Detail of Nydia, the Blind Flower Girl of Pompeii in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, June 2009

Title: Nydia, the Blind Flower Girl of Pompeii

Artist: Randolph Rogers (American, Waterloo, New York 1825–1892 Rome)

Date: 1853–54; carved 1859

Culture: American

Medium: Marble

Dimensions: 54 x 25 1/4 x 37 in. (137.2 x 64.1 x 94 cm)

Credit Line: Gift of James Douglas, 1899

Accession Number: 99.7.2


"Nydia, the Blind Flower Girl of Pompeii" was the most popular American sculpture of the nineteenth century. According to Rogers, it was replicated 167 times in two sizes. The subject was drawn from "The Last Days of Pompeii" (1834), a widely read novel by Lord Edward Bulwer-Lytton, which ends with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in a.d. 79. Rogers’s evocative portrayal of Nydia highlights her heroic attempt to lead two companions out of the burning, ash-covered city. Her closed eyes and staff allude to her blindness, while the hand raised to her ear refers to her acute sense of hearing. The destruction of Pompeii is symbolized by the broken Corinthian capital beside her right foot.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/11951