Lot 11: w - WILLIAM COUPER AMERICAN, 1853-1942

TENNYSON'S PRINCESS

measurements note
bust: 63.5cm., 25in.

signed: W^m COUPER Florence

white marble, on white marble socle (not illustrated)

NOTE

William Couper was born in Norfolk, Virginia. After his initial studies at the Cooper Institute in New York he travelled to Munich and Florence to continue his education. He settled in Florence, where he met a fellow American sculptor, Thomas Ball, and began working in his studio. Couper married Ball's daughter and stayed in Florence for twenty-two years before returning to America.

In his Italian sojourn Couper was following in the footsteps of his compatriot Hiram Powers, and the present bust is reminiscent of Powers' own marble Proserpine sheathed in acanthus leaves and embodying Winckelmann's Neo-classical ideal of 'noble simplicity and calm grandeur.' However, Couper's inspiration came from contemporary rather than classical legend: his heroine is Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Princess.

Another marble version of the model is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC.

The Princess; liker to the inhabitant
Of some clear planet close upon the Sun,
Than our man's earth; such eyes were in her head,
And so much grace and power, breathing down
From over her arched brows, with every turn
Lived through her to the tips of her long hands,
And to her feet
The Princess, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1847, Canto II

RELATED LITERATURE
Opitz, p. 82; Craven, p.228