page_title: Marble sculpture
section_title: Material origin and qualities
hierarchical_section_title: Marble sculpture / Material origin and qualities
caption_attribution_description: English: At the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York Thomas Ridgeway Gould American 1818 - 1881 For more information about this sculpture, see Seeing America: Painting and Sculpture from the Collection of the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, essay 21, by Cynthia Culbert, Assistant Curator, or go to www.mag.rochester.edu/seeingAmerica. From the curator's card: thumb|right|150px|Profile view thumb|right|150px|Detail view The West Wind, 1876 Marble Gift of the Isaac Gordon Estate through the Lincoln Rochester Trust Company, 66.18 Who was the West Wind? In Greek mythology the West Wind was Zephyrus, one of the four wind gods. Perhaps the maker of this work, who was influenced by the mythological subects that he saw in Italy, was describing the West Wind by showing its effect on the figure's hair and skirt. Another interpretation suggests that the sculpture is an idealized expression of the United State's westward expansion. This sculpture or another version of it was exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition in Philladelpia on the occasion of the nation's hundredth birthday in 1876. The starred belt on the waistband of the figure's clothing could refer to the stars on the American flag. When English poet Percy Shelley wrote his Ode to the West Wind in 1820, he closed it with these immortal words: O WInd, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? Image by User:Leonard G.
context_page_description: Marble sculpture is the art of creating three-dimensional forms from marble. Sculpture is among the oldest of the arts. Even before painting cave walls, early humans fashioned shapes from stone. From these beginnings, artifacts have evolved to their current complexity.
context_section_description: Marble is a metamorphic rock derived from limestone, composed mostly of calcite (a crystalline form of calcium carbonate, CaCO₃). The original source of the parent limestone is the seabed deposition of calcium carbonate in the form of microscopic animal skeletons or similar materials. Marble is formed when the limestone is transformed by heat and pressure after being overlain by other materials. The finest marbles for sculpture have no or few stains, though natural stains can be incorporated into the work itself.
caption: Thomas Ridgeway Gould, The West Wind. (frontal view) 1876
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