Focus on California (sculpture) and explain the Background.
During the mid-19th century, the use of nude female sculptures as allegories of places was a prevalent artistic trend. Hiram Powers, already famed for his sculpture The Greek Slave, began to work on producing a statue to encapsulate the spirit of the then-ongoing California Gold Rush. Powers was enthusiastic about the project, and began work on the sculpture before he had secured funding. Powers initially planned to place the completed sculpture at Sutter's Mill, where the gold flakes that sparked the gold rush had been found in early 1848.Powers began his work on California in 1850, and by 1855 had completed a plaster casting of the future sculpture. The carving of the statue was completed by 1858. Rather than being sent to California as was originally intended, the sculpture was instead finished on commission for New York business magnate William Backhouse Astor Sr. In 1872 Astor gifted the statue to the newly-established Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, where it became the first sculpture executed by an American artist in the museum's collection.
California Gold Rush Sutter's Mill New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art William Backhouse Astor Sr. California The Greek Slave Hiram Powers