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The Filatrice (The Spinner)

A work made of bronze.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of bronze.

Date:

1850

Artist:

Henry Kirke Brown (American, 1814–1886)
Cast by the artist’s foundry
Brooklyn, New York

About this artwork

The woman in Henry Kirke Brown’s sculpture holds a distaff in the crook of her right arm, twisting wool or flax into thread and onto a spindle. This classical portrayal of a domestic task evokes the mythic Three Fates, one of whom spins the thread of life. Brown modeled The Filatrice (Italian for “spinner”) in New York and cast it at the foundry he established there in 1848 after his return from Italy. The Filatrice was commissioned by the American Art-Union, an organization that aimed to bring the fine arts to middle-class audiences. Twenty casts were made of the sculpture and distributed to select members by way of lottery.

Status

On View, Gallery 174

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

Henry Kirke Brown (Sculptor)

Title

The Filatrice (The Spinner)

Place

Brooklyn (Place depicted)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1850

Medium

Bronze

Inscriptions

Unsigned

Dimensions

50.8 × 30.5 × 17.8 cm (20 × 12 × 7 in.)

Credit Line

Roger McCormick Endowment

Reference Number

1989.59

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/73684/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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