AN ENGLISH WHITE MARBLE FIGURE OF RUTH, ON PEDESTAL

Charles Summers (d. 1878) exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1849 to 1876 and was made a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1871. In 1867 he moved to Rome, and his studio was swiftly considered one of the finest in the city. The present marble figure belongs to Summers's allegorical and historical figures, such as his Rebecca (Exeter Art Gallery), the Sunnamite and Maternal Affection. The posthumous dating on the present marble suggests that it was completed by his Roman studio after his death. A similar example, dated 1898, sold Christie's, London, 21 May 1992, lot 47 (£48,100).
The subject of Ruth gleaning proved popular with others of Summers' contemporaries, including Pasquale Romanelli and Giovanni Battista Lombardi, who each found great success with their depictions. A figure with the same composition by Lombardi was sold from The Marvin Greenfield Collection, Christie's, New York, 20 October 2008, lot 219 ($52,500).