Browere's Life Masks of Great Americans 7
An examination of such of the New York newspapers of the period as could
be found, fails to reveal any mention of this remarkable, colored and
habited, statue of Jefferson, our whole knowledge of which is derived
from the letters of the artist. It would seem to have belonged to the
Eden Musée variety of freaks, from Browere’s own description of it. Here
is what he writes to Madison from New York, July 17, 1826: “You are
aware that two months ago I tendered to the Common Council of New York,
my services and those of my son to complete a full length figure or
statue of Jefferson. The memorial was unanimously accepted and referred
to the Committee on Arts and Sciences, who would superintend its being
placed in the Banqueting Room of the Common Council, on the approaching
anniversary or jubilee. Without money and without power I was enabled in
five weeks of unremitting exertions, to finish and place it in the Hall,
exactly at the hour of the dissolution of Mr. Jefferson.” It may not be
unamusing to read a description of his statue in the City Hall
banqueting-room.
“His lofty and majestic figure standing erect; his mild blue and
expressive eyes beaming with intelligence and good will to his fellow
men. The scroll of the Declaration, which gave freedom to millions,
clutched in his extended right hand, strongly contrasted with the
decrepitude of his elder associate, the venerable John Adams, gave an
effect to the whole which will not ever be forgotten here. His left hand
resting on the hip, gave a carelessness yet dignified ease that pleased
thousands. On his right hand was the portrait bust of the venerable
Charles Carroll of Carrollton, like that of Adams, clothed with white
drapery. Beside and behind these figures were placed various flowers and
shrubbery. Immediately over the head of the author of the Declaration of
American Independence hovered the American Eagle; a civic crown
suspending from his beak was ready to drop on the temples and crown with
immortal honors the wisest and best of men. His likeness is perfect. If
the congratulations of Governor De Witt Clinton, His Honor the Mayor,
the City authorities of New York and the general mass of reputable
lives, can affix the seal of truth in likeness, rest assured the beloved
features will not soon be forgotten.
“Now should the University of Virginia desire to erect in marble or
bronze a statue to the memory of its founder be pleased, Sir, to note
that I will be ready at all times to complete such a work. Moreover
that, should appropriate funds at this period be lacking, it matters
not: I will furnish one and await the pleasure of the institution for
pecuniary emolument. All that would be required at first, would be a
sufficiency to defray actual expenditures for materials and the
indispensable requisites to the support of my young family. Should this
proposition meet the approval of the visitors of the Virginia University
and the citizens at large, a satisfactory answer will meet with my
cordial thanks.”
Evidently the University of Virginia did not accept Browere’s
proposition, as the only statue of its founder and architect, now to be
seen there is an extremely bad one by a sculptor named Galt; and no
trace of Browere’s curious work has up to the present time been found.
Save for the truth of history, silence concerning it would seem to have
been most expedient for Browere’s reputation as a serious artist.
Surely this story is as interesting as a romance, and but for fiction it
might never have been told. How dare any man assume to write history and
set down on his pages such statements, as did Randall about Browere’s
mask of the living Jefferson, without first exhausting every channel of
inquiry and every means of search and research to ascertain the truth?
The material that I have drawn from was as accessible to Mr. Randall as
it has been to me; in fact, he claims to have used the Jefferson papers
in his compilation. It is true we have acquired more exact and
scientific methods of writing history than were in vogue when Randall
wrote, a generation or more ago. Yet this will not excuse his positive
misstatements and false assumptions. The existence of an opportunity for
such severe criticism only serves to emphasize the great necessity of
observing the inflexible rule: take nothing for granted and nothing at
second hand, without the most careful investigation and scrutiny. If the
standard of life’s ordinary action should be the precept “Whatever is
worth doing is worth doing well,” with what intensified force does it
apply to the writing of history! Pains, infinite pains, are the
requisites for good work. Nothing meritorious is ever accomplished
without hard labor. Toil conquers everything; without it, the result is
at best uncertain. While it is some gratification to have set wrong
right and done tardy justice to Browere’s reputation, it is a far
greater satisfaction to have rescued from oblivion and presented to the
world his magnificent facsimile of the face and form of Thomas
Jefferson.
[Illustration]
VI
_Three Generations of Adamses_
The allied families of Adams and Quincy are the only instances in this
country, that present themselves to my mind, of hereditary ability
manifesting itself and being recognized in the public service, for three
and more generations. The Quincy family has done its work in local and
more narrow spheres than the Adamses; yet Josiah Quincy, Jr., of Boston
Port Bill fame, and his son, bearing the same name, who for so many
years was at the head of Harvard University, have had a wide field for
the spread of their influence. But the Adams family is the only one that
has given father and son to the Presidential chair, and father, son and
grandson to the English mission. The series of double coincidences in
the Adams family connected with missions to England and treaties with
that power, is most curious. John Adams, just
[Illustration: JOHN ADAMS
Age 90]
after having served as a commissioner to arrange the treaty of peace
that concluded the Revolutionary War, was made minister to the court of
St. James; his son John Quincy Adams, immediately after signing the
treaty of Ghent, that concluded the war of 1812-15, was appointed
minister to the same court; and his grandson, Charles Francis Adams,
minister to England during the entire Civil War, took part in the treaty
that disposed of the Alabama question.
John Adams was born in 1735 and died in 1826. The coincidences in his
career, parallel with events in the career of Jefferson, are very
remarkable. They were both on the committee of five to draft the
Declaration of Independence; they both signed that American _Magna
Charta_; they both represented this country in France; they both became
successively Vice-President and then President of these United States,
being the only signers of the Declaration of Independence thus elevated
to the chair of state; and they both died, within a few hours of each
other, on the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of
Independence. Is it possible that more curious historical parallels can
be found in the lives of any two men?
From Monticello, the home of Jefferson, Browere journeyed to Quincy, the
home of Adams, in order to secure a mask of the face of the
distinguished nonagenarian. But the Virginian story of the maltreatment
of Jefferson had gotten there before him, and it was with difficulty
that Browere could persuade Mr. Adams to submit. However, the old
Spartan finally yielded, and submitted not only once but twice, as
appears by his certificate:
QUINCY, MASS., Nov. 23, 1825.
This certifies that John H. I. Browere of the city of New York, has
yesterday and to-day made two Portrait bust moulds on my person and
made a cast of the first which has been approved of by friends.
JOHN ADAMS.
To this certificate, his son, Judge Thomas B. Adams, added a postscript:
“I am authorized by the ex-President to say that the moulds were
made on his person without injury, pain or inconvenience.”
The bust from the mask of old John Adams is, next to that of Jefferson,
the most interesting of Browere’s works. I do not mean for the subject,
but for its truthful realism. There is an unhesitating feeling of real
presence conveyed by Browere’s busts that is given by no other likeness.
They present living qualities and characteristics wanting in the painted
and sculptured portraits of the same persons. Such a comparison is
easily made in the instance of John Adams, for the same
[Illustration: JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
Age 58]
year as that in which Browere made his life masks, Gilbert Stuart
painted his famous portrait of “John Adams at the age of ninety”; and
Browere’s bust will bear comparison with Stuart’s portrait. I must tell
a story connected with the painting of this portrait by Stuart, which,
while a little out of place, especially as we have a chapter devoted to
Gilbert Stuart, comes in better here than there. Stuart had painted a
portrait of John Adams as a younger man. It is the familiar portrait of
the great statesman by that artist. John Quincy Adams was desirous that
Stuart should paint another of his father at the advanced age of ninety,
and applied to the artist for the purpose. But Stuart was too old to go
down to Quincy, and John Adams was too old to come up to Boston.
Finally, Stuart agreed that he would go down to Quincy, for the purpose,
if he were paid half of the price of the picture before he went. To this
John Quincy Adams gladly assented, and Stuart went to Quincy and had the
first sitting. Then John Quincy Adams could not get Stuart to go down
for a second sitting, and, as his father was past ninety, he feared he
might die before the picture was finished. He at last succeeded in
getting Stuart to go down for a second sitting by paying him the balance
of the price of the picture. Then the artist would not go down to finish
it, and the only way John Quincy Adams got him to complete the portrait
was by promising him, if he would make the journey and do the work, he
would pay him the agreed price over again. This is only one of many
illustrations of the character of the greatest portrait-painter this
country has produced, and the peer of any portrait-painter who has ever
lived.
Browere broke his journey from Virginia to Massachusetts by a rest at
댓글 없음:
댓글 쓰기