Richard [Nicholls] Harison / Harrison - Onondaga and Oswego ...

GUISEPPE CERACCHI - 1751-1801
ALEXANDER HAMILTON
inscribed DE FACIE PHILADELPHIAE/EX ECTIPO FLORENCIAE/FACIEBAT JOS.
CERACCHI/CIDDCCLXXXXIV
white marble; height: 18 1/2 in.; Executed in 1794.
PROVENANCE
General Alexander Hamilton, 1794
Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton (his wife), 1804
James Alexander Hamilton (their son), 1854
Alexander Hamilton (his son)
Mrs. Alexander Hamilton (his wife), 1889
Bequest to the present owner, 1896
The present bust of Alexander Hamilton by Giuseppe Ceracchi is the Italian sculptor’s most
famous work and the original of eight known versions that inspired hundreds of plaster casts and
marble copies throughout the early nineteenth century. The terra cotta model from which the
present work was carved was taken from life in Philadelphia in 1791 or 1792. The model was
then shipped back to Florence where the present sculpture was created. It was presented to
Hamilton by Ceracchi during the artist’s return trip to Philadelphia circa 1794. At this time,
Ceracchi offered his portrait busts of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to their respective sitters; Jefferson accepted his,
however Washington declined, feeling that as President it was inappropriate to accept this gift. Ceracchi’s elegant bust of Hamilton
as a youthful Roman senator became immensely popular in the wake of the massive public outpouring of affection that surrounded
the first Secretary’s death in 1804.
Ron Chernow, in his biography Alexander Hamilton, describes Hamilton’s widow’s special fondness for this portrait bust: “When
visitors called, the tiny, erect, white-haired lady would grab her cane, rise gamely from a black sofa embroidered with a floral pattern
of her own design, and escort them to a Gilbert Stuart painting of George Washington (lot 3). She motioned with pride to a silver
wine cooler, tucked discreetly beneath the center table, that had been given to the Hamiltons by Washington himself. This treasured
gift retained a secret meaning for Eliza, for it had been a tacit gesture of solidarity from Washington when her husband was
ensnared in the first major sex scandal in American history. The tour’s highlight stood enshrined in the corner: a marble bust of her
dead hero, carved by Italian sculptor, Giuseppe Ceracchi, during Hamilton’s heyday as the first treasury secretary. Portrayed in the
classical style of a noble Roman senator, a toga draped across one shoulder, Hamilton exuded a brisk energy and a massive
intelligence in his wide brow, his face illumined by the half smile that often played about his features. This was how Eliza wished to
recall him: ardent, hopeful, and eternally young. ‘That bust I can never forget,’ one young visitor remembered, ‘for 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’”
(New York, 2004, prologue).
John Trumbull, who often painted Hamilton from life, used Ceracchi's bust as a guide after Hamilton’s death, most notably for his
full-length portrait in the City Hall of New York (1805). Ulysses Desportes further notes: “The engraving on our ten dollar bill is taken
from one of these [Trumbull’s posthumous portraits] and therefore represents the art of Ceracchi more than that of Trumbull”
(“Ceracchi’s Bust of Alexander Hamilton,” The Currier Gallery of Art Bulletin, April-June 1969, n.p.). This bust was also depicted on
a United States postage stamp created in 1870.
Other examples of Ceracchi’s bust of Hamilton can be found in the collections of The Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, New
Hampshire; the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore; The Alexander Hamilton Institute, Ramsey, New Jersey; the Thomas
Jefferson Foundation, Monticello, Virginia; the National Academy of Design, New York; the Museum of the City of New York; and
the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
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