William West Durant

Hiram Powers, William West Durant, modeled 1863, plaster, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase in memory of Ralph Cross Johnson, 1968.155.46
Copied Hiram Powers, William West Durant, modeled 1863, plaster, 20 1⁄8 x 16 3⁄4 x 11 1⁄8 in. (51.0 x 42.7 x 28.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase in memory of Ralph Cross Johnson, 1968.155.46
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
William West Durant
Artist
Date
modeled 1863
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
20 1⁄8 x 16 3⁄4 x 11 1⁄8 in. (51.0 x 42.7 x 28.1 cm)
Credit Line
Museum purchase in memory of Ralph Cross Johnson
Mediums
Mediums Description
plaster
Classifications
Subjects
  • Dress — historic — classical dress
  • Study — sculpture model
  • Portrait male — Durant, William West — child
  • Portrait male — Durant, William West — bust
Object Number
1968.155.46
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1968.155.46

Artwork Description

Born in 1850, William West Durant was the eldest child of Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Clark Durant. In 1863, Mrs. Durant left New York with her two children and spent the next thirteen years in Europe, leaving her husband behind to attend to his flourishing railroad business. In Florence she commissioned Hiram Powers to create portraits of herself and her children, and ordered several replicas of other statues. The Durants were slow in paying the artist, and he told them that “I shall put the models of your busts on a separate shelf with the names attached and mark that shelf Delinquents . . . You can become famous if you like.”