Edwin C. Litchfield (1815-1885), Class of 1832

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Photo by John Bentham.
Edwin C. Litchfield (1815-1885), Class of 1832
Photo by John Bentham.
Artist/Maker (American, 1805 - 1873)
Date1867-70
MediumMarble
DimensionsComposition: 30 × 21 × 12 in. (76.2 × 53.3 × 30.5 cm)
Credit LineHamilton College Portrait Collection. Gift of Edwin C. Litchfield, Class of 1832
Object number1869.2
Not on view
DescriptionThis sculpture depicts Edwin C. Litchfield, a Hamilton alumnus and the founder of the Litchfield Observatory. At the request of the Hamilton College Trustees, Litchfield commissioned Hiram Powers to produce the work and gifted it to the college. Though American, Powers worked in Florence, Italy and was famous for his Neoclassical sculptures, which were popular among the rising American collector class. It is in this style that Litchfield is presented, such that the subject’s wavy hair, beard, and garment resembles ancient Roman imperial portraiture. The American Neoclassical movement persisted throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and was characterized by a return to the artistic styles and motifs of ancient Greece and Rome. This portrait bust was commissioned in anticipation of the construction of the Smith Library Hall, which opened in 1873 and housed Hamilton’s Memorial Hall and Art Gallery (SOURCE: Wellin Museum permanent collection label, Summer 2016).
Collections

Additional Details

Exhibition History 2005
Clinton, NY. Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College. Hamilton Collects, "A Century of Curiosities: The Story of the Hamilton College Collection," September 29 - December 30, 2005 (unnumbered cat., illus., 14).

1874 - 1914
Clinton, NY. Memorial Hall and Art Gallery, Hamilton College. Permanent installation, 1874-1914.


Provenance 1872: Hamilton College (Memorial Art Gallery), by gift of Edwin Litchfield;
1869-1872: held in trust by O.S. Williams for Hamilton College;
1867: commissioned by Edwin Litchfield for Hamilton College.
Published References A CENTURY OF CURIOSITIES, THE STORY OF THE HAMILTON COLLEGE COLLECTION (exh. cat., Clinton, NY, Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College, September 29-December 30, 2005, Unnumbered cat.).
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