![]() ![]() In 1839, Powers began his first lifesize ideal figure, Eve Tempted (1839–42), soon followed by his first and only full-length male nude, Fisher Boy ( 94.9.1), a popular subject in nineteenth-century sculpture.īetween 18, Powers undertook The Greek Slave, the work that became his most famous, guaranteeing him a global client base. The remarkable success of the latter, replicated in marble more than 150 times in three versions, inspired other idealized bust-length renderings of female subjects, including Psyche (1848), America ( 66.243), and Diana (1852). The bust Ginevra (1837–38) was followed by the Roman goddess Proserpine (1839–73). To complement his sculptures, he designed accompanying pedestals that were fabricated in his studio.Īfter his arrival in Florence, Powers began composing what was then considered to be a sculptor’s most worthwhile and creative endeavor: ideal works based on subjects from history, religion, philosophy, and mythology. He invented time-saving tools and machines that streamlined the sculptural process for himself and his assistants. ![]() As Powers’ practice expanded and his popularity grew, he relied on a workshop of trained craftsmen to assist him in molding, casting, and carving his works. In order to fulfill orders for East Coast commissions that had been executed in the preliminary materials of plaster and clay, he learned to carve marble in 1838, advised by the assistant of fellow Florentine expatriate sculptor Horatio Greenough. Powers continued to model portrait busts throughout his career, a genre in which he excelled, completing some 150 George Washington ( 1982.443.2), his most popular, was translated to marble at least thirty-six times. American and European clients gravitated to Powers’ studio, providing a steady stream of commissions for his portraits and ideal subjects. His presence in Italy signaled it as the training and proving ground for a generation of American neoclassical sculptors in Florence and Rome-cities with cultural and economic resources favorable to artists and proximate to the quarries of Carrara and Seravezza. Although Powers intended to stay only a few years, he never returned to the United States and resided in Florence as a mainstay of the city’s thriving Anglo-American expatriate community until his death. ![]() Preston, he relocated to Florence, Italy. In fall 1837, with funds advanced by Colonel John S. Powers spent three years on the East Coast with periodic returns to Cincinnati. Hailed by a contemporary critic as “decidedly the best likeness that has been taken,” the bust led to portraits of such prominent statesmen as John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, and Daniel Webster. In Washington, D.C., he earned notice for his uncompromising bust of President Andrew Jackson ( 94.14), based on sittings in the White House in 1834–35. ![]() With little formal training-just drawing classes at Eckstein’s Academy of Fine Arts in 1828-Powers completed portraits that revealed an innate artistic talent and attracted the attention of wealthy Cincinnatian Nicholas Longworth.Īrmed with financing and letters of introduction to potential clients provided by Longworth, in 1834 Powers traveled to East Coast cities in search of portrait orders and a government commission. In 1826, Powers began assisting Prussian émigré sculptor Frederick Eckstein, learning the rudiments of the sculptural process, including modeling in clay and producing plaster casts. Beginning in 1823, he worked at Luman Watson’s clock and organ factory and at the Western Museum, where he later mechanically animated wax figures for a tableau of Dante’s Inferno. After his father’s death later that year, he helped to support the family by taking on various jobs. Born in Woodstock, Vermont, he moved with his family to Cincinnati in 1818. Among the most influential and best-known American sculptors of the nineteenth century, Hiram Powers enjoyed international recognition for marbles executed in the prevailing Neoclassical style. ![]()
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