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Clytie
modeled 1865-1867, carved 1873 Hiram Powers Born: Woodstock, Vermont 1805 Died: Florence, Italy 1873 marble 26 1/8 x 19 1/8 x 10 1/2 in. (66.3 x 48.6 x 26.6 cm) Smithsonian American Art Museum Museum purchase in memory of Ralph Cross Johnson 1968.155.20 Not currently on view
“I am trying to make it my best ideal bust . . . Most visitors seem to think it the best.” Hiram Powers, 1866, in Richard P. Wunder, Hiram Powers, 1989-91
Clytie is a water nymph from Greek mythology who fell in love with Apollo and never took her eyes off him as he flew across the sky. Eventually, she became a sunflower, forever turning its face with the course of the sun. Hiram Powers likely based this sculpture on an antique Roman bust in the British Museum that was widely reproduced across Europe. Powers added a sunflower to the figure’s hair to symbolize Clytie’s fate.
For more information about this work visit the Luce Foundation Center.
Keywords
Mythology - classical - Clytie
sculpture
stone - marble
About Hiram Powers
Born: Woodstock, Vermont 1805 Died: Florence, Italy 1873
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