Melusine
In European folklore, Melusine was a water nymph. She fell in love with Prince Raymond and took on a human form. Before agreeing to marriage, Melusine made it a condition that she could bathe unseen once a week.
Curiosity, however, got the better of Raymond, and he spied on Melusine as she took a bath. He saw her in her true form: a beautiful woman from the waist up, but a writhing serpent below. Knowing that he betrayed her, Melusine returned to her watery home. This sculpture captures Melusine as she is about to transform herself and enter the bath.
The sculpture is inscribed with the monogram ‘L. S.’ on the base. It was carved for the marble bath of Schloss Hohenschwangau, Bavaria.
