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Eve listening to the voice
Edward Hodges Baily, born 1788 - died 1867 - Enlarge image
Eve listening to the voice
- Object:
Statue
- Place of origin:
London, England (made)
- Date:
1842 (carved)
- Artist/Maker:
Edward Hodges Baily, born 1788 - died 1867 (sculptor)
- Materials and Techniques:
Marble
- Credit Line:
Given by Wynn Ellis, Esq.
- Museum number:
468-1875
- Gallery location:
Sculpture, room 22, case FS
This figure depicts Eve listening to the voice of Satan in the Garden of Eden, a subject probably inspired by John Milton's religious epic poem Paradise Lost (1667); the composition is related to a classical sculpture in the Louvre, Paris, of a Nymph with a shell. A version of a closely related figure entitled Eve at the fountain signed and dated 1822, is in the Bristol City Art Gallery. A plaster model relating to the Bristol City Art Gallery figure is also in the V&A's collections (inv. no. A.3-2000). In a lecture delivered at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, the sculptor Henry Weekes commented that Baily, 'an earnest pupil of Flaxman, was a more finished modeller than his master, though with less feeling and sentiment, and less power in design. What he gained by the means I have alluded to, was knowledge, not genius, and it carried him a great way: the latter, even his great teacher could not impart to him, though he obtained under his tuition much that we may designate as purity of style and taste. You may think it strange in me if I say that, notwithstanding he produced one of the most beautiful examples of English ideal Sculpture as yet known to us - his Eve - he was wanting in genius!' This figure was also reproduced in Parian ware (a granular porcelain), and Baily also made busts taken from this model. In 1841 he exhibited 'Eve listening to the Voice, etc.', probably the plaster model for this figure.
Edward Hodges Baily (1788-1867) was an English sculptor and designer. As son of a ship’s carver he began his career as a modeller in wax. He spent seven years in John Flaxman’s studio, acknowledged as his favourite and most devoted pupil. He attended the Royal Academy Schools. He is the sculptor of the Nelson on Nelson's Column, of ca. half the sculpture for Marble Arch, some of the exterior work on Buckingham Palace, and a number of monuments in St Paul's and Westminster Abbey, just to name a few. The work that brought him fame was Eve at the Fountain first shown 1818 at the Royal Academy.
