Cast of the Hand of Louisa G. Powers Ibbotson

Copied Unidentified, Cast of the Hand of Louisa G. Powers Ibbotson, 1929, plaster, 2 1⁄2 x 9 1⁄4 x 5 in. (6.4 x 23.5 x 12.8 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase in memory of Ralph Cross Johnson, 1968.155.170
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Cast of the Hand of Louisa G. Powers Ibbotson
Artist
Unidentified
Date
1929
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
2 1⁄2 x 9 1⁄4 x 5 in. (6.4 x 23.5 x 12.8 cm.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase in memory of Ralph Cross Johnson
Mediums
Mediums Description
plaster
Classifications
Keywords
  • Figure female — elderly
  • Figure female — fragment — hand
Object Number
1968.155.170
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1968.155.170

Artwork Description

Louisa "Loulie" Greenough Powers was Hiram Powers's oldest daughter, born soon after the death of his first child, Jimmy. She was named after the sculptor Horatio Greenough's sister, Louisa, who was a close friend of the family. Loulie Powers married the successful English steel manufacturer Alfred Buckingham Ibbotson in 1862. The Ibbotsons later built a huge villa on the property adjoining her father's home in Florence, which became known as the "marble palace" and is still home to descendants of the Powers family. Louisa Ibbotson died in 1929, and an unidentified artist took this cast of her hand probably as a memento, just after her death.