Virgin Spring (Maquette)

This woman, wrapped in a blanket either because of a slight chill after undressing for a bath, or out of modesty despite the implied private setting, tests the water delicately with her toe in anticipation of a refreshing bath. Does the title refer to the source of water for this bath? A private sanctuary she alone knows of and is therefore untouched? The reference could point to the woman herself in the springtime of her life: new to womanhood, virgin in her coming of age. It connotes a private moment when the woman is lost in sensations. Absentmindedly she fingers her necklace, distracted by how things feel, smell, and sound. The cool air on her sin, the prickly rough woven wool, the woodsy scents of dew on leaves and grass and fallen trees, the gurgling spring, chatter of birds, rustle of leaves stirred by a faint breeze. When we feel new we become aware of even minute sensations. Perhaps she has risen from intimacy with her lover (she wears a chief's blanket) and is feeling reborn in her discovery of herself as a woman. She contemplates descending in to the clear cleansing pool. a ritual we associate with rebirth, and reflects the pure contentment of the moment on her placid face. Bronze, 30" x 20"