Leda

Leda incorporates much of what Manship loved about sculpture--a beautiful subject in a sensuous material that recalls ancient myths, the passage of time and the night sky. This sculpture also represents the final solution to a theme Manship explored throughout his career--a nude woman with arms raised, often to dress her hair. Manship’s early drawings first reveal this penchant, which can be observed in numerous bronzes as well. From the start, he must have wanted to execute this subject specifically in marble as these sketches and sculptures sometimes incorporate drapery or other devices that suggest compositions designed to support a standing figure in stone. About 1920 Manship created a plaster that replaced the drapery with cherubic boys in a work that was then titled Cassandra. Unfortunately, Manship lacked the time and resources to realize this theme until later in life when he created this marble for his own pleasure. At that time, he also renamed the sculpture Leda after the popular mother of twins Castor and Pollux, who are immortalized in the constellation Gemini.
 
Correspondence in the Manship Family archives documents how Manship carefully selected the Italian carver who helped to translate his plaster of Leda into marble. The sculpture was finished by Manship at his Lanesville estate in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where he ultimately installed this unique marble under a gazebo he designed with espaliered pear trees.