History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 52

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 992

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rascal had other plans. On the way from Steuben- ville to Philadelphia he compelled little Albert to show his talent by drawing with chalk on any avail- able board, or with a stick upon the soft ground, and when people collected round them he begged money to enable him to take his little brother to Philadel- phia, where he was going to place him in an institu- tion for the instruction of deaf mntes, in which last assertion Davis unwittingly spoke the truth. The directors of the asylum wisely concluded that such a rare gift as that possessed by their young charge should not be neglected, but properly developed. They placed Albert under the professional instruction of Mr. Catlin, a portrait-painter, and Bridport, the miniature-painter. When he attained seventeen years of age he was placed in the office of Col. Cephas G. Childs, where he served until he was twenty-one, learning the art of drawing upon stone for lithography, in which he afterward became greatly celebrated. Newsam's work was not only admired for its perfect finish, but for the fidelity of the likenesses ; he never lost that accuracy of touch and sight which had enabled him, when a mere child, to establish his identity by drawing scenes faithfully preserved by his memory. He died Nov. 20, 1864, aged fifty-five years.

If we study the history of the introduction and de- velopment of the arts in this or any other new country, we find that painting ever takes precedence of sculp- ture. This is but natural ; the use of paint is a neces- sity ; we paint the woodwork of our houses to preserve the wood, as much as to beautify its appearance ; then we require a name to be painted on a sign ; next comes the desire to have some symbol represented on the sign, and here we have the first step toward art. The de- mand for these street pictures increases, and the inge- nuity of the artist is exercised to depict some sng- gestive subject; he improves with practice, and the public taste is improved in proportion : symbolic signs are the first picture-gallery of the people. Then there is the laudable desire to preserve the features of some dear member of the family, and the portrait-painter is welcome. All this has been a gradual preparation to the revelation of art in its highest form. It is not so with sculpture. We are not gradually made famil- iar with it, and it is not popular with the uneducated masses. The color in painting adds to the natural- ness of the subject : it looks more life-like. To one who has no artistic training, and to many who have, a portrait will always be more pleasing than a bust. Where we find statuary adorning the public places and galleries, we know that we are among a culti- vated people, who read the history of past ages and are writing their own in bronze and stone. The condition of sculpture in this country at the present time is one of the many evidences of the wonderful development attained by our young nation in the course of one century.

One name figures in the annals of art in Philadel-

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phia, from the time of the Revolution until far into the present century, at the head of the list of sculptors. William Rush was the creator of his art in America. In 1800 he had already attained considerable reputa- tion as a carver and sculptor in wood, and time in maturing his talent only brought it nearer to perfec- tion. Benjamin H. Latrobe, in an oration delivered before the Society of Artists, in 1811, said, speaking of Rush's figures for the head of prows of vessels, "There is a motion in his figures that is inconceiva- ble. They seem rather to draw the ship after them than to be impelled by the vessel. Many are of ex- quisite beanty. I have not seen one on which there is not the stamp of genius." Among the most ad- mired ship-carvings executed by Rush were the emblematic statues, nine feet high, adorning the prows of the American frigates " United States" and "Constellation." For the latter, the subject was Nature, her forehead crested with fire, and her hair and drapery loose and flowing. The zone was orna- mented with the signs of the zodiac, and the figure stood on a pyramid of stones, emblematical of the union of the States. The "Genius of the United States," a female form in classic drapery, with appro- priate ornaments and national emblems, graced the prow of the frigate " United States." A life-like portrait-bust of John Adams was cut by Rush for the sloop-of-war bearing the name of that statesman. Busts and figures of Rousseau, Voltaire, and other French philosophers for the vessels of Stephen Girard, a head of Fingal, full-length figures of William Penn and Benjamin Franklin, a figure of an Indian orator, and a statue of Montezuma, in the Aztec costume, gave evidence of the artist's skill in reproducing the peculiar characteristics of different races in features and expression, as well as of his creative genius in purely imaginary subjects. Nor did he confine him- self to carving figures for ships. "Winter," repre- sented by a child shrinking from the cold, won gen- eral admiration and praise. So did the figures of " Exaltation" and " Praise," and chernbim encircled by glory, which he sculptured in wood, as ornaments for the organ of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church. His beautiful group, " Leda and the Swan," executed in 1809 for the decoration of the fountain at Centre Square, and since removed to the rocks over the pool at Fairmount, is well known.

Many other exquisite figures that were carved by him may still be seen in Philadelphia. Some, like the recumbent figure of Agriculture, that once adorned the eastern entrance of the Market Street permanent bridge, and the life-size figure of Christ on the Cross, executed for the Roman Catholic Church of St. Augustine, were destroyed by fire. The number of busts which he modeled in clay, beginning with that of William Bartram, in 1×12, and ending with that of tien. Lafayette (the best of his works of that character , in 1824, is quite large. It includes many prominent men and public characters. But the most

famous statue executed by Rush was the full-length figure of Washington, which was first shown at the exhibition of the Academy of Fine Arts, in May, 1815. This work alone would have sufficed to estab- lish the reputation of the sculptor. Rush, in model- ing the features of the hero, aided his own recollection by a study of the portraits of Stuart, Pine, and Peale, and of the admirable bust executed by the French sculptor Ilondon, on his visit to Philadelphia. This statue was put up in Independence Hall, upon the occasion of the reception of Gen. Lafayette, in 1824, and was greatly praised by Washington's faithful friend and ally. City Council purchased it from the artist in 1831, for five hundred dollars. Among the later work of Mr. Rush was the carving of two re- cumbent figures, one male and one female, intended to represent the Schuylkill under the two aspects of a navigable river, and of the source of the water supply of Philadelphia. These figures, finished in 1825, surmounted the entrance to the wheel-houses at Fairmount.

Besides Houdon,1 who was but a visitor who came for the express purpose of making a bust of Wash- ington, and Rush, who was for so many years at the head of his profession, but few names of sculptors are to be found in the early history of Philadelphia. John Dixey, an Irishman by birth, and a student of the Royal Academy, is mentioned in the "Familiar Sketches of Sculpture and Sculptors," published in 1854, as one of the earliest sculptors in America. He came to this country in 1789, and in 1801 he was a resident of Philadelphia, and was elected vice-presi- dent of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. lle afterward lived in New York, and all his known works were executed in that city. He is said to have had an ardent love of sculpture, and to have labored zealously to promote the neglected art. Ir is probable that he did not find sufficient encouragement in Phil- adelphia at the time he came here. Rush was carving his figures for ships, and no other kind of statuary was in demand. Dixcy died in 1820.

Yet, James Traquair, a stone-cutter, who had some taste in sculpture, produced a bust of William Penn, in white marble, which he presented to the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1802. Traquair made it a business, and employed practical sculptors to cnt his busts. In 1804 he advertised for sale several busts of Gen. Washing- ton, cut in the best Carrara statuc-marble, copied from Ilondon's cast. Also busts of William Penn, Wash- ington, and Franklin, in marble, half as large as life, for book-cases. lle also produced a large bust of Alexander Hamilton. Traquair died April 5, 1811, aged fifty-five years.

Much of the success of Traquair's undertaking was

1 The original terra-cotta models of the busts of Washington and Frankiln, made by Hondon In Philadelphia, were taken to Paris. They were in the possession of Mr. Walfredin, nephew of Diderot, the encyclopadlist, in 1869-70. After the death of Mr Walfredin they were snid to Monsieur Pe Montbrison.

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due to the talent of the Italian, Giuseppe Jardella, which, if they did not increase his fame as an artist, whom he employed to do his finest work. Jardella put money into his pockets. excelled in ornamental sculpture. He was brought Henrico Causici, an Italian sculptor, who claimed to be a pupil of Canova, came to Philadelphia in 1816 to obtain, by subscription, assistance in the prepara- tion of a model of an equestrian statue of Washington, to be presented to the Academy of Fine Arts. While this project was being canvassed, the artist took like- nesses in alabaster, in basso- or alto-relievo. Failing to obtain subscriptions in Philadelphia, Causici re- moved to New York, where (according to Dunlap) he succeeded, after ten years of effort, in finishing his model. That Causici was an artist of no little merit is evident from the fact that it was he who executed the fine full-length statue of Washington which sur- mounts the Washington monument in Baltimore. This great statue, which attracts the attention of all strangers visiting Baltimore, is sixteen feet high, and was wrought in three separate pieces from one block of marble, weighing thirty-six tons. originally from Italy to assist in decorating the man- sion of Robert Morris, on Chestnut Street, under the superintendence of the French architect, Maj. Pierre Charles L'Enfant, and had executed several pieces of work, principally in bas-relief, for that building, when the failure of Morris put a stop to the work. It is believed that Jardella was the artist who ex- ecuted the semicircular pieces in relief, representing Tragedy and Comedy, which were over the windows in the wings of the old Chestnut Street Theatre. They were prepared for the Morris mansion, and were adopted by Latrobe, the architect of the theatre, as appropriate ornaments for that building. Notwith- standing his undoubted talent as a sculptor, Jardella probably became discouraged by the little profit it brought him, for he finally gave up the higher branches of art to follow the business of stonecutter. He was, until 1817, the partner of Christopher Hocker, in a marble-yard on Race Street.

John Eckstein was both painter and sculptor, but showed more genius in the use of the chisel than in that of the pencil. In 1811 he was represented at the exhibition of the Association of Artists by two Cupids in clay, statues of " Pomona," "Charity," and "Milo," with "Samson and the Lion," a design in clay for a monument to Gen. Washington, and two bas- relievos of bacchanals and children. He modeled the "Genius of America" figure in 1813. In 1806, Eckstein designed a model of an equestrian statue of Washington. It was in Roman costume.

George M. Miller came into notice about 1812. He executed bas-reliefs in wax and other materials, which were life-like in color. Among these were heads of Albert Gallatin and Mrs. Madison, which he executed in 1813. He modeled, in 1814, original busts of Bishop White, C. W. Peale, and Commodore Bain- bridge, a head of the Venus de Medici, and a copy of Houdon's bust of Washington, also a bust of the wife of Jerome Bonaparte. In 1821 he made a bust of Talbot Hamilton. Miller's most noted work was a life-size figure of " Venus" in wax, colored to nature. It was exhibited in the Apollodorean Gallery in 1813. Dunlap says that Miller, unable to make a living by art, threw it aside for the more profitable profession of a gold-beater.

The only title of George Magragh to a place in the annals of art is some carved musical trophies which were admitted to the exhibition of the Society of Artists in 1811. G. Merlini, in 1813, advertised that he executed " carving of all kinds of statues, orna- mental, etc., in any wood that might be preferred." He also offered for sale "the original bust of a dis- tinguished American statesman." Louis Stegagnini, another Italian ornamental sculptor, came to Phila- delphia about 1820. He devoted himself principally to making monuments, urns, vases, and mantel-pieces,

In 1824, E. Luigi Persico, another Italian, executed a colossal bust of Lafayette, which he exhibited at the Athenaeum. He also modeled a bust of Wash- ington and a bust of Dr. N. Chapman,-the latter by request of the doctor's private pupils. Persico de- signed a head of Liberty for United States coins in 1825.

Abraham Chevalier, a French sculptor, proposed, in 1825, to execute the "resemblance of some alle- gorical subject in glory of Lafayette." Whether he obtained encouragement to carry out his idea is not known. Chevalier had lived twenty years in Balti- more before his visit to Philadelphia, and had exe- cuted in the former city, he claims, "all there is of sculpture in wood or stone, at public or private buildings, until 1813." In Baltimore Chevalier exe- cuted the basso-relievos of the Union Bank, and he designed the façade of the Maryland Insurance buildings.

In March, 1827, it was stated that a full-length statue in marble of Napoleon Bonaparte, executed by an Italian artist of the city, was on exhibition at the Merchants' Coffee-House. The sculptor dis- played this work as a specimen of his ability in art, and had ready a subscription for a full-length statue of Washington.

Benjamin Paul Akers, the distinguished sculptor, established himself in Philadelphia about 1860, and died here May 21, 1861, of consumption. He was born in Saccarappa, Me., July 10, 1825, and during his life executed about forty busts and statues, besides some , marble copies from the antique. His best works are "Benjamin in Egypt," which he exhibited at the New York Crystal Palace in 1853; " Una and the Lion," statue of "St. Elizabeth, of Hungary," the " Dead Pearl-Diver," and an ideal head of Milton, his last, and perhaps his best, production in Rome. He produced busts of Judge McLean, Edward Ever- ett, Gerritt Smith, and Samuel Houston, and in 1859

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he modeled a statue of Commodore MI. C. Perry for the New York Central Park.

Joseph A. Bailly, another prominent sculptor, came to Philadelphia about 1850. Among his chief works are " Adam and Eve," " Eve and her Two Children," the monument of Washington, placed in 1869 in front of the State-House, and a beautiful and graceful figure of "Time," a female form, which for many years adorned the front of Bailey's jewelry establishment on Chestnut Street west of Eighth.

The most noted architect in Philadelphia before the Revolution was Robert Smith, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, and a member of the Society of Friends. He built the steeple of Christ Church, and was the architeet of Carpenters' Ilall, for which he drew a plan-sketeli as early as 1768, and was appointed chair- man of the building committee in 1770. He was also the architect of the original Zion Lutheran Church at Fourth and Cherry Streets, and of the Walnut Street prison ; the largest building which, up to that time, had been constructed in the colonies. He also built Nassau Hall, Princeton, and constructed the chevaux-de-frise for the obstruction of the Delaware. Mr. Smith was very young when he came to Phila- delphia; at the time of his death, in 1777, he was only fifty-five years old. He was an early member of the American Philosophical Society.

John Thornhill, one of the most active members of the Carpenters' Company, was, according to his obit- uary notice published in Oswald's Gazetteer for Jan- uary, 1783, " one of the most celebrated mechanics of this or of any other State; celebrated for his ability as an architect."

Samuel Blodget, of Philadelphia, who, though not a professional architect, was a gentleman of much taste, drew the plan of the Bank of the United States. When the building was occupied, in 1797, the news- papers paid some very handsome compliments to the amateur architect. In one of the notices of the build- ing it was said that " the portico, in its proportions, nearly corresponded to the front of the celebrated Roman temple at Nismes." Mease, in his " Picture of Philadelphia," in 1810, said that the front of the bank was "said to be nearly a copy of the Dublin Exchange." Mr. Blodget was a native of Massachu- setts.

Dr. William Thornton, a native of the West Indies, and long a resident of Philadelphia, was another ama- teur architect, who displayed a taste and skill in build- ing which would have done credit to a regular member of the profession. He furnished the plans for the Philadelphia Library, and those for the first capitol building at Washington, D. t., the construction of which edifice he also superintended. He was the first superintendent of the Patent Office, and held that position until his death. Dr. Thornton was a man of science, and a member of the American Philosophical Society.

Maj. Pierre Charles L Enfant came to Philadelphia

when Congress removed to the city. He was well known, having rebuilt the New York City Hall, in Wall Street, for the accommodation of the Federal Congress in 1789. His principal architectural work in Philadelphia was in designing and superintending the building of Robert Morris' mansion, which, owing to the failure of Mr. Morris, was not finished. It was supposed that the extravagance of the architect's plans for that palatial residence had much to do with the cel- ebrated financier's misfortune ; but the charge was un- founded. Mr. Morris had the means aud the wish to have a grand residence, such as was planned ; his losses in unfortunate land speculations caused his ruin, but they were not influenced by his contracts with L'En- fant. Maj. L'Enfant subsequently displayed his talent and the soundness of his judgment by designing and executing the plan of the city of Washington. He was one of the first foreign architects who came to this country, but notwithstanding his talent and in- dustry, and the reputation he acquired, he died poor.

Benjamin Henry Latrobe, one of the best archi- teets and civil engineers who ever came to Philadel- phia, was an Englishman by birth. He entered the army of the King of Prussia, in 1785, but after serving as an officer in one campaign, he resigned and went back to England, where he studied architecture. He came to the United States in 1795, and until 1798 re- sided in Virginia. During that time he built the penitentiary at Richmond, and afterward served as engineer in laying out the Dismal Swamp Canal. During a visit to Philadelphia, in 1798, he casually sketehed out a plan for a bank building, in answer to some inquiries of the president of the Bank of Pennsylvania. Some time afterward he was notified that his plan had been adopted, and he was invited to come to Philadelphia. The result of his genius was the construction of a beautiful building of marble in the lonic style of architecture, with porticoes on Second and on Dock Streets, which was for a long time considered one of the finest buildings in the United States. Latrobe also was the engineer who constructed the first water-works in Philadelphia. He afterward went to Washington, and finished the public buildings in that city. During a useful life he executed other important works.

After Mr. Latrobe's departure for Washington there was no architect of note in Philadelphia until Robert Mills, of Charleston, S. C., eame in 1809. Hle soon made himself known, and obtained profitable em- ployment. Few architects have executed so much work in Philadelphia. He drew the plans for the Sansom Street Baptist Church, the First Unitarian Church at Tenth and Locust Streets, in 1811, and the Upper Ferry bridge in 1s12. In the latter year he projected certain changes at the State-House build- ings which were important, and he was the architect who drew the designs for the wings for the accommo- dation of publie offices adjoining the State-House. He also proposed very material improvements to the

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main building. Mr. Mills designed the block of Sansom ] Streets. St. Stephen's Protestant Episcopal buildings running from Walnut Street to Locust, Church, on Tenth Street, was designed by Strickland ; also the Jewish Synagogue, Cherry Street, near Third, and the Friends' Lunatic Asylum, near Frankford. In after-years he was architect of the Merchants' Exchange, at Third, Walnut, and Dock Streets, the United States Mint, the United States Naval Asylum, on Gray's Ferry road, St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church (rebuilt), and the Blockley Almshouse. and from Ninth to Tenth, which was called " Wash- ington Square." He was the architect of the First Philadelphia Bank, at the southwest corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets. It is supposed that he designed the Gothic mansion in Chestnut Street, between Twelfth and Thirteenth, once occupied by Dorsey. He drew the designs for the hall of the Washington Benevolent Association, on Third Street, above Mr. Strickland turned his attention to the con- struction of railroads, and he went to Europe to study the system. He was the engineer of the New Castle and Frenchtown Railroad. He died in 1854, while engaged in superintending the construction of the State-House at Nashville, Tenn. The Legisla- ture of Tennessee voted that a crypt should be pre- pared for his remains in that splendid edifice, and there they have since remained. Spruce. This was one of the finest buildings in the United States at the time of its erection, in 1814. When that elegant hall was burned, the second build- ing on the same site was partially constructed on the plan of Mills. He was the architect of many build- ings of taste and utility in various parts of the United States. He drew the plan for Thomas Jefferson's mansion at Monticello, in Virginia. He drew the designs of the State-House building at Harrisburg. He designed the Washington monument at Balti- more, and the monnment at Bunker Hill. He built, in various parts of the country, churches, prisons, hospitals, public offices and edifices, and was for some years in permanent employment in Washington, where he designed and superintended the buildings of the Patent Office, the Treasury, the General Post- Office, and many other edifices. He died at Wash- ington City, on March 3, 1855.

James Finley erected the chain bridge at the Falls of Schuylkill. Joseph Ramie devoted himself prin- cipally to the improvement of houses and landscape gardens. In 1813 he drew a plan of Union College, Schenectady, N. Y. Thomas Pope, architect, had some peculiar plans for the construction of bridges. He lived in Philadelphia in 1812. He exhibited the model of "Pope's Flying Pendant Lever Bridge," suitable for the East River, at New York, one hundred and twenty feet high, so that ships conld sail under it.

William Strickland, born in Philadelphia in 1787, stndied architecture under Latrobe, and became the most noted native architect of his time. His first important work was the Masonic Hall on Chestnut Street. The corner-stone of this building was laid in April, 1809, and the hall was opened for service in December, 1810. The style was Gothic, and the build- ing was crowned with a steeple and spire. His next work of importance was the United States Bank, on Chestnut Street. The plan was that of the Parthenon at Athens, the flanking columns being dispensed with, together with extraneous ornament. The corner- stone of this building was laid on April 19, 1819, and it was completed and ready for use in August, 1824. Strickland was the architect of the new Chestnut Street Theatre, west of Sixth Street, which replaced the building destroyed in 1820. This house was opened on Dec. 2, 1822. He was architect of the first custom-house building for the United States, in Second Street, below Dock, and the New Jerusalem Temple, southeast corner of Twelfth and George | now

John Haviland, a native of England, came to Phil- adelphia in 1817. He became associated with Hugh Bridport in the management of an architectural drawing-school, and they published, in 1818, "The Builders' Assistant, for the use of Carpenters and Others." Mr. Haviland's first important design was that for the First Presbyterian Church, at Seventh and Locust Streets. Shortly afterward he drew the plans for St. Andrew's Protestant Episcopal Church, in Eighth Street. His grandest work was the Eastern Penitentiary. He was the architect for the Pennsyl- vania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, at the corner of Broad and Pine Streets. The building of the Eastern Penitentiary increased his reputation greatly as a designer of prison buildings, and he did considerable work of that kind in various parts of the country. He died in Philadelphia, March 28, 1852.

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History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 52

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 992

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 992