Erastus Dow Palmer was among the few early American sculptors who did not study in Italy, the site of fine academies, exquisite marble, and plentiful skilled workmen, and a strong lure for any aspiring American sculptor. The sculpture bust of Infant Flora is one of four known extant versions, carved after a clay study Palmer included in an exhibition of his work at the Church of the Divine Unity in New York City in 1856. This small exhibition of twelve sculptures placed Palmer at the forefront of sculptors working in the United States. The ideal type presented in Infant Flora was immediately popular, praised for its naturalism, absence of sentimentality, and skillful, delicate handling. According to Palmer’s 1856 catalogue, the sitter was the four-year-old sister of the model for his first famous bust, The Infant Ceres (1851).

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.