Filatrice

Maker Henry Kirke Brown (American, 1814 - 1886)

Collections

ClassificationsSCULPTURE

Date1850

Mediumbronze

Dimensions20 x 12 x 7 in. (50.8 x 30.5 x 17.8 cm.)

DescriptionOne of the earliest bronze castings made in America, Filatrice was produced on commission for the American Art-Union's 1850 lottery. The piece is one of only seven known to survive from the original group of thirty. Henry Kirke Brown studied in Boston and lived in New York and Cincinnati, before heading to Italy in 1842. He worked in Florence, the first Italian center of American artistic activity, and later in Rome. Moved by a deeply nationalistic spirit, comparable to that already possessed by American landscape painters, such as Thomas Doughty and Asher B. Durand, Brown sought a distinctly American style. His first major work in Italy was consequently a full-scale reclining American Indian youth, which the sculptor declared to be "… the first attempt that has been made to render classical objects of our own country." In 1846, he returned to New York City. Not wanting to rely on Europe for any part of his work, he built his own foundry in Brooklyn and helped establish the first important bronze foundry for sculpture in America, the James T. Ames Foundry in Chicopee, MA. Filatrice, or Girl Spinning, shows a woman attired in classical garb, spinning thread with a drop spindle, a technique used since antiquity. The sculpture may suggest meditation on the passage of time or the fragility of human existence, with its possible reference to the Three Fates who spin the thread of life.

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Purchased with funds from the Art Collectors' Council

Label TextFilatrice depicts a woman in classical dress using a drop spindle, or distaff, to spin thread, a technique employed since ancient times to keep unspun fibers from tangling. Brown's classical allusions are keeping with American sculpture of the time (see, for example, Chauncey Ives's Pandora in room 7 of these galleries), but this particular subject may also refer to the burgeoning American textile industry centered in Massachusetts.

Brown sought to create a distinctly American style of sculpture and started a foundry in Chicopee, Massachusetts, to produce bronzes. This piece was part of an edition of 30 given to subscribers to the American Art-Union in 1850. The Art-Union attempted to spread American art throughout the country by distributing one print of an American painting each year for a subscription of $5. Through a lottery, members could also win an original work of art; prizes included Filatrice and a genre painting by George Caleb Bingham.

Status

On view

Object number98.6

Exhibitions

American Made: Selections from The Huntington's Early American Art Collections