Lot 281: John Gibson RA, English (1791-1866)An early 19th century carved white marble figure of a young girl

An early 19th century carved white marble figure of a young girl
with a hair swept back into a bun and looking to dexter with her tunic undone and right breast exposed, holding cymbals in each hand, standing contra posto with a tree stump behind on a circular plinth base, signed 'I GIBSON ME FECIT ROMA', 150cm high (59" high).

Upon his death Gibson bequeathed his studio contents, his private correspondence and his personal account books to the Royal Academy. As the present work is not dated and does not depict an obvious subject, it has not been possible to ascertain from the archive exactly who the piece was made for. Through study of the account books it would seem that the marble offered here may well be that detailed in the archive as a nymph and commissioned by Count Sherborn of Bavaria at a cost of £250 which appears in the 1823-42 account book. The personal account book break down the cost of the piece as follows:
Cost of marble 60 crowns, Painting, 60 crowns, Carving, 180 crowns, Polishing, 16 crowns.
Unfortunately we have no further details of the sculpture, but can differentiate it from the other nymph carved by Gibson which we know was made for Lord Yarborough, where the nymph was described as 'preparing for the bath'. The 60 crowns for painting is also of note, Gibson painted many of his marbles as he believed that the ancient Greeks had and insisted on following this tradition. This question of whether to paint white marble statues also appears frequently in his letters, for example in his correspondence with the 4th Marques of Londonderry in 1860, who did not want her Bacchus figure to be coloured and eventually cancelled the commission.

John Gibson was one of the foremost neo-classical sculptors of the 19th century. After moving from Conway to Liverpool in 1799 Gibson was first apprenticed to a cabinet maker before joining the workshop of F A Legé. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1816 and moved to Rome the following year, where he received attention from both Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen. From Rome he built up an international clientele for his marbles, and his studio became a place of interest for wealthy tourists.

Gibson's bust of Maharajah Duleep Singh, Last Ruler of the Punjab (1838-93), was sold Bonhams, London, 19 April 2007, lot 385 for £1,735,000 (lot 385).