Sketches of Three Statues: Diana, Nymph Bathing and Cupid and Pysche

Art Historical Context

In the mid-19th century, neoclassical sculptor John Gibson created this delicate set of sketches on tracing paper, capturing three iconic classical statues: Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt; a graceful Nymph Bathing; and the lovers Cupid and Psyche from's ancient myth. Dated around 1850, the drawing measures a modest 5 7/8 x 4 7/16 inches and features precise graphite lines enhanced by inscriptions in pen and brown ink. housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Drawings and Prints department, was generously gifted by Mrs. John De Witt Peltz in 1977. Gibson's use of tracing paper highlights a practical artistic technique of the era, ideal for copying and studying antique sculptures—reflecting the neoclassical obsession with Greco-Roman ideals of beauty, proportion, and mythology. As a pupil of Antonio Canova, Gibson bridged Renaissance revivalism with Victorian tastes, often drawing from classical sources to inform his own marble masterpieces like his famed "Tinted Venus." These sketches offer a window into an artist's intimate process, evoking timeless tales of divine love, chastity, and nature. Visitors can appreciate how such preparatory works fueled the 19th-century Renaissance in sculpture, blending technical skill with enduring cultural reverence for antiquity.

About the Artist

John Gibson · 1790–1866

Outstanding Neoclassical sculptor who experimented with the ancient practice of coloring statues, e.g. his 'Tinted Venus' (1851). Flaxman encourgaged him to go to Rome, where he spent most of his life. He left his fortune to the National Gallery, London. British sculptor, active Rome. Comment on works: sculptor