Flora
John Michael Rysbrack (Antwerp 1684 – London 1770)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1760 - 1762
Materials
Marble
Measurements
1790 mm (Height); 1370 mm (Height)
Order this imageCollection
Stourhead, Wiltshire
NT 562912
Summary
White marble statue of Flora signed Mich. Rysbrack Sculpt., on yellow marble pedestal also supplied by Rysbrack. Payments made from December 1760 to January 1762. Copy of colossal antique statue in Palazzo Farnese courtyard, Rome (now in Naples). Farnese Flora much copied in 18th century and many versions in Europe, often as pair to Farnese Hercules. After 1787, wreath in left hand changed to posy of flowers (Haskell and Penny, no.41, p.217). Rysbrack used engravings of the original animadea terracotta statuette (now at V and A) as sources for his versions of Flora, which are more slender than the original. Rysbrack, at Hoare's request, returned and worked on the face in situ. (Michael Rysbrack Exhibition, 1982, no.74; Kenworthy-Browne, Burl. Mag. 1983.
Marks and inscriptions
Mich. Rysbrack Sculpt.
Makers and roles
John Michael Rysbrack (Antwerp 1684 – London 1770), sculptor