Large Plaster Statue: Veiled Vestal With Urn, Water Carrier, 19th Century

Imposing plaster statue of a young woman standing, her head and shoulders wrapped in a veil, leaning against a large antique urn. The modest attitude, the inclined face and the flowing drapery reflect a neoclassical and romantic aesthetic, typical of 19th-century French sculpture. This iconography combines the ritual veil of the vestals with the water urn, a frequent motif in allegorical statuary of the second half of the century. It refers both to sacred purity and the allegory of the spring, highly prized in bourgeois interiors as well as in winter gardens. Such figures were popularized by great sculptors and workshops (Carrier-Belleuse, Moreau, Durenne, Val d'Osne), who distributed numerous variants in marble, bronze and cast iron. Some wear from use.