Henry Clay (1777-1852)

Artist Thomas Ball American, 1819–1911

Datemodeled 1858, cast later

MediumBronze

Dimensions31 x 13 x 11 in. (78.7 x 33 x 27.9 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineGift of Dr. and Mrs. Robert Lee Humber

Object numberG.63.36.1

On View

Not on view

Label Text
Largely self-taught, Thomas Ball created a number of impressive sculptural portraits of national leaders, including senators Daniel Webster of New Hampshire (also in the Museum's collection) and Henry Clay of Kentucky. The artist’s presentation of both men is direct and honest—too honest for some critics, who wished for a more heroic, more “Roman,” portrayal of their statesmen. Compare the rumpled realism of these men with the Cicero-like portrait of their colleague John C. Calhoun (whose bust by Hiram Powers is also in the Museum's collection). However, times and taste change. When was the last time an American senator wore a toga?
J. Coffey, 2012ProvenanceThe Old Print Shop, Inc., New York, NY; sold to NCMA, 1963 (funds provided by Dr. and Mrs. Robert Lee Humber, Greenville, NC).
Published ReferencesAntiques 86, no. 2 (August 1964).

Raleigh: News & Observer (Sunday, September 6, 1964).

Wayne Craven, "The Early Sculptures of Thomas Ball," North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin 5, nos. 1 and 2 (Fall 1964/Winter 1965), 3-12, illus. (b-w) 11, fig. 10, details (b-w) cover and 8, fig. 6.

Charles W. Stanford, Jr., Selections from British and American Painting and Sculpture (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1967), no. 25, illus. (b-w).

Wayne Craven, Sculpture in America (New York: 1968), 223, illus. fig. 7.3.

Wayne Craven, "The Index of American Sculpture: A new research archive," Antiques 94 (November 1968), 712-13, illus. (b-w) fig. 1.

19th-Century America: Paintings and Sculpture (exhibition catalogue) (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1970), cat. no. 91, illus.

Clifford Amyx, "Henry Clay and the American State Portrait," The Kentucky Review 10, no. 3 (Autumn 1990), 62, illus. 63.

Jo Allen and Gil Leebrick, eds., Robert Lee Humber: A Collector Creates (exhibition catalogue) (Greenville, NC: The College of Arts and Sciences and The School of Art, East Carolina University, 1996), illus. (b-w) 41.
Exhibition HistoryNew York, NY, Metropolitan Museum of Art, "19th Century America," April 13-September 7, 1970, cat. no. 91, illus.

Greenville, NC, East Carolina University, Wellington B. Gray Gallery, Robert Lee Humber: A Collector Creates, Nov. 11-23, 1996, cat. illus. (b-w) 41.
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