Post by @art_dailydose

William Wetmore Story’s final sculpture was a farewell to the woman he had shared more than 50 years of his life with. When his wife, Emelyn, died in 1894, the American sculptor was devastated and withdrew from his work. It was his children who encouraged him to return to his studio and create a monument in her memory. What emerged was Angel of Grief. Rather than an angel offering comfort, Story carved one overwhelmed by sorrow. Her body collapses over a funeral altar, her wings droop, and her face disappears into her arm. One hand hangs loosely over the edge, as though even holding it up requires too much strength. The marble gives grief a physical weight, capturing the exhaustion and helplessness that can follow losing someone you love. Story described the sculpture in six simple words: “It represents what I feel.” He died the following year and was buried beside Emelyn in Rome’s Non-Catholic Cemetery. The angel he created to mourn his wife became the monument above their shared grave. More than a century later, its bowed figure still expresses something deeply familiar to anyone who has had to say goodbye. #art #sculpture #History #arthistory