Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-06-28
Death OF Hiram Powers.

sculptor, died in Florence, Italy, Yesterday.
He had been i'll for some time past with con.
sumption. Mr.. Powers was born at Woodstock
Vermont, July 18th, 1906; was waiter at hotel,
traveller for a tradesman, and apprentice to a
clock-maker at Cincinnati. He received his
first instructions in modelling from q Prussian
sculptor, who happened to be in Cincinnati
executing bust Of Gen. Jackson, and in a
short time learned to form busts himself, and
well executed medalions. Encouraged by the
success of these early efforts, he came to Wash
ington, whence, by the assistance Of a patron,
(Mr. Nicholas Longworth, Of Cincinnati,) he
was enabled to start in 1857 for Florence. After
much studious application, he produced, in
1888, his figure of "Eve," followed by the
'Greek Slave" which attracted great attention
at the London exhibition OF 1851. This statue
has been widely celebrated, and placed its Gre
ator in the front rank of living sculptors COPIES
OF Ii being ordered by the most eminent Eng
iisn and Continental coRnoisseurs, and by sew
erai distinguished American art collectors. Mr.
Corcoran's collection has the Greek Slave.
among MIR. Powers other best known works
Re- be named " ii Penseroso," The Fisher
stat1e, California" and america" his
and busts Of Chief Justice "kli2 aud Calhoun,
webster, Van Buren, and others.
MIR. Powers made his reputation by his Greek
Slave, and none Of his subsequent works reach
ed anything like the same fame. He is repre-
sented at the national Capitol by the statues Of
Franklin and jefferson, but neither are of par
ticular merit, save in the technical execution
in which Powers was always conscientiously
faithful never entrusting his models to mere
stone-cutters to be put in marble without over
sight. 1t was always a matter of grievance
with Powers, though not openly expressed, that
our government gave him no order for an i'm
large sums in orders to artists he considered in
ferior to him both in experience and ability. In
letter to a friend in this city, written from
Florence in 1870, he gave expression to this
feeling, as shown by the following extracts:
There will say few words in relation to
the price of statuaTy. 1t was IS opinion, as
expressed in an original letter now in my
any marble statue, Ife-size, and he thought
$4,000 a most eXtravagant price for my
statue OF "America," which 1 offered TO make :,
Colossal size) and deliver in New York in
bronze or marble for that sum-if in bronze,
cast in one piece and not in many pieces put
together and all filed over by Clark Mills, as
mas been the case with the statue OF Liberty
so-called; but why cannot make out from the
figure itself. II - not a statue OF Liberty"
but OF "Minerva" IN arnior. Liberty has no
armor. She Is free and not in a strait jacket
like an Amazon. Look in the best classical
Dictionary for Liberty" and you will find no
such figure as that on the top OF our Capitol
but yoR Will md something quite similar in
"Minerva," and here mean no offence to our
law giyers when / say that as regards what
they nave done in the cases of - and
-, and might mention some other names
the statue of the Goddess of Wisdom has been
quite out of place on our Capitol.
Artists-capdJle artists-are not made in day
they do not spring up mushroom fashion in
night, either. With all the natural genius
possible, still science is necessary to develop
ger.us, and this requires time. A butcher
would cut off diseased leg by single blow
with cleaver, but you would hardly send for
one to amputate q limb. We have had too
Tany butcher ampntators about art in and
about Our Capitol. The " Minerva" mot Lib
ertyj by Crawford was indeed sketched by that
artist IN small rough figure, but the full-sized
model for bronze was not done hv lam, nor vas
it fntshad nnt. . after his death. 1t was done by
hired modeler in Rome, and as for the works
on the south front, Crawford did, indeed, pro-
duce the models, and sent them over to be ere
outed by stone-cutters in Washington - the
marble carvers employed would not rank higher
than that here-and this was the way to deco
rate our temple Of liberty, the capitol of the
United States! 4 writes to me to send
ont design for the north front, and said /
might (if my design was approved) do the
marble work here, or he would have it done at
home. replied, in substance, that had made
1t a rule never TO prepare model or q design
without FIRST receiving commission, and that
l never entered into competition. Am
/ fretful, Dear -, and do scold? Pardon
me if 1 do, for am tired and disguised with
hum6Ng, with pretension and favoritism. /
have not yet gone over to ask Congress for au-
other cor mission. They gave me one without
my asking, and am satisfied and most CRATE
full. shall never ask for another"