GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Carved from a single block of marble, this imposing statue of a brooding queen is a fictional portrait of Semiramis (seh-MIR-ah-miss), queen of Assyria around 800 B.C.E. Although a historical figure, by the late 19th century Semiramis had become the stuff of legend: an ambitious woman who seized power through the murder of her husband before being killed by her own estranged son. This view was popularized through the French philosopher Voltaire's 1784 play and the Italian composer Rossini's 1822 opera, both of which helped inspire William Wetmore Story's composition.
Semiramis epitomizes Story's preference for female characters embroiled in tales of sexual power, murder, and vengeance. In his portrait, Story combined the monumental scale, idealized features, and classical drapery of European neoclassicism with historically accurate details of hairstyle and jewelry meant to evoke the ancient Near East. Story made a clay maquette, or model, in 1872 and used it to garner commissions for the full-sized work. Like many 19th-century sculptors, Story supervised a team of trained Italian carvers during production of the final marble sculptures. Two versions of this statue exist: this example, made for the American collector William Blodgett, and another now housed at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia.
Story's sculpture presents the queen fully in command of her throne, but deeply absorbed in her own thoughts, contemplating the evil she has wrought. The sculptor delighted in the archaeological research required to outfit his subjects and lavished this queen with Assyrian jewelry—bracelets, a necklace, and jeweled diadem. Discreetly yet provocatively dressed, her long legs crossed, she rests on an Assyrian style chaise. Her long hair falls in tight ringlets down her back. This slightly over life-size sculpture rests on its original pedestal base, shaped like a sarcophagus, underscoring the melancholic and tragic implications that underlie the subject.
Adapted from
- DMA Label copy (1999.117.A-B), 2010.
- Eleanor Jones Harvey, DMA Acquisition proposal (1999.117.A-B), April 1999.
NOTES
The object file and library object file both contain many more bibliographic sources than are currently entered in the TMS record. It would be helpful if the library object file was cross-referenced (or duplicated) in the primary object file and indicated in the TMS record in some way.
Adding "draft" tag back to note, Dec 19, 2016, as part of the revised harvest/route procedure. This note will be pulled into GDrive and manually moved to Queta's folders for final review. Update- January 18, 2017- Adding #routed tag so that I can easily keep track of this note in Evernote to confirm that it is eventually pushed into GDrive. As of January 18, 2017 the content is in Brain but not in GDrive so I am unable to finish revisions and mark it complete in Evernote or move the GDoc to Queta's folder.
Provenance reformatted in TMS record.
Sources used in Eleanor Jones Harvey's "Acquisition Proposal" were added to the bibliography in TMS.
Email from BMac 10/4/2016- asked me to change the TGN geographic x-ref for the depicted location to not use the supplementary TGN term because it will not map to a location/hierarchy in TMS.
Assyria (former state): 7016066
- I did not add this term back as a depicted location because it should more appropriately be linked via Semiramus as a constituent. Semiramus is linked to other relevant geographies but Assyria is not available in TGN via TMS at this time (12/19/2016)
Catalogue essays specific to object
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Produced-Rome (Italy)
Process/materials
marble
clay
maquette
Historical periods
Assyrian (style and period)
Individuals
Voltaire
Gioacchino Rossini
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Pope Pius IX
Subject terms
portrait
sculpture in the round
monumental
classical
drapery
expatriate
jewelry
diadem
chaises longues
hairstyle
recline
throne
pedestal
sarcophagus
opera
commission
replica
femme-fatale
heroine
murder
female
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
1876: Sold at auction in New York by auctioneer Robert Somerville, buyer unknown [1]
1930: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of Eleanor Blodgett, March 1930
1970: Robert E. and Morynne Motley, Palos Verdes Estates, California, purchased from Ames Auctioneers, Los Angeles, CA, 27 April 1970
From 1999: Dallas Museum of Art, gift from the above, 11 July 1999
[1] Acquisition Proposal written by Eleanor Jones Harvey (April 1999) refers to the work having been originally carved for William Blodgett, New York City.
AUDIO ASSETS
Gallery talk, March 24, 2010. Lisa Kays- Women's Work: Artists, Subjects, and Muses.
13309756: UMO
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
- American Neoclassical Sculptors Abroad~Read Thayer Tolles's October 2004 essay in Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
- William Wetmore Story, Semiramis, 1873~See the replica sculpture housed at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
- William Wetmore Story created numerous sculptures of women who represented dramatic, romantic, and often tragic narratives. In addition to Semiramis, he produced fictional portraits of Sappho, Alcestis, Delilah, the Cumaean Sibyl. He also sculpted portraits of his male contemporaries including Josiah Quincy (president of Harvard 1829-1845), Edward Everett (Massachusetts politician), and George Peabody (entrepreneur and philanthropist).
- William Blodgett, the American collector who commissioned the Semiramis now in the Museum's collection, also owned Frederic Edwin Church's second major Arctic painting, Aurora Borealis (1865, Smithsonian American Art Museum). The monumental marble sculpture now sits with Church's first Arctic scene, Icebergs (1979.28) nearby.
- Story likely saw Rossini's Semiramide opera while his favorite diva, Adelaide Ristori (1822-1906), sang the role.
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1999.117.A-B
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Fun Facts
- William Wetmore Story created numerous sculptures of women who represented dramatic, romantic, and often tragic narratives. In addition to Semiramis, he produced fictional portraits of Sappho, Alcestis, Delilah, the Cumaean Sibyl. He also sculpted portraits of his male contemporaries including Josiah Quincy (president of Harvard 1829-1845), Edward Everett (Massachusetts politician), and George Peabody (entrepreneur and philanthropist).
- William Blodgett, the American collector who commissioned the Semiramis now in the Museum's collection, also owned Frederic Edwin Church's second major Arctic painting, Aurora Borealis (1865, Smithsonian American Art Museum). The monumental marble sculpture now sits with Church's first Arctic scene, Icebergs (1979.28) nearby.
- Story likely saw Rossini's Semiramide opera while his favorite diva, Adelaide Ristori (1822-1906), sang the role.
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- American Neoclassical Sculptors Abroad~Read Thayer Tolles's October 2004 essay in Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
- William Wetmore Story, Semiramis, 1873~See the replica sculpture housed at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Notes
The object file and library object file both contain many more bibliographic sources than are currently entered in the TMS record. It would be helpful if the library object file was cross-referenced (or duplicated) in the primary object file and indicated in the TMS record in some way.
Adding "draft" tag back to note, Dec 19, 2016, as part of the revised harvest/route procedure. This note will be pulled into GDrive and manually moved to Queta's folders for final review. Update- January 18, 2017- Adding #routed tag so that I can easily keep track of this note in Evernote to confirm that it is eventually pushed into GDrive. As of January 18, 2017 the content is in Brain but not in GDrive so I am unable to finish revisions and mark it complete in Evernote or move the GDoc to Queta's folder.
Provenance reformatted in TMS record.
Sources used in Eleanor Jones Harvey's "Acquisition Proposal" were added to the bibliography in TMS.
Email from BMac 10/4/2016- asked me to change the TGN geographic x-ref for the depicted location to not use the supplementary TGN term because it will not map to a location/hierarchy in TMS.
Assyria (former state): 7016066
- I did not add this term back as a depicted location because it should more appropriately be linked via Semiramus as a constituent. Semiramus is linked to other relevant geographies but Assyria is not available in TGN via TMS at this time (12/19/2016)
Catalogue essays specific to object
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Produced-Rome (Italy)
Process/materials
marble
clay
maquette
Historical periods
Assyrian (style and period)
Individuals
Voltaire
Gioacchino Rossini
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Pope Pius IX
Subject terms
portrait
sculpture in the round
monumental
classical
drapery
expatriate
jewelry
diadem
chaises longues
hairstyle
recline
throne
pedestal
sarcophagus
opera
commission
replica
femme-fatale
heroine
murder
female
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
1876: Sold at auction in New York by auctioneer Robert Somerville, buyer unknown [1]
1930: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of Eleanor Blodgett, March 1930
1970: Robert E. and Morynne Motley, Palos Verdes Estates, California, purchased from Ames Auctioneers, Los Angeles, CA, 27 April 1970
From 1999: Dallas Museum of Art, gift from the above, 11 July 1999
[1] Acquisition Proposal written by Eleanor Jones Harvey (April 1999) refers to the work having been originally carved for William Blodgett, New York City.
AUDIO ASSETS
Gallery talk, March 24, 2010. Lisa Kays- Women's Work: Artists, Subjects, and Muses.
13309756: UMO
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
1999.117.A-B
source file
object_notes_3_c-0318.xml.nores