Nymff a Ciwpid [Nymph and Cupid] by John Gibson, RA 1790-l866. c.1861-63. Marble, 152.2 cm. Amgueddfa Cymru Caerdydd [National Museum of Wales, Cardiff]. Accession Number: NMW A 5979. Purchase; with assistance of National Art Collections Fund / National Heritage Lottery Fund. [Click on images to enlarge them.] Photographs by the National Museum of Wales, which retains copyright. formatting by George P. Landow. Readers of the Victorian Web may wish to visit the Museum website.]
The museum's website explains that “Gibson records that he 'spent most of the winter of 1859 modeling a group representing what I saw in the street a few years ago, when I made a sketch of the action - a girl of about fourteen throwing up a child and kissing it. This clay model occupied me for three months. The spontaneous expression of affection witnessed” by Gibson has been transformed into a group with an elegant restraint appropriate to a Nymph and Cupid of the classical world. This piece was carved for William Robertson Sandbach of Hafodunnos Hall near Abergele. Another version was bought” by the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, who visited Gibson's Roman studio in 1859 and 1862..”
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Last modified 18 February 2012