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Circe
1893
Medium
bronze
Measurements
205.5 × 79.4 × 93.4 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1910
Gallery location
Gallery 7
Level 2, NGV Australia
About this work
Taken from Homer’s Odyssey, Circe was a sorceress who turned her victims into beasts. This life-size femme fatale was Mackennal’s largest work to date, and was clearly meant to make a daring proclamation. First exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1893, Circe was awarded a Mention honourable. The following year it was shown in London as a plaster, and created a sensation when exhibition organisers draped its base to hide the ambiguously entwined figures.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Paris, France
Inscription
cast in base in rear l.r.: Bertram Mackennal / 1893
cast in base in rear l.l.: E. GRUET JNE FONDEUR. PARIS. (JNE underlined)
cast in base l.c.: KIP KH
Accession Number
478-2
Department
Australian Sculpture