Mrs. Olin Levi Warner

In 1886, Warner married Sylvia (née Sylvie) Françoise Martinache (1858–1949) in New York. She was educated at schools in France and New York, including the Normal School (now Hunter College). As an aspiring art teacher, she studied at the Cooper Union where in 1878 she won a second prize in a drawing class that concentrated on copying antiquities taught by Warner’s friend Wyatt Eaton. Warner’s devotion to his bride is reflected in this sensitive portrait he modeled during the first few months of marriage. Mrs. Warner’s head is positioned frontally, with incised pupils gazing forward. Her fine features, including a straight nose, delicate lips, and long, graceful neck attest to her elegant beauty. The sculptor opted for an irregular termination on the front and sides of the bust that complements the gentle, sweeping folds of fabric around the sitter’s shoulders. This bust was one of eleven works by Warner given to the museum by the National Sculpture Society after the sculptor’s untimely death in 1896; the bronzes were cast by Tiffany and Company from his original plasters.

Credit: Gift of National Sculpture Society, 1898