Skip Navigation

The Greek Slave

Hiram S. Powers

American Art

On View: American Art Galleries, 5th Floor, Counterparts
Hiram Powers conceived the first version of this sculpture (completed 1841–47) out of sympathy for the Greek women enslaved during their war of independence with the Turks (1821–30). However, his subsequent versions (including this last of six) took on new meaning in the climate of the Civil War era. Viewers who saw the sculpture on public exhibition in the United States and Great Britain associated the figure with the violation of enslaved mulatto and black women in America.
MEDIUM Marble
DATES 1866
DIMENSIONS Statue: 65 1/2 x 19 1/4 x 18 3/4 in. (166.4 x 48.9 x 47.6 cm) Height of pedestal: 30 1/4 in. (76.8 cm)  (show scale)
SIGNATURE Incised along edge of base behind post: "H POWERS / [in script] Sculp"
COLLECTIONS American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER 55.14
CREDIT LINE Gift of Charles F. Bound
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Life-size figure of idealized nude female standing in contrapposto pose on round base; head turned to left and slightly downward; hands bound together with chains with proper left hand over genitalia and proper right hand leaning on post draped with patterned cloth. Condition: Good.
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in American Art Galleries, 5th Floor, Counterparts
CAPTION Hiram S. Powers (American, 1805–1873). The Greek Slave, 1866. Marble, Statue: 65 1/2 x 19 1/4 x 18 3/4 in. (166.4 x 48.9 x 47.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Charles F. Bound, 55.14. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 55.14_front_PS20.jpg)
IMAGE front, 55.14_front_PS20.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2024
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.