Randolph Rogers

This statue depicts the slave girl Nydia, a character in the 1834 best-selling historical fiction novel The Last Days of Pompeii by English author Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton. At the novel’s climax, as the catastrophic 79 AD eruption of Mt. Vesuvius shrouds the ancient Roman city with a dense cloud of ash, the blind Nydia becomes a hero, able to navigate the dark city to rescue her friends without use of her eyes. This sculpture shows Nydia listening for familiar voices, while the fallen Corinthian column at her feet is evidence of the destruction and danger around her. “Poor girl!” Bulwer-Lytton writes, “Her courage was beautiful to behold!” The dynamic sweep of Nydia’s robe invites viewers to circle the statue as they sympathize with the blind girl’s disability and admire her fortitude.

Randolph Rogers moved to Italy in 1848 and, like many foreign sculptors, settled there permanently to take advantage of easy access to high quality marble, skilled Italian studio assistants, and a steady stream of tourist clients. Living in Italy also allowed him to study from the world’s finest collections of ancient marble sculpture. His works show his admiration for the idealized beauty of classical statues of gods and heroes, but his subject matter—stories from the Bible or contemporary literature—was accessible to a wide American audience.