CC0 · no rights reserved
Fisher Boy
From the collection of Smithsonian American Art Museum. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Hiram Powers started work on Fisher Boy in 1843, when the model for Greek Slave was almost complete. He was probably inspired by the statue Girl Holding a Shell to Her Ear, by German sculptor Carl Steinhauser, which was described as “a young girl listening to the sound of a shell.” The child in Fisher Boy stands on a beach with his ear to a conch shell, leaning on the tiller of a boat. The delicate facial features and relaxed pose evoke ancient Greek sculpture, which often depicted young men on the threshold of puberty.
Smithsonian American Art Museum’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit lineFisher Boy. modeled 1844. Hiram Powers, born Woodstock, VT 1805-died Florence, Italy 1873. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase in memory of Ralph Cross Johnson. CC0.
