Browse Items (12 total)

Joseph Dibrell, a Texas lawyer and politician, and his wife, Ella Dancy Dibrell, were good friends and supporters of Elisabet Ney. Following Ney's death in 1907, the Dibrells purchased the sculptor's Austin studio, Formosa, to preserve her legacy.…

After Ney established the original Formosa studio in Madeira, she modeled this sculpture using two boys living on the island as models. The statue was originally titled Genii of Mankind, but later retitled Sursum, the Latin word meaning “to uplift.”…

Ney befriended Lucadia Pease, the widow of governor Elisha Pease, shortly after arriving in Austin. The Peases owned a large estate, Woodlawn, located west of Shoal Creek. Ney often visited Woodlawn and became close to the Pease grandchildren. This…

After Ney’s friends Albert and Adele Burleson lost their six-year-old son, Steiner, to spinal meningitis, Ney created this portrait medallion as an expression of her deep sympathy. The shell and seaweed forms which encircle the child were popular…

This bust depicts former Texas governor Sullivan Ross (1887-91), whose family helped establish the city of Waco.

One of the first portrait busts that Ney executed in her Austin studio was that of the former Texas governor Francis Lubbock (1861-63). Along with his wife, Gov. Lubbock became one of the many public figures who strongly supported Ney’s work.…

Governor Sayers (1899-1903) supported Ney’s endeavors by appropriating state funds to commission the marble figures of Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston for the Capitol, and helped her secure later work. In 1911 Sayers became a founding member of…

Ney completed this bust of Christ in hopes that it would be exhibited at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Unfortunately, the bust was never placed on display due to space restrictions and was later sold to a private collector. Ney, though raised…

A famous and inspirational figure in the Nineteenth Century Democracy movement, Giuseppe Garibaldi played a central role in the Risorgimento, or Italian unification, as well as uprisings in South America. In 1865 he was living in exile at his home in…

Little is known of the identity of this mystery lady, though it has been suggested that she might be one of the daughters of Queen Victoria, or possibly Marie of Hannover, the wife of King George, whose bust Ney modeled in 1860. This marble bust was…

Marble portrait of Edmund Montgomery, modeled 1864, cut 1895-1904. Soon after their marriage on the Portuguese island of Madeira, Ney modeled a plaster bust of her husband. The inscribed date indicates the year the plaster was modeled, from which…

Ney made several life casts of her face, neck, and shoulders in the 1860s. She used these to craft this piece years later. Cut in Europe in 1903, this marble bust is Ney’s only known self-portrait.