Snowdrop (sculpture)



Snowdrop (Snöklockan; La Perce-Neige) is a standing female nude in plaster, sculpted by Per Hasselberg in 1881. It is named after the snowdrop flower at the woman's feet, although the title also refers to its young, innocent subject stepping out of childhood and into womanhood - Hasselberg used a sixteen-year-old Italian girl as a model for the work

Exhibited at the 1881 Paris Salon, it was the only Swedish work of art to receive an honorable mention, leading to Hasselberg's definitive breakthrough as an artist. The Nationalmuseum in Sweden commissioned a copy in marble in 1883 at the cost of 6,000 kroner - this was awarded a gold medal at the 1883 Salon.

The work became very popular in both public and private contexts, leading to high demand for replicas and full-size and smaller reproductions. It was cast in bronze for Stockholm's Mariatorget, the city's first non-honorific public statue - it was funded by director CR Lamm at Ludvigsberg and inaugurated in November 1900.

Selected copy

 * Plaster originals (162 cm): Ronneby town-hall (1881), Waldemarsudde (inköpt 1943) and private collection
 * Marble originals : Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (1883), Göteborgs konstmuseum (1885), Glyptoteket, Copenhagen (1887-1889) and the Österslättsskolan, Karlshamn (1890).
 * Bronze casts:
 * 1900, Meyer's Foundry (Mariatorget, Stockholm)
 * 1910, Nordic Company workshops, Nyköping, Falun
 * 1917, Meyer's Foundry, Ronneby Square
 * 1953, C & A Nicci, Rome for Rottneros Park
 * Miniature versions, Parian marble - 1700 (50 cm high) were produced 1888-1926 and 625 (60 cm high) 1887-1926, both at the Gustavberg porcelain factory.
 * Statue in Skottorps slottspark.