Venezia ca. 1865–66 Larkin Goldsmith Mead American Vermont-born Larkin Goldsmith Mead was a prominent expatriate sculptor who worked in Florence for more than half a century. During the mid-1860s he made frequent trips to Venice, where his brother-in-law William Dean Howells served as the American consul and where Mead met his future wife, Marietta di Benvenuti. Venezia, his best-known sculpture (of which there are more than ten located examples), depicts an attractive young woman, probably the sculptor's wife at the time of their courtship and marriage. As a personification of Venice, she wea

Venezia ca. 1865–66 Larkin Goldsmith Mead American Vermont-born Larkin Goldsmith Mead was a prominent expatriate sculptor who worked in Florence for more than half a century. During the mid-1860s he made frequent trips to Venice, where his brother-in-law William Dean Howells served as the American consul and where Mead met his future wife, Marietta di Benvenuti. Venezia, his best-known sculpture (of which there are more than ten located examples), depicts an attractive young woman, probably the sculptor's wife at the time of their courtship and marriage. As a personification of Venice, she wears a tiara of beads and a central scallop shell, upon which is set a small gondola. The figure emerges from a textured sea-foam bodice—particularly finely carved in this marble—that serves not only as the bust's termination but also as a reference to Venice's aqueous environment. Idealized representations of such geographic locales as Venezia, as well as America and California by Hiram Powers, also in the Museum's collection (acc. nos. , ), were particularly appealing to mid-nineteenth-century Americans. This allegorical bust may be viewed as a nuptial portrait, since Mead not only honors his new wife but also offers a tribute to Venice, traditionally known as the Bride of the Venezia 16578

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