Meditation
Artist
Edward Onslow Ford RA
(London, England, 1852 - 1901)
Date1886
Mediumbronze on green marble plinth
ClassificationsSculptures
DimensionsHeight: 37 cm, Width: 35 cm, Depth: 22 cm
Plinth Size: Height: 7.5 cm, Width: 38 cm, Depth: 20.5 cm
Maximum: 44.5 × 38 × 27cm
Plinth Size: Height: 7.5 cm, Width: 38 cm, Depth: 20.5 cm
Maximum: 44.5 × 38 × 27cm
AcquisitionPresented in 1925 by Sir James Murray.
CopyrightOut of copyright - CC0
LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub
Object numberABDAG004619
Keywords
At the time such work was regarded as 'daringly realist' though its roots lie not so much in the Life Class as in the study of the Antique; Meditation, with her hair-concealing bandeau, which concentrates the image so forcefully, is ultimately derived from Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel sibyls.
The delicacy and faint melancholy of the girl's features are typical of Ford's work. She has an idealised beauty and is on the threshold of adulthood, though still retaining the innocence and timidity of a child. It is perhaps one of the most captivating of all the examples of Victorian sculpture at Aberdeen Art Gallery and it richly deserves this singling out for special attention.
More About Me
Ford's greatest success was in life-size portrait sculpture. This, however, is one of a series of smaller "imagined" works of a young girl still retaining the innocence and timidity of a child.
