Jephthah's Daughter at The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois

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Jephtha's Daughter paints a poignant picture of a character from the Old Testament book of Judges. An Israelite leader engaged in a fierce battle against Ammonites, Jephtha, made a vow that if God granted him victory, he would sacrifice whoever crossed his path upon his return home. Jephtha emerged victorious but when he arrived at his house, his only child, a young virgin daughter, greeted him with unbridled enthusiasm. Here we see the young woman overcome with grief as she contemplates her impending doom, her tambourine silenced and her head and shoulders slumped in resignation. For audiences of that era, this work represented a form of tragic female bravery - an innocent victim, who was obedient, virginal, and ultimately unrewarded. Chauncey Bradley Ives (December 14, 1810 – 1894) was a prolific American sculptor who worked predominantly in the Neo-classic style. His most renowned works are the marble statues of Jonathan Trumbull and Roger Sherman enshrined in the National Statuary Hall Collection. Ives was born in Hamden, Connecticut, and at the age of 16, he apprenticed with Rodolphus Northrop, a woodcarver in nearby New Haven. He may also have studied with Hezekiah Augur, another local woodcarver who was a pioneer American marble carver. Shortly thereafter, Ives turned to marble carving and began creating portraits, first in Boston, Massachusetts, and then in New York City. Poor health (and, according to Craven, p. 235, perhaps too much competition from other sculptors in Boston and New York) eventually led Ives to move to Europe in 1844, where he ultimately settled in the expatriate artist community there. He was to remain in Italy after moving to Rome in 1851 for the rest of his life. His final resting place is in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome. Ives' statue of Undine Receiving Her Soul remains one of the icons of the American neo-classical movement, being selected to adorn the front covers of at least three books about sculpture, American Sculpture at Yale University, Marble Queens and Captives, and A Marble Quarry. The back of the statue also serves as the book's back cover. Ives was to revisit the subject of Undine in another work, Undine Rising from the Fountain. Ives' reputation did not survive much longer than his life. Art historian and sculptor Lorado Taft includes him in Taft's seminal book The History of American Sculpture in a chapter entitled Some Minor Sculptors of the Early Years, and says of his Trumbull and Sherman statues at the Connecticut State Capitol, "Descriptions of these curious works would be unprofitable. They fit in nicely with the majority of their companions, but of all the dead men there they seem the most conscious of being dead." Unlike most of his other works, The Willing Captive (1886), while still designed to appeal to the 19th Century desire for sentimentality in art, contained more content than is typically found in art of that era. The work, subtitled An Historical Incident of November, 1764, depicts a real event that occurred during the French and Indian War in which a young woman is torn between the Natives who have been living with her after being captured by them and a white woman, her mother, who has come to take her back. The work now resides in Lincoln Park, Newark, New Jersey. (Credit: Wikipedia, AIC) This object is part of "Scan The World". Scan the World is a non-profit initiative introduced by MyMiniFactory, through which we are creating a digital archive of fully 3D printable sculptures, artworks, and landmarks from across the globe for the public to access for free. Scan the World is an open-source community effort, if you have interesting items around you and would like to contribute, email stw@myminifactory.com to find out how you can help. Scanned: Photogrammetry (Processed using Agisoft PhotoScan)