The fascination with busts of Hamilton
After @essentialaegis pointed this out in the notes of this post, I started to look back and realize there were quite a few times people had some alluring interest or comments towards busts of Hamilton. These particular recollections being from Elizabeth Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and none other than Aaron Burr.
I remember nothing more distinctly than a sofa and chairs with spindle tracting legs, upholstered in black broadcloth, embroidered in flowery wreaths by Mrs. [Elizabeth] Hamilton herself, and a marble bust of [Alexander] Hamilton standing on its pedestal in a draped corner. That bust I can never forget, for centuries the old lady always paused before it in her tour of the rooms, and, leaning on her cane, gazed and gazed, as if she could never be satisfied.
The Atlantic Monthly. United States, Atlantic Monthly Company, 1896.
After gazing a moment at these objects, the eye settled with a deeper interest on busts of [Thomas] Jefferson and [Alexander] Hamilton, by Ceracchi, placed on massive pedestals on each side of the main entrance—“opposed in death as in life,” as the surviving original sometimes remarked, with a pensive smile, as he observed the notice they attracted.
Randall, Henry Stephens. The Life of Thomas Jefferson. United States, Derby & Jackson, 1858.
Soon after his return Burr visited Boston. Phillips called on him at the Tremont Hotel, and offered to act the part of a cicerone. Among other places they went to the Athenæum, then on Pearl Street, to see the pictures and look at the library. As they walked down the hall, between the alcoves, Phillips caught sight of a bust of Hamilton, one of the ornaments of the library, which he had forgotten was there. He tried on some pretext to draw Burr in another direction; but he, too, had seen the bust and marched straight up to it. He stood facing it for a moment, then turned and said: “A remarkable man—a very remarkable man.” Upon this he wheeled on both heels in military style and moved on again with great composure.
Martyn, William Carlos. Wendell Phillips: the Agitator: With an Appendix Containing Three of the Orator's Masterpieces, Never Before Published in Book Form, Viz.: "The Lost Arts", "Daniel O'Connell", "The Scholar in a Republic".. United Kingdom, Funk & Wagnalls, 1890.
[Original source Recollections of Wendell Phillips, by F. B. Sanborn]
Take an anecdote in point. Mr. John Ant—n, a brother lawyer, had a bust of Hamilton in his office, and, from a trick or habit, A., when in earnest thought or talk, would fix his eye upon the bust. Burr had a consultation with him; and A., unconsciously, fixed his eye upon the pale Hamilton; but, instantly remembering, withdrew his sight from it, still not before Burr divined his thoughts. The Colonel quietly, slowly poked out his long fingers, pointed to the bust very deliberately, and said: “He may thank me—I made him a great man.”
PARTON, James. The Life and Times of Aaron Burr ... Vice-President of the United States, Etc. Fourteenth Edition. United States, n.p, 1864.
He had occasion to pay some attentions to Aaron Burr during a visit Burr made to Boston after the death of Hamilton. He took him to the Athenæum, and while walking through the sculpture gallery, seeing the bust of Hamilton near him, turned off, naturally thinking it would be disagreeable to Burr to be brought before it. But Burr went directly up to it and said in a very loud tone, ‘Ah! Here is Hamilton.’ And, pressing his finger along certain lines of his face said, ‘There was the poetry!’
Adams, Charles Francis. Richard Henry Dana: A Biography. United States, Houghton, Mifflin, 1891.
Arguably the most beloved busts of Hamilton has been coined as Giuseppe Ceracchi's iconic one. When Ceracchi took a trip to the US in 1791-92, he proposed a monument in honor of the Revolution and appealed to Congress to finance the project. Ceracchi had attempted to raise the funds for the memorial, and Jefferson endorsed him and told Robert Livingston that he was; “a very celebrated sculptor from Rome.” [x] He began sculpting models of the founding fathers, including others like Washington and Jefferson. In July 1792, Ceracchi wrote to Hamilton that he was; “impatient to receive the clay that I had the satisfaction of forming from your witty and significant physiognomy”. [x] When Ceracchi heard the memorial proposal was rejected by Congress on May 7th, 1792, he sent the completed busts to each of his models in 1794. Hilariously, he also sent them each a bill for the work which they didn't ask for. Though while Washington tried to return the bust rather than pay that outrageously for a marbel copy of his face, Hamilton shamelessly paid $620; “for this sum through delicacy paid upon cherachi's draft for making my bust on his own importunity & as a favour to him.” [x]
The Roman stylized bust paints Hamilton like an ancient senator, with a slash of the Order of Cincinnatus over his bare chest—Likely referring to the Society of the Cincinnati, which you can read more about here and here. The original is inscribed on the back in Latin; “DE FACIE PHILADELPHIAE EX ECTIPO FLORENCIAE FACIEBAT JOS. CERACCHI CIDDCCLXXXXIV” Which translates; “Executed in Philadelphia and copied in Florence, Executed by Joseph Ceracchi, 1794.” [x]
The Hamilton family kept the bust until 1896 when they donated it to the New York Public Library, there is also a copy on display at the Grange. This bust would be utilized as a common reference for Hamilton's appearance posthumously, as Trumbull used the bust as model for a series of 1804-1808 portraits of Hamilton, that would later be used for reference on the ten dollar bill. [x] And the first US Postal Service stamp to honor Hamilton was an 1870 30-cent stamp using this bust as a model. [x] Also in 1880 while the bust was owned by Hamilton's son, John Church Hamilton, he lended it so it could be used as a model for the head of the granite statue of Hamilton by Carl Conrads. [x]
annaxmalina
