Lot 90: William Couper: A carved white marble figure of

William Couper: A carved white marble figure of Psyche signed William Couper on associated marble pedestal 109cm.; 43ins, 183cm.; 72ins overall The American sculptor William Couper (1853-1942), a native of Virginia, was known for his serious, sympathetic studies of angels and other winged figures. He established a wide reputation in both Italy and America for his work, which included bas-reliefs, portrait busts, allegorical figures, and heroic statues. Lorado Taft stated Couper's angels "are not merely pretty, they are beautiful, radiant creations, gracefully conceived, carefully drawn, and exquisitely carved. Billows of realistic drapery provide an image that is even more winning on this account" (The History of American Sculpture, 1930). Five years before William Couper's birth, his father founded the Couper Marble Works behind the family home on the corner of Main and Granby Streets in Norfolk, Virginia. This firm specialized in importing and carving stone for construction and monuments. Succeeding generations of the family ran the business for 133 years (from 1848 to 1981). William often played in the marble works as a boy, watching the artisans create and carve works for sculptural display, experiences which had a profound impact on his life. William Couper received his first professional training in 1872 at the Cooper Art Institute in New York City. Then, in 1874, he went to Munich, Germany, attending both the Academy of Fine Arts and the Royal College of Surgery. He left for Italy the following year. In Florence, William Couper met many prominent artists, including Thomas Ball, Daniel Chester French, Joel T. Hart, Frank Duveneck, Julius Rolshoven, and the Hiram Powers family. William Couper became the pupil, and then the son-in-law, of noted Boston sculptor Thomas Ball (1819-1911). He specialized in portraiture and idealized statues and bas-reliefs. The Ball-Couper studios were a meeting place for local artists and musicians, as well as for the American and English residents of Florence. This Psyche is one of Couper's earliest winged statues, with small wings of almost botanical quality. A beautiful maiden is just about to open the vase which holds the gift of beauty from Persephone to Venus. She rests on one knee, her face reflecting doubt and curiosity as she invades the secret of the goddess. In 1885, Couper exhibited in Paris and London, taking along Psyche, Before the Scenes, Evangeline, Vision, the model for Coming Spring, and Princess. Copies were sold, of which this example is almost certainly one, and he arranged for an art dealer in London (probably Bellman & Ivey) to keep two medallions and a bust for display. Couper also shipped many of his statues to the United States, where they sold exclusively through Tiffany & Company, New York. In 1897 William Couper left Italy and returned with his family to America. He built a large home in Montclair, New Jersey, and opened a studio with Thomas Ball in New York City. Before his retirement he had executed more than a hundred and fifty works, including the heroic Confederate Soldier, the stately Moses atop the Appellate Court House in New York, a series of monuments for the National Military Park in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and fourteen marble busts of scientists for the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Literature: William Couper: The Man Who Captured Angels by Greta Elena Couper.