American Painting and Sculpture

RANDOLPH ROGERS
(American, 1825-1892

Nydia, The Blind Flower Girl of Pompeii, after 1854
Marble
Given in memory of John W. Barr, III, by the Barr Family 2000.12

Randolph Rogers derived the subject of this sculpture from the popular nineteenth-century novel, The Last Days of Pompeii, by Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton. According to the novel, Nydia was a blind slave girl of mysterious but noble birth who fell in love with Glaucus, a handsome Athenian residing in Pompeii. Glaucus, unaware of Nydia’s affections, fell in love with the beautiful Ione. An evil Egyptian priest plotted to have Ione for himself and imprisoned Glaucus. Just as Glaucus was to be thrown to the lions, Mount Vesuvius erupted, toppling buildings and blackening the sky with heavy ash. In the chaos, Nydia rescued Ione and Glaucus and, since she was able to find her way through the darkened streets better than a sighted person, began leading them toward the safety of the boats in the harbor. The sculpture depicts the dramatic moment when, separated from her friends, Nydia called out to them and paused to listen for their reply. Later reunited, they reached the ship and fell asleep exhausted on the deck. Nydia awoke at dawn to realize that she had lost Glaucus forever to Ione, and threw herself overboard to her death.

Randolph Rogers’s Nydia was the single most popular American sculpture of the nineteenth century. He created at least eleven full-sized marble versions (including this one) and forty-six reductions of the figure to answer the great demand generated by collectors and art enthusiasts. The sculpture appealed greatly to Victorian tastes, which appreciated both the flower girl’s sentimental story of sacrifice and character, and her dramatic depiction in marble.