Browere's Life Masks of Great Americans 14

Browere's Life Masks of Great Americans 14

In the United States Senate he was for many years chairman of the

Judiciary Committee, and, on the Florida territorial bill voted against

the increase of slavery. He was a strict constructionist of the

Constitution, recognizing that as the only safe canon of interpretation

for a fundamental law; and he had pronounced views in favor of State

rights and against the power of the United States Supreme Court, to

overthrow State laws, believing this contrary to the provision of the

Constitution insuring the inviolability of contracts.

 

In 1828 he was called from the Senate to the gubernatorial chair of New

York, and, supporting Jackson for the Presidency, was made by him

Secretary of State, which office he resigned to accept the English

mission; but, by the opposition of John C. Calhoun, he was not

confirmed. This discreditable action increased Van Buren’s popularity,

and he succeeded Calhoun as Vice-President for Jackson’s second term,

soon being regarded as the lineal successor to the Presidency. He was

elected, over Harrison and over Webster, pledged to oppose any

interference with slavery in the slave States. The ruling act of his

administration was one for the lasting benefit of the nation, which

never should be forgotten. In his first message to Congress he

deprecated the deposit of public moneys in private banks, which had

followed Jackson’s removal of the deposits from the United States Bank,

and urged an independent treasury for the safe-keeping and disbursements

of the public money; but it was not until near the close of his

administration that he secured congressional assent to the measure. This

has been far-reaching in its beneficial effects, and too much honor

cannot be accorded Van Buren, for his action in the matter, which has

saved the treasury from great financial disruptions. Notwithstanding

this, his administration went down in a cloud, and he was overwhelmingly

defeated for a second term.

 

Van Buren was opposed to the extension of slavery, but on all other

points was an uncompromising Democrat. On this platform he was again

nominated for the Presidency, in 1848, with Charles Francis Adams as

Vice-President. The result of his candidature was the defeat of General

Cass, the regular Democratic nominee, and the election of General

Taylor. After this he retired from public life and devoted his time to

the writing of his “Inquiry into the Origin and Course of Political

Parties in the United States,” a work which has been called more an

apology than a history. When the Civil War came upon the nation, Van

Buren gave zealous support to the National Government. He was an intense

partisan, masterful in leadership, reducing politics to a fine art. It

has been well said that, “combining the statesman’s foresight with the

politician’s tact, he showed his sagacity, rather by seeking a majority

for his views than by following the views of a majority.” He was far

from being a demagogue, and he was frequently found fighting on the

unpopular side. His convictions were strong, and he adhered to them with

tenacity. While from peculiar circumstances his public career has been

the subject of much partisan denunciation, he is entitled, both for

activity and ability, to a higher niche in the temple of fame than is

commonly accorded him. Van Buren was small in stature and of blond

coloring. The physiognomist would accord to him penetration, quickness

of apprehension and benevolence of disposition, while the phrenologist

would add unusual reflective faculties, firmness and caution.

 

[Illustration]

 

 

 

 

XVII

 

_Death Mask of James Monroe_

 

 

The masks that Browere made from the subject in full life, must not be

confused in any sense with the more common mask made after death. This

confusion could not occur with any one who has had an opportunity to

observe Browere’s work or to make comparison with the reproductions in

this book; but persons not familiar with these portrait busts, and

having only some knowledge of masks made after death, or of such life

masks as Clark Mills made,--which are thoroughly death-like in their

character,--might easily fall into such an error, and, looking upon the

latter as repulsive and worthless as portraiture, give no heed to the

different character and true value of Browere’s living likenesses.

 

Mr. Laurence Hutton, in his very curious and interesting volume entitled

“Portraits in Plaster,” says: “The value of a plaster cast as a

portrait of the dead or living face cannot for a moment be questioned.

It must of necessity be absolutely true to nature. It cannot flatter; it

cannot caricature. It shows the subject as he was, not only as others

saw him in the actual flesh, but as he saw himself. And in the case of a

death mask particularly, it shows the subject often as he permitted no

one but himself to see himself. He does not pose; he does not ‘try to

look pleasant.’ In his mask he is seen, as it were, with his mask off.”

 

I do not quote these words, of my accomplished friend Mr. Hutton, simply

for the purpose of combating them, but to show how differently two,

perfectly sincere, honest delvers after historic truth, can see the same

thing. Having made portraiture my study for many years, and thus having

in my mind’s eye, indelibly fixed, the faces of legions of public men, I

have yet to see a death mask that I could recognize at sight; many I

could recall when told whose masks they were, but more yet have, to my

vision, no resemblance whatever to the living man. Mr. Story, the

eminent American sculptor but recently deceased, recognized how

untrustworthy even life masks are as portraits. In speaking of what is

claimed to be Houdon’s original mask of Washington, which Mr. Story

owned, he wrote: “Indeed, a mask from the living face, though it repeats

exactly the true forms of the original, lacks the spirit and __EXPRESSION__

of the real person.” So true is this, that when Mr. St. Gaudens first

saw Clark Mills’s life mask of President Lincoln, he insisted that it

was a death mask; for, without “the spirit and __EXPRESSION__,” where can

the likeness be? As Sir Joshua Reynolds says in one of his Discourses:

“In portraits, the grace and, we may add, the likeness consists more in

taking the general air than in observing the exact similitude of every

feature.” In photography we have “the exact similitude of every

feature,” yet how often are photographs bad likenesses, because they

lack “the spirit and __EXPRESSION__”!

 

While it is possible to preserve “the spirit and __EXPRESSION__” as well as

to give “the exact similitude of every feature” in a life mask, as

exemplified in the marvellous work of Browere, it is impossible in a

death mask, for these evanescent qualities are then gone. I am not quite

certain that even “the exact similitude of every feature” is preserved

in a death mask; certainly the natural relation of one feature to

another is not. The death mask may, to a degree, be a correct

reproduction of the bony structure, but only to a limited degree as it

was in nature, for the obvious reason that the ligaments, holding the

sections of bone together in their proper places, become relaxed with

dissolution, and the bones lose their exact positions, which condition

even the slight weight of the plaster increases.

 

Masks, too, will sometimes approach caricature, if they will not

flatter, for they will reproduce peculiarities of formation which may

not be observable superficially. This view is emphasized by Lavater in

his “Physiognomy,” as quoted by Mr. Hutton. Lavater writes: “The dead

and the impressions of the dead, taken in plaster, are not less worthy

of observation [than the living faces]. The settled features _are much

more prominent_ than in the living and in the sleeping. What life makes

fugitive, death arrests. What was undefinable, is defined. All is

reduced to its proper level; each trait is in its exact proportion,

unless excruciating disease or accident have preceded death.” This is

undoubtedly true from the point of view of the physiognomist, and it is

his much desired vantage-ground, for his only object is to read the

features laid bare.

 

From Browere’s hand we have but one death mask, and although it is open

to much of the objection urged against death masks generally, it is

superior to any other death mask I have ever seen. It is difficult to

believe it was made after life was gone, so vibrant with life it seems.

It possesses more living, breathing qualities than the life masks made

by other men. If any proof were needed of the inestimable value of

Browere’s lost process for making masks, it can be found in the quality

of this death mask of James Monroe.

 

Monroe’s name is perhaps more familiarly known to the public than that

of any other President, save Washington and Lincoln, owing to its

association with the doctrine, which he

 

[Illustration: DEATH MASK OF JAMES MONROE]

 

promulgated, of non-interference on the western hemisphere by European

nations, known as the “Monroe Doctrine.” He was the fourth of the seven

Virginian Presidents, and left William and Mary College, when only

eighteen, as a lieutenant in Hugh Mercer’s regiment, to join

Washington’s army. He served throughout the Revolutionary War, having

been wounded at Trenton, and was present at Monmouth, Brandywine, and

Germantown. In 1782 he took his seat in the Assembly of Virginia, and

later was a delegate to Congress. Monroe took an active part in the

controversy relative to the settlement of the Northwest Territory, which

was quieted only by the Ordinance of 1787; and although he had a hand in

originating the convention to frame a constitution for the General

Government, he was not a member of it, and opposed the ratification of

its work.

 

He was elected to the Senate of the United States in 1790, and held the

office until he was sent as minister to France, four years later. He was

a bitter anti-Federalist and opponent of the administration of

Washington, so that his appointment to France came as a great surprise;

and his action in recognizing the Republic, was an even greater surprise

to his home government. For this he was reprimanded, and on his return

published a defence of his conduct. He was Governor of Virginia, from

1797 to 1802, and returned to France as special envoy to negotiate with

Napoleon the purchase of Louisiana. He was again Governor of Virginia,

but resigned to accept the portfolio of state in Madison’s cabinet,

which was the stepping-stone to the succession in the Presidency. This

high office he held for two terms, and for the last term there was only

one electoral vote cast against him. It was in the second year of his

second term, 1823, that he enunciated the famous Monroe Doctrine of

“Hands off!” contained in two brief paragraphs in his annual message,

which doctrine is logically nullified by the present foreign policy of

the country.

 

Monroe’s administration has been designated “the Era of Good Feeling,”

and he should always be remembered as an upright and honest politician.

As is too often the case with men who give their best years to the

public service, his latter days were burdened by intense poverty, and he