Fisher Girl

William Randolph Barbee, Fisher Girl, ca. 1858, marble, 32 ¹⁄₈ x 31 ⁷⁄₈ x 23 ⁵⁄₈ in. (81.6 x 80.9 x 59.9 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1968.140

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Artwork Details

Title: Fisher Girl
Artist: William Randolph Barbee
Date: ca. 1858
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum
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Luce Foundation Center
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3rd Floor
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W320
Dimensions: 32 ¹⁄₈ x 31 ⁷⁄₈ x 23 ⁵⁄₈ in. (81.6 x 80.9 x 59.9 cm.)
Credit Line: Museum purchase
Mediums: marble
Mediums Description: marble
Classifications: Sculpture
Subjects: Occupation — industry — fishing
Figure female — nude
Figure female — full length
Object Number: 1968.140
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1968.140

Artwork Description

William Randolph Barbee created Fisher Girl while working in Florence, Italy, around 1858. Barbee returned to the United States soon after and enjoyed great acclaim for this sculpture. Owing to its popularity in the United States, Fisher Girl was copied several times over the years. Barbee created the figure’s idealized body in the neoclassical style, inspired by the ancient Greek and Roman works he encountered in Italy. Her modest pose and fish net, however, are rendered in a natural, lifelike way that charmed Barbee's early audience. One contemporary critic from the New York Leader described the mesh Fisher Girl holds as "one of the most perfect triumphs of the chisel."