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The Christina N. and Swan J. Turnblad Memorial Fundexpand_more 72.67
This is an idealized representation of a Greek woman enslaved by Turks during the Greek Revolution (1821–32), when Greeks fought for independence from the Ottoman Empire, which had ruled them since 1453. Powers created a full-length, life-size sculpture called The Greek Slave in 1843. He modeled it in clay, and his studio then produced six full-size marble versions. One was exhibited at the Crystal Palace Exhibition (world’s fair) in London in 1851 and in New York a few years later. The work’s great popularity prompted the creation of smaller replicas and also many busts, such as this one. In the years leading up to the American Civil War (1861–65), antislavery groups adopted this image as a symbol.
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