A WONDERFUL 19TH CENTURY MARBLE BUST OF NAIAD ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN GIBSON

A WONDERFUL 19TH CENTURY MARBLE BUST OF NAIAD ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN GIBSON

Attributed to John Gibson (1790 – 1866).

Bust of a Naiad, Carrara marble.

After 1827. 

Dimensions:
Height: 51 cms 
Width: 30 cms 
Depth: 26 cms

PRICE: £28,000

This finely executed bust of a Naiad is attributed to the neoclassical sculptor John Gibson (1790 – 1866). A Naiad was type of mythological water nymph and is depicted here with her head bowed and cocked slightly to the side, displaying her strong neo-Hellenistic profile. In her hair, the nymph wears a headdress that is comprised of long and slender reed leaves, which not only identifies her iconographically as a water spirit, but draws a close comparison with those worn by the female figures in John Gibson’s Hylas Surprised by the Naiades (1827 - 1837) (fig.1). The downwards and off-centre orientation of our Naiad bust mirrors that of the taller figure on the left of the group, who rests her cheek on the head young Hylas…

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