Image scanned and/or photographed, then color-corrected by Pat Cagney.

Undine Rising from the Fountain

Artist Chauncey Bradley Ives (American, 1810 - 1894)

CultureAmerican

Datemodeled ca. 1880-82

MediumMarble

DimensionsOverall: 50 5/8 x 12 3/4 x 15 3/4 in. (128.6 x 32.4 x 40 cm)

InscribedInscribed at back left of base: C. B. IVES. ; FECIT. ROMÆ

Credit LineGift of James H. Ricau and Museum purchase

Object number86.481

Collections

American Art before 1945

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 211

DescriptionThis is a marble sculpture of a young woman, Undine, as she reaches up toward heaven out of the waters to receive her immortal soul. She is well proportioned and the fabric with which she is draped even appears to be wet, since it clings so closely to her form. She stands on tiptoe just touching the marble carved waters. She holds the cloth above her head and as it drapes down from her hands to her head, the marble is sculpted so thin at this juncture that, translucent light can be see through the carved marble.

Label TextChauncey Bradley Ives American, 1810–1894 Undine, Rising from the Fountain, modeled ca. 1880–82 Marble White marble seems to dissolve into rippling wet fabric as the water nymph Undine changes from liquid to human form. Abandoned by her husband, the heartbroken nymph is seeking revenge: an embrace that will drown him with tears. Magical episodes like Undine’s metamorphosis—made famous by an 1811 German fairy tale—gave Chauncey Ives and other American sculptors valuable opportunities to show off their skills in illusionistic stone carving. Notice in particular the suggestions of Undine’s body beneath her gown and the nearly transparent veil above her head. Gift of James H. Ricau and Museum purchase 86.481ProvenanceJames H. Ricau, Piermont, N.Y., ca. 1985; Gift of James H. Ricau and Chrysler Museum Purchase, 1986. Exhibition History"The Ricau Collection," The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., February 26 - April 23, 1989. Published ReferencesWilliam H. Gerdts, "Marble and Nudity," _Art in America_ 54 (May/June 1971): 65. William H. Gerdts, _American Neo-Classic Sculpture: The Marble Resurrection_ (New York, 1973), 88-89. Teresa Annas, "Ricau sculptures cut quite a figure at Chrysler," _The Virginian-Pilot and Ledger-Star_ (February 25, 1989): G5. (Illustrated as Undine Receiving Her Soul). Joy S. Kasson, _Marble Queens and Captives: Women in Nineteenth-Century American Sculpture_ (New Haven, Conn. and London, 1990), 168-173. Jefferson C. Harrison, _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_ (Norfolk: The Chrysler Museum, 1991), 106-107. (Illustrated as Undine Receiving Her Soul). ISBN: 0-940744-59-7, 0-940744-62-7 H. Nichols B. Clark, _A Marble Quarry: The James H. Ricau Collection of Sculpture at the Chrysler Museum of Art_, exh. cat., Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., 1997, 99, 118-121, no. 27. ISBN: 1-55595-131-7 Andrew G. Östör, M.D., "Immortal Women: Essays in Medical Eponyms: Part I," _The American Journal of Surgical Pathology_ (Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc., 1999): 495-501, ill. 498. Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 112-113, no. 68. ISBN: 0-940744-71-6 Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 66, fig. 70. ISBN: 978-0-940744-72-1