Browere's Life Masks of Great Americans 9

Browere's Life Masks of Great Americans 9

The Nation’s Guest_

 

_La Fayette_

 

 

Gilbert Motier de La Fayette, who had fought side by side with

Washington at Brandywine and at Yorktown, made his third and last visit

to the United States in 1824. Landing at Castle Garden, in New York, on

August 15th of that year, he set sail thirteen months later, on

September 7th, 1825, to return to France, in the frigate _Brandywine_.

He came as the invited guest of the nation, and during his sojourn here

travelled over the whole country, visiting each one of the twenty-four

States and receiving one continuous ovation.

 

At the request of the Common Council of the city of New York, La Fayette

permitted Browere to make a cast of his head, neck and shoulders on

July 11, 1825. For this purpose La Fayette visited Browere’s workshop,

in the rear of No. 315 Broadway, New York, accompanied by Richard Riker,

Elisha W. King and Henry I. Wyckoff, a committee of the Common Council.

The composition had been applied and had set, and Browere was about

taking it off, when the clock struck, and one of the committee remarked

that the hour for the corporation dinner in honor of La Fayette, and

which he was to attend, had arrived. “_Sacré bleu!_” said La Fayette,

starting up, “Take it off! Take it off!” which caused a piece to fall

out from under one of the eyes. This accident, which necessitated a

second sitting, led to some interesting correspondence.

 

NEW YORK, Tuesday 12 o’clock,

July 12, 1825.

 

_Dear General_:

 

We have just been to see your bust by Mr. Browere and have pleasure

in saying it is vastly superior to any other likeness of General La

Fayette, which as yet has fallen under our inspection. Indeed it is

a faithful resemblance in every part of your features and form,

from the head to the breast, with the exception of a slight defect

about the left eye, caused by a loss of the material of which the

mould was made. This defect or deficiency Mr. Browere assures us,

and we have confidence in his assertion, that he can correct in a

few minutes and without giving you any pain, provided you will

again condescend to his operations, for a limited time. We should

much regret that this slight blemish should not be corrected, which

if not done will cause to us and to the Nation a continued source

of chagrin and disappointment.

 

Most truly your Friends

 

RICHARD RIKER

ELISHA W. KING

HENRY I. WYCKOFF.

 

 

 

This letter was followed two days later by the following to Browere:

 

NEW YORK 14th July 1825.

 

_Dear Sir_:

 

Every exertion has been made to get General La Fayette to spend

half an hour with you, so the eye of his portrait bust be

completed, but in vain. He has not had more than four hours each

night to sleep, but has consented that you may take his mask in

Philadelphia. He left New York this morning at eight o’clock and

will be in Philadelphia on Monday next, where he will remain three

days. It you can be present there on Monday or Tuesday at furthest,

you can complete the matter. He has pledged his word. This

arrangement was all that could be effected by

 

Your friend

 

ELISHA W. KING.

 

P. S. Previous to going get a line from the Recorder or Committee.

 

Upon this letter Browere has endorsed:

 

NOTE.--The subscribing artist met the General on Monday, in the

Hall of Independence, Philadelphia, and Tuesday morning [July 19,

1825] from seven to eight o’clock was busy in making another

likeness from the face and head of the General. At 4 P.M. of that

day he finished the bust under the eye of the General and his

attendant, and had the satisfaction then of receiving from the

General the assurance that it was the only good bust ever made of

him.

 

JOHN H. I. BROWERE.

 

 

 

The result of the second trial was a likeness so admirable and of such

remarkable fidelity, that General Jacob Morton, Rembrandt Peale, De Witt

Clinton, S. F. B. Morse, John A. Graham, Thomas Addis Emmet and others,

came forward and enthusiastically bore witness to its being “a perfect

facsimile” of the distinguished Frenchman. The written commendations

 

[Illustration: THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE

 

Age 67]

 

of Peale and Morse are notably interesting as the views of two brother

artists, each of whom had painted a portrait of La Fayette. Rembrandt

Peale, widely known by his composite portrait of Washington, writes:

 

NEW YORK August 10th 1825.

 

The singular excellence shown by Mr. Browere in his new method of

executing Portrait busts from the life deserves the applause and

patronage of his countrymen. The bust of La Fayette, which he has

just finished, is an admirable demonstration of his talent in this

department of the Fine Arts. The accuracy with which he has moulded

the entire head, neck and shoulders from the life and his skill in

finishing, render this bust greatly superior to any we have seen.

It is in truth a “faithful and a living likeness.” Of this I may

judge having twice painted the General’s portrait from the life,

once at Paris and recently at Washington.

 

REMBRANDT PEALE.

 

 

 

Samuel Finley Breese Morse was, at the period of which we write, an

artist of some reputation as a portrait-painter, and he was under

commission, from the corporation of New York, to paint a whole-length

portrait of La Fayette for the City Hall, where it now hangs. Its chief

interest is as a study of costume; for if Browere’s bust is “a perfect

facsimile” of La Fayette’s form and features, true to life, Morse’s

portrait is a caricature. That Morse was destined to greater ends than

painting mediocre portraits, was shown, a decade later, by his invention

of the magnetic electric telegraph, a discovery of such importance that

while millions of human beings know Morse the inventor, not a dozen

perhaps ever heard of Morse the painter. He damns his own portrait of La

Fayette by the following commendation of Browere’s bust:

 

NEW YORK August 15, 1825.

 

Being requested by Mr. Browere to give my opinion of his bust or

cast from the person of General La Fayette, I feel no hesitation in

saying it appears to me to be a perfect facsimile of the General’s

face.

 

SAML. F. B. MORSE.

 

 

 

These are certainly strong words coming from a rival artist and a man of

Mr. Morse’s character.

 

John A. Graham, who published a volume to prove that Horne Tooke was the

author of the Letters of Junius, was one of the leading lawyers of New

York. His closing words of eulogy upon the bust of La Fayette should

have been, but unfortunately were not, prophetic. He wrote: “I have no

doubt that the name of Browere, in virtue of this bust, will live as

long as the memory of La Fayette shall be beloved and respected in

America.” On the contrary, the name of Browere was wholly and entirely

forgotten and unknown, until brought to light, and publicly proclaimed,

by the present writer, in the fall of 1897. So much for the stability of

man’s reputation!

 

[Illustration]

 

 

 

 

X

 

_De Witt Clinton_

 

 

When Samuel Woodworth, the author of the well-known lines to the “Old

Oaken Bucket,” who was a close friend of Browere, entered the artist’s

workshop and caught a glimpse of the bust of De Witt Clinton, he made a

gesture, as of restraint, and pronounced these impromptu lines:

 

“Stay! the bust that graces yonder shelf claims our regard.

It is the front of Jove himself;

The Majesty of Virtue and of Power,

Before which guilt and meanness only cower.

Who can behold that bust and not exclaim,

Let everlasting honor claim our Clinton’s name!”

 

[Illustration: DE WITT CLINTON

 

Age 56]

 

De Witt Clinton, who was born in 1769 and died in 1828, was the first

recognized practical politician of this country. Apart from his immense

service in pushing to completion the Erie canal, he was essentially a

politician for what politics would yield. Consequently, he was always

looked upon with distrust, and even his high private station was

powerless to overcome this feeling. He posed as a connoisseur of the