Mt. Auburn Cemetery Poplar Avenue at Lily Path, lot 2630 Cambridge Massachusetts
Date:
Ca. 1871-1872
Notes:
Carlock, Marty, "A Guide to Public Art in Greater Boston," Boston: Harvard Common Press, 1988.
Save Outdoor Sculpture, Massachusetts survey, 1994.
Image on file.
(Sculpture, lower back:) EDMONIA LEWIS ROMA (...illegible inscription) 1-(...illegible inscription) (Upper base, back:) THE LORD IS OUR/LAWGIVER/--PEACE--/WHICH LOVE THEY LAW(...illegible inscription)/The Sisters/Physician/1865(...illegible inscription) (Lower base, back:) HYGEIA signed
The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.
Summary:
Standing female figure of Hygeia, the goddess of health, dressed in long classical drapery. With her proper left hand she clutches the edge of her drapery to her chest. In her proper right hand she once held a staff, but it is now missing. She leans back against a small vertical stone, crossing her legs in front of her and a snake is curled beside her bare feet. The sculpture rests on a square marble base which rests on a granite block. Recesses on the front and sides of the marble upper base once held bas reliefs, but two are now missing. The remaining bas relief on the right side of the marble upper base depicts a female figure seated in a chair beside a table. Her proper right hand rests on the table next beside a container of medicine.
