Pandora
Marble
by John Gibson (1790-1866)
English; signed, about 1860
Given by Mrs John Penn

John Gibson was born in Wales and originally trained in Liverpool, but in 1817 he left England for Rome, where he spent most of his working life.
He worked in a neo-classical style strongly influenced by Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorwaldsen. Both these artists were well established in Rome at the time of Gibson's arrival.
Pandora is shown just as she is about to open the box which, according to the Greek myth, released the sorrows of the world.
This is one of several versions of Pandora by Gibson; another is in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool.

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