Tomb effigy of Elisabeth Boott Duveneck by Frank Duveneck (1848-1919) and Clement John Born (1857-1935). Sculpted in Rome, 1894. Marble. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift of Frank Duveneck 1912 (12.62). Click on images to enlarge them.
According to the museum label, “Born to a wealthy Boston family and educated in Italy, Lizzy Boott was at accomplished artist (one of her works is in this gallery). She studied with painter Frank Duveneck, and married him in 1886. When she died less than two years later, Duveneck created this sculpture in her memory, evoking tomb effigies of the Renaissance.
“A bronze version adorns Boott’s grave in Florence's Allori cemetery, and her father commissioned this marble version for the MFA. The novelist Henry James, a close family friend, wrote, “one is touched to tears” by this particular example which comes home to one so — of the Jolly great truth that it is art alone that triumphs over fate.”
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[Click on these images for larger pictures.] Photographs caption by George P. Landow. You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite it in a print one.]
Last modified 31 October 2015