Mythological Figure Group (from Sketchbook)
ca. 1860
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
9 1/16 × 8 5/8 in. (23 × 21.9 cm)
Classification
Drawing
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Edward R. Grove, 1985
Accession Number
1985.351.15 recto
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the preparatory world of 19th-century American sculpture with *Mythological Figure Group (from Sketchbook)* by John Quincy Adams Ward, 1860. This graphite drawing on paper, measuring just 9 1/16 × 8 5/8 inches, captures dynamic groupings of male and female nude—evoking classical myths through fluid, expressive lines. Ward, a pioneering neoclassical sculptor known for public monuments like the *Indian Hunter* in New York, often began his grand marble and bronze works with such sketchbook studies, translating ancient ideals into American artistic expression. Created during the Civil W...
About the Artist
John Quincy Adams Ward · 1830–1910
John Quincy Adams Ward (1830–1910) was born in Urbana, Ohio, the fourth of eight children, and displayed an early aptitude for three-dimensional form, modeling figures in clay from childhood. In 1849 he moved to Brooklyn, New York, to apprentice under the sculptor Henry Kirke Brown, with whom he worked for seven years. Brown's emphasis on American subjects and his conviction that sculpture should ...