The Statue of Hope is an allegorical figure that is typically a private memorial or monumental sculpture displayed in a graveyard or cemetery, often a Rural cemetery. Hope is one of the Seven Virtues of the Christian religion.
The Statue of Hope is an allegorical figure that is typically a private memorial or monumental sculpture displayed in a graveyard or cemetery, often a Rural cemetery. Hope is one of the Seven Virtues of the Christian religion.
Most commonly used in the Victorian era and believed to be popularized by the Statue of Liberty's initial construction in 1875 and dedication in 1886 and the installation of Civil War monuments during the same time period. Prior to this, other images such as Saint Philomena whose authorization of devotion began in 1837 [1] and Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen's Goddess of Hope statue sculpted in 1817, [2] displayed similar characteristics.
One of the earliest signed Statue of Hope memorials was carved by Odoardo Fantacchiotti in 1863 for the grave of Samuel Reginald Routh of England in the Protestant Cemetery of Florence, Italy. [3] Another variation was completed in 1791. The Custom House, Dublin Ireland features a 16 foot (about 5 meter) tall statue of a female resting on an anchor atop the dome. This statue has been called both the Statue of Hope [4] and the Statue of Commerce. [5]
In the United States, these statues were commonly carved out of limestone, granite or marble and were usually unsigned and surmounted on a tall pedestal. The Wilson memorial pictured on the right was sculpted using Carrara marble in Italy in the style of sculptor Pasquale Romanelli. Towards the latter part of the 19th and early 20th century, some were cast with bronze and zinc. [6]
A female, typically shown wearing an Under Tunic, Roman Stola and Palla garments, stands with one arm resting on or holding an anchor. This is often an Anchored cross meaning hope [7] and is the primary symbol of the statue. Further, the New Testament, Hebrews 6:19 states Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil. [8] Often, the opposite arm is raised with the index finger of the hand pointing towards the sky. This symbolizes the pathway to heaven. A hand held over the heart symbolizes faith. Other key elements can be a broken chain attached to the anchor or sometimes hanging from the neck. This symbolizes the cessation of life. Many statues have a single five pointed star rather than a circle of stars. The star is on the top of the forehead, usually on a Crown of Immortality or diadem, and represents the immortal soul. [9]
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sculptural processes originally used carving and modelling, in stone, metal, ceramics, wood and other materials but, since Modernism, there has been almost complete freedom of materials and process. A wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modelling, or moulded or cast.
Albert Bertel Thorvaldsen was a Danish sculptor and medalist of international fame, who spent most of his life (1797–1838) in Italy. Thorvaldsen was born in Copenhagen into a working-class Danish/Icelandic family, and was accepted to the Royal Danish Academy of Art at the age of eleven. Working part-time with his father, who was a wood carver, Thorvaldsen won many honors and medals at the academy. He was awarded a stipend to travel to Rome and continue his education.
A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture that represents persons or animals in full figure but that is small enough to lift and carry is a statuette or figurine, whilst one more than twice life-size is a colossal statue.
Giambologna, also known as Jean de Boulogne (French), Jehan Boulongne (Flemish) and Giovanni da Bologna (Italian), was the last significant Italian Renaissance sculptor, with a large workshop producing large and small works in bronze and marble in a late Mannerist style.
Hiram Powers was an American neoclassical sculptor. He was one of the first 19th-century American artists to gain an international reputation, largely based on his famous marble sculpture The Greek Slave.
William Ordway Partridge was an American sculptor, teacher and author. Among his best-known works are the Shakespeare Monument in Chicago, the equestrian statue of General Grant in Brooklyn, the Pietà at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan, and the Pocahontas statue in Jamestown, Virginia.
The Piccirilli brothers were an Italian family of renowned marble carvers and sculptors who carved many of the most significant marble sculptures in the United States, including Daniel Chester French’s colossal Abraham Lincoln (1920) in the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.
Nagasaki Peace Park is a park located in Nagasaki, Japan, commemorating the atomic bombing of the city on August 9, 1945 during World War II. It is next to the Atomic Bomb Museum and near the Peace Memorial Hall.
Attilio Piccirilli was an American sculptor. Born in Massa, Italy, he was educated at the Accademia di San Luca of Rome.
Matthew Cotes Wyatt was an English painter and sculptor and a member of the Wyatt family, who were well known in the Victorian era as architects and sculptors.
The Holmen Church is a Parish church in central Copenhagen in Denmark, on the street called Holmens Kanal. First built as an anchor forge in 1563, it was converted into a naval church by Christian IV. It is famous for having hosted the wedding between Margrethe II of Denmark, queen of Denmark between 1972 and 2024, and Prince Henrik in 1967. It is the burial site of such notabilities as naval heroes Niels Juel and Peter Tordenskjold, and composer Niels Wilhelm Gade, and contains artwork by, among others, Bertel Thorvaldsen and Karel van Mander.
The Cimitero monumentale di Staglieno is an extensive monumental cemetery located on a hillside in the district of Staglieno of Genoa, Italy, famous for its monumental sculpture. Covering an area of more than a square kilometre, it is one of the largest cemeteries in Europe.
Augusto Rivalta was an Italian sculptor.
Ernst Mayer was a German sculptor in the classical style. He was a pupil of Antonio Isopi and worked for Leo von Klenze, mainly in Munich where in 1830 he became Professor of Sculpture at the Polytechnic, now the Technical University.
The Values of Civilization sculpture group is public art by American artist Alexander Doyle. The allegorical sculpture group is located on the third floor in the rotunda of the Indiana State House, which is in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The heroic-sized sculptures, representing Agriculture, Art, Commerce, History, Justice, Law, Liberty, and Oratory, were carved from Carrara marble in Italy in the late 1880s.
Danish sculpture as a nationally recognized art form can be traced back to 1752 when Jacques Saly was commissioned to execute a statue of King Frederick V of Denmark on horseback. While Bertel Thorvaldsen was undoubtedly the country's most prominent contributor, many other players have produced fine work, especially in the areas of Neoclassicism, Realism, and in Historicism, the latter resulting from growing consciousness of a national identity. More recently, Danish sculpture has been inspired by European trends, especially those from Paris, including Surrealism and Modernism.
Christus is an 1833 white Carrara marble statue of the resurrected Jesus by Bertel Thorvaldsen located in the Church of Our Lady, an Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was commissioned as part of a larger group, which includes 11 of the original 12 apostles and Paul the Apostle.
Jason with the Golden Fleece is a sculpture by Bertel Thorvaldsen. A lifesize clay version created in 1803 is considered to be the artist's first great work. The larger marble statue, reaching a height of 242 cm (95 in), was however not completed until 1828.
Bertel Thorvaldsen with the Statue of Hope is a self-portrait by Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, created as a plaster model in his studio at Nysø Manor in 1839 and executed in marble posthumously by Herman Wilhelm Bissen in 1859. In 1894, a bronze cast was erected in Central Park, New York City. Bissen's marble sculpture is on display in the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen.
Renaissance sculpture is understood as a process of recovery of the sculpture of classical antiquity. Sculptors found in the artistic remains and in the discoveries of sites of that bygone era the perfect inspiration for their works. They were also inspired by nature. In this context we must take into account the exception of the Flemish artists in northern Europe, who, in addition to overcoming the figurative style of the Gothic, promoted a Renaissance foreign to the Italian one, especially in the field of painting. The rebirth of antiquity with the abandonment of the medieval, which for Giorgio Vasari "had been a world of Goths", and the recognition of the classics with all their variants and nuances was a phenomenon that developed almost exclusively in Italian Renaissance sculpture. Renaissance art succeeded in interpreting Nature and translating it with freedom and knowledge into a multitude of masterpieces.