Description
Selika was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1872 (No. 1525) and is the prima donna from L’Africaine, the five act opera by the Italian composer Giacomo Meyerbeer, first performed in 1865.
Selika is an example of the nineteenth century French and Italian operatic character type of an Orientalist non-European self-sacrificing tragic heroine, exemplified by Delibes’ Lakmé, Puccini’s Madame Butterfly and Liu in Turandot. Calvi presents Selika at the tragic climax of the opera. Formerly an African princess, Selika is enslaved by the dashing Portuguese naval officer and explorer Vasco de Gama. In a story full of intrigue, Selika ends up marrying Vasco in a bid to save his life, but at the marriage ceremony Vasco is reunited with his lover Inez and Selika, so moved by the two together, kills herself by inhaling the scent of the deadly flowers of the Manchineel tree, which here she holds in her hand.
Dimensions: 12″H x 7″L
This statue is cast in the finest American bronze, finished in a multi-color patina and mounted on a black marble base with an etched brass plate that bears the name of the statue and the artist.
Color Choices – The standard way we cast this sculpture is with what we refer to as multi-color patina. However, we can also make the entire sculpture classic statuary green or brown for a more traditional look. Both patinas are very nice and weather the same. Color selection is more a matter of preference.
