Solomon Sturgis

Copied Hiram Powers, Solomon Sturgis, modeled 1862, plaster, 23 3⁄8 x 15 1⁄4 x 10 3⁄4 in. (59.3 x 38.6 x 27.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase in memory of Ralph Cross Johnson, 1968.155.49
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Solomon Sturgis
Artist
Date
modeled 1862
Location
Dimensions
23 3⁄8 x 15 1⁄4 x 10 3⁄4 in. (59.3 x 38.6 x 27.4 cm)
Credit Line
Museum purchase in memory of Ralph Cross Johnson
Mediums
Mediums Description
plaster
Classifications
Subjects
  • Study — sculpture model
  • Portrait male — Sturges, Solomon — bust
  • Portrait male — Sturges, Solomon — nude
  • Occupation — monetary — banker
Object Number
1968.155.49
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1968.155.49

Artwork Description

Solomon Sturges was a successful grain merchant in Chicago. During the Civil War, he organized and financed a large group of Union volunteers called the Sturges Rifles. The sitter’s son, Benjamin Sturges, commissioned this portrait in 1862. As Solomon Sturges was unable to travel to Italy, Hiram Powers worked from photographs and measurements provided by the son. Unfortunately, crossing the Atlantic from Florence to the United States was complicated by the war, and the marble sculpture reached America only a week before Sturges’s death.