I’m looking for an image of a statue I haven’t seen but that a friend of mine described to me. He says that it is a statue depicting a woman reading a book swhile reclined on some kind of hard table or bed that looks as though it is made of wood or stone.
Does anyone recognize what I’m talking about from this description? A link to an image on a web site would be ideal.
Thanks in advance for any help.
I searched for about twenty minutes for this statue. Is it a famous one or is it possible that it was something like a mass produced one for a yard or a local artist?
Thank you for taking the time to look. My friend said that he saw the statue in a book on art. He had the impression that the woman in the statue was a queen, and that the statue was Renaissance era. But he could provide no other specifics.
I just spent another 1 1/2 hrs looking for this. It is 1 am EST and I am awake just for this. I have to be up in four hours! I refuse to go to sleep.
Is it something like this?
There’s a reference to a statue of a woman reading here. Sorry, no image.
I find this deeply ironic.
As do I, since “teached” isn’t a word.
As in “I teached the teacher”?
Was it ancient or modern? Life size? Painted? Additive (e.g. clay) or subtractive (e.g. chiseled stone) sculpture? Realistic or abstract?
This statue seems to fit some of the particulars.
Here’s another hunch: It might have been a work in a cemetery. I’ve seen a number of works of musuem quality in cemeteries, usually in the plots of the very wealthy. If the statue looks a bit mournful or seems to be a memorial, this would be one path to follow. The Saint-Gaudens statue often called “Grief” is a good example of this type of work, though I doubt this is the particular one you want.
This one is cheap at least.
Ok. Details he can probably remember-- was she wearing clothes? It was “in the round” and not a relief sculpture, right? What position was she in-- lying on her side, stomach, back? Any idea where the sculptor was from from vague recollection of the name?
Was she indeed reading?
Was it more sexy or less sexy than
Canova ?
Thanks everyone for looking. I haven’t had a chance yet to show any of the pictures to my friend, but maybe when he sees them it will help him give more specifics.
Ok, my friend has been able to provide some more details.
He says
[ul]-- The woman is lying flat on her back reading a book held above her face.
– It’s “not sexy at all”. She looks like she should be uncomfortable in the position she’s in.
– It is life sized
– It was sculptured from stone
– She was wearing clothes; perhaps even “fancy” clothes – “fit for a queen”.
– It is a sculpture “in the round” as opposed to a relief.
[/ul]
Hmm. Ok, if it’s Renaissance era, she sounds dead to me-- this is a standard kind of pose for sarcophagi (sometimes they hold books on their chests, although I can’t really think of one of the top of my head where they hold it up and read it–not out of the question).
this spot has a bunch of links to thumbnails to bigger images of examples of this sort of thing (painfully slow site)-- does this look like the right general format? This picture has a couple of examples of “couples.”
Is it a sculpture or statue?
Sorry, that wasn’t supposed to be sent. That was my freudian slip.
STILL LOOKING.
Where did your friend see this statue? What’s the context?
I quit! Too much searching, not enough information. I must have looked at a good thousand photos, many of them very sexy and erotic and now…I have to go.
