Sappho
1850s
19th Century
25 in. x 16 in. x 14 in.
Edward Sheffield Bartholomew,
(1822–1858)
Medium and Support:
marble
Credit Line:
Florence Griswold Museum, Gift of The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company
Accession Number:
2002.1.6
Bartholomew intended to be a painter until about 1845 when he realized that he was colorblind. He had been caring for the art collection at the Wadsworth Atheneum, the new public art museum in Hartford, Connecticut. A Colchesterm Connecticut, native, he lived in Hartford from the time he was 14, except fot some months of study at the National Academy of Design in New York. Sculpture became his new interest, and he moved to Italy in 1850 to pursue it. The base of this Neo-classical marble bust of a famous 7th century Greek poet is marked "Rome." Bartholomew moved to Naples and died there when he was only 36.