|
|
Pandora (82.28)
1864
(Chauncey Bradley Ives)
Curator's Comments Pandora is shown at the moment she can no longer resist the temptation to open the jar, thereby unleashing into the world all the ills that beset humanity. She saved only hope, which lay at the bottom of the jar. Thus, though victims of every evil, we always retain hope. Representing the Greek myth of Pandora, this is Ives’ most famous work. The first version of the subject, produced in 1851, was the hit of the Crystal Palace Exhibition in London in 1862. In this second version, Ives made changes in the shape of the jar and in the tilt of the subject’s head. The classical ideal for which Ives aimed is most obvious in the face and hair, whereas the rest of the figure emphasizes 19th-century naturalism.
|
|
