Ideal Head

John Gibson, RA 1790-l866

c. 1835

marble

Height: 53 cm/21 inches.

Formerly Handley-Read Collection

Inscribed 'I. GIBSON FECIT ROMA'. The only direct clue as to the date of this strongly Neo-classical head of a young woman is its similarity to the head of the 'Nymph Untying Her Sandal' which Gibson carved for Lord Yarborough and was exhibited at the Royal Academy of 1831 (now Usher Art Gallery, Lincoln). Two other versions of the head are known, one in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, and the other in the Henry Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino.