Jerusalem in Her Desolation
American Art

Jerusalem in Her Desolation
Artwork Details
Artist/Maker
William Wetmore Story
American, 1819–1895
American, 1819–1895
Date
1879
Medium
Marble
Accession #
2010.92
Dimensions
67 x 38 x 42 1/2 inches
Location
On View - Wieland Pavilion, Taylor Lobby
Description
William Wetmore Story depicts the personification of Jerusalem among ruins based on a biblical passage from Lamentations in which the prophet Jeremiah writes of the Babylonians’ destruction of Jerusalem. Story used the Old Testament text as an opportunity to create the figure of a mournful woman caught amid dramatic events—a narrative subject that recurs in his renderings of Cleopatra and Medea nearby.