Hiram Powers American, 1805-1873

Hiram Powers studio
By descent to the family of Hiram Powers

Proserpine is Powers' first work to be originally conceived as a bust rather than a full length figure. From 1838 the sculptor had been considering a new ideal head which could be a pendant to his recently completed Ginevra. An opportunity arose two years later when Edward L. Carey, a publisher from Philadelphia, commissioned the sculptor to make an original work of his choice, to a cost of no more than $500, but it was not until the spring of 1843 that Powers devoted himself to the Proserpine. Work proceeded quickly and in less than six weeks the bust was ready to be cast prior to carving. The 1843 version used an elaborate wicker basket with spring flowers tumbling over the rim as the termination to Proserpine's shoulders. Powers quickly realised, however, that this design was too complex to be replicated economically so he developed two additional versions, one in 1844 with acanthus leaves at the shoulders and on the socle and another in 1849 with a simple bead and leaf border.

RELATED LITERATURE
Wunder, pp.187-205