Hiram Powers, sculptor, was born in Woodstock, Vermont, July 29, 1805.
He was the eighth child of a family of nine, and his parents were
plain country people, who cultivated a little farm. He acquired such
education as the district school afforded, and he also found leisure
to get some knowledge of divers kinds of handicraft, among which was
the art of drawing. His father finding it difficult to maintain his
family upon his farm removed to Ohio, where he shortly after died, and
the future artist was thrown upon his own resources. He set out for
Cincinnati to seek his fortune, and found employment in a reading-room
connected with one of the principal hotels of the city, and afterwards
became clerk in a produce store, where he remained until his principal
failed. He then found a situation with a clockmaker, by whom he was
employed in collecting debts, and afterwards in the mechanical part of
the business; but, although this employment was not disagreeable to
him, he aspired to some higher branch of the arts. In Cincinnati, he
made the acquaintance of a Prussian, who was engaged upon a bust of
general Jackson, and with some little instruction in the art of
modeling obtained from him, Mr. Powers was soon able to produce busts
in plaster of considerable merit, in fact one of his earliest he has
declared, himself, to have been unsurpassed in likeness and finish by
any of his later works. He then felt that his vocation was the arts,
and he formed a connection with the Western Museum at Cincinnati,
where, for about seven years, he superintended the artistic
department, such as wax-work shows etc. After leaving this place he
visited Washington in 1835, hoping to gain some reputation as an
artist, which would enable him to increase his business, and furnish
him the means of visiting Italy. In this he was not disappointed.
After spending some time in the capital engaged in taking the busts of
the most eminent men of the day, he was enabled, by the liberality of
Mr. N. Longworth, to accomplish his long-cherished scheme; and in 1837
he landed in Florence. For some time after his arrival he continued to
devote himself principally to busts, but he soon determined to employ
his spare time on the production of an ideal work; the subject
determined upon was ‘Eve.’ Just before the model of this statue was
completed, Mr. Powers received a visit from the celebrated
Thorwalsden, who was then passing through Florence. He expressed
himself in terms of high admiration of the artist’s busts; and, in
reference to these, declared Powers to be the greatest sculptor since
Michael Angelo. The statue of ‘Eve’ also excited his admiration: and
to the artist’s apology that it was his first statue, he replied that
any man might well be proud of it, as his last. When the model of
‘Eve’ was completed, he began the ‘Greek Slave,’ which was finished in
eight months. This, the best known and most admired of all Mr. Powers’
works, has been exhibited throughout the United States, and at the
Great Exhibition at London. There are two copies in existence besides
the original, one of which recently formed one of the prizes
distributed by the Western Art-Union. Among some of his finest works
are portraits of Jackson, Webster, Adams, Calhoun, Chief-Justice
Marshall and many persons of less eminence. He has also produced some
ideal busts; the ‘Proserpine’ is one of the finest.
[Illustration: CITY OF BARCELONA――SPAIN.]