Undine
Alexander Munro (1825-1871)
Exhibited at the 1869 Royal Academy
Marble
Source: the 1869 Illustrated London News, which comments “The graceful figure which Mr. Munro has sculptured to embody his conception of the gentle water-nymph, ‘Undine,’ whose shy presenoe is felt, though seldom or never seen,” by romantic wanderers along the sequestered banks of inland rivers, will be found one of the mast pleasing statues in the present exhibition. She stands on tiptoe, as shown in our Engraving, where the brood-leaved sedge and water-lilies cluster about her feet, poising herself, with carelessly-folded bands, as she leans forward above the stream, into which she is about to drop headlong, and to vanish into the substance of that element, allied to her own pure nature, that forms the limpid flood. Mr. Munro’s delicate fancy and sentiment of ideal beauty are well exemplified” by this charming design; and its execution in the marbie is especially beautiful.”
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