slowed her artistic production and limited the spread of her reputation. Nevertheless, her bronze Angel of the Waters for the Bethesda Fountain in New York's Central Park ranks among the premiere sculptural achievements of the era. Stebbins' sculpture of the Old Testament prophet Samuel as a boy probably depicts the decisive moment when the youth, asleep in the temple, is called by the Lord to serve him, to which Samuel replies, "Speak, for thy servant heareth" (I Samuel 3:6-14). Modeling the figure on her young nephew John Neal Tilton, Stebbins created a sculpture that responded both to the nineteenth-century interest in Biblical themes and the Victorian passion for childhood imagery.
