The Child Canova Modeling a Lion out of Butter
Artist
Pinckney Marcius-Simons
(American, 1865 - 1909)
CultureAmerican
Dateca. 1885
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions23 3/4 × 29 in. (60.3 × 73.7 cm)
Framed: 32 13/16 × 37 7/8 × 3 1/2 in. (83.3 × 96.2 × 8.9 cm)
Framed: 32 13/16 × 37 7/8 × 3 1/2 in. (83.3 × 96.2 × 8.9 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Mowbray Arch Society
Object number2014.14
Not on view
DescriptionOil on canvas painting made around 1885 by the American painter Pinckney Marcius-Simons (1865-1909). It measures 23-3/4 x 29 inches, and is signed in the center of the canvas (on the wooden box): “Marcius-Simons.” The painting is lined, and it retains its original stretcher. It is presented in a period gilt-wood frame, and it has labels on the back from Vance Jordan Gallery and Shepherd W&K Galleries.Label TextPinckney Marcius-Simons American. 1865-1909 The Child Canova Modeling a Lion out of Butter, ca. 1885 Oil on canvas This painting takes us back to a fabled scene from the 1760s, where preparations for a feast are underway in the kitchen of an Italian palace. One of the servants, a 10-year-old boy, has volunteered to carve a butter sculpture of a lion as the centerpiece for the banquet table. The cooks marvel at his lifelike creation, clearly the work of a child prodigy. This little artist grew up to be the world's leading sculptor, Antonio Canova (1757-1822), and his statues of warriors, nymphs, and lions inspired Hiram Powers, William Henry Rinehart, and dozens of later artists to study marble-carving and embrace the Neoclassical style. Gift of the Mowbray Arch Society 2014.14ProvenanceOdon Wagner Gallery, Toronto, ON (inventory #4161). Vance Jordan Gallery, New York, NY. Isaacson-Draper Collection, New York, NY (2003-2014). Purchased from Shepherd / W&K Galleries, New York, NY, by Chrysler Museum of Art, December 2014. Exhibition History"Works from the Collection of Robert Isaacson and James Draper," Shepherd W&K Galleries, New York, NY, May 20-July 18, 2014. "Come Together, Right Now: The Art of Gathering," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, October 11, 2020 - January 3, 2021. "Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano," Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, Oct. 8, 2021 – May 8, 2022; Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TX, June 25 – Sept. 11, 2022; Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, CT, October 15, 2022 – February 27, 2023.Published ReferencesShepherd W&K Galleries, "Works from the Collection of Robert Isaacson and James Draper" (New York, 2014) 44-45.
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