Hiram Powers (d.1873) left America for Europe in 1837. He remained in Florence for the rest of his life, where he established his reputation on his 'ideal' work. Powers's first ideal bust was created shortly after his arrival in Florence and was entitled Ginevra. Proserpine was Powers's second attempt at modelling an 'ideal' bust created from his imagination. The first version of the subject, conceived in 1843, depicts the life-size goddess truncated below her breasts and in the middle of her upper arms. The body rose from a shaped basket overflowing with tube-roses and narcissi, the foot of the basket formed as the socle of the bust. The carving of the basket and flowers proved too laborious and expensive an exercise for atelier carving and the sculptor was forced to rework the model several times, finally substituting the flowers for a border of leaves and the basket foot for a turned socle. The alterations did not, however, affect the popularity with which Proserpine was received amongst critics and the public alike and, in fact, it became by far the most celebrated of all Powers's 'ideal' busts, displaying as it did the exquisite execution and purity of design typical of his work.

A bust of Proserpine, slightly smaller and with it's original socle, sold in these Rooms, 21 May 1992, lot 41.