Ondine rising from the waters
Created in 1880, Ondine Rising from the Waters was meticulously sculpted by Chauncey Bradley Ives. He was inspired by the stories of Mediterranean sea spirits that medieval inhabitants believed were “soulless mortals”. After Baron Heinrich Karl de la Motte Fouqué wrote the novel Ondine, where one of these creatures gains a soul by marrying the knight they are in love with, the western world became obsessed with this myth. With this sculpture Ives shows the moment when the fairy jumps out of the water wrapped in a white veil to take the life of her husband. The marble sculpture is one of the most realistic sculptures ever produced.