Henry Kirke Brown
Encyclopedia
Leyden, Massachusetts
Leyden is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 772 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
– July 10, 1886, Newburgh, New York) was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sculptor
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
.
Life
He began to paint portraitPortrait
thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...
s while still a boy, studied painting in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
under Chester Harding
Chester Harding (painter)
Chester Harding was an American portrait painter.-Biography:Harding was born at Conway, Massachusetts. Brought up in the wilderness of New York state, he was a lad of robust physique, standing over 6 feet 3 inches...
, learned a little about modelling, and in 1836-1839 spent his summers working as a railroad engineer to earn enough to enable him to study further.
He spent four years (1842–1846) in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
; but returning to New York he remained distinctively American, and was never dominated, as were so many of the early American sculptors, by Italian influence.
He produced The Choosing of the Arrow for the American Art Union, in 1849.
His equestrian
Equestrian sculpture
An equestrian statue is a statue of a rider mounted on a horse, from the Latin "eques", meaning "knight", deriving from "equus", meaning "horse". A statue of a riderless horse is strictly an "equine statue"...
statues are excellent, notably that of George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
(1856) in Union Square, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, which was the second equestrian statue made in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, following by three years that of Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (Mills)
Andrew Jackson is an equestrian statue by Clark Mills in Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C.It was commissioned in May 1847, cast in 1852, and dedicated on January 8, 1853, by Stephen A...
in Washington, D.C. by Clark Mills
Clark Mills (sculptor)
Clark Mills was an American sculptor, best known for three versions of an equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson, located in Washington, D.C., Nashville, Tennessee, and New Orleans, Louisiana.-Life:...
(1815–1883), and of Brevet Lt. General Winfield Scott
Brevet Lt. General Winfield Scott
Brevet Lt. General Winfield Scott is an equestrian statue of Winfield Scott, by Henry Kirke Brown, located at the intersection of 16th Street and Massachusetts Avenue at Scott Circle, Washington, D.C....
(1874) in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. Brown was one of the first in America to cast his own bronze
Bronze sculpture
Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply a "bronze".Common bronze alloys have the unusual and desirable property of expanding slightly just before they set, thus filling the finest details of a mold. Then, as the bronze cools, it...
s.
Among his other works are: Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
(Union Square, New York City); Nathanael Greene
Nathanael Greene
Nathanael Greene was a major general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. When the war began, Greene was a militia private, the lowest rank possible; he emerged from the war with a reputation as George Washington's most gifted and dependable officer. Many places in the United...
, George Clinton
George Clinton (vice president)
George Clinton was an American soldier and politician, considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was the first Governor of New York, and then the fourth Vice President of the United States , serving under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. He and John C...
, Philip Kearny
Philip Kearny
Philip Kearny, Jr., was a United States Army officer, notable for his leadership in the Mexican-American War and American Civil War. He was killed in action in the 1862 Battle of Chantilly.-Early life and career:...
, and Richard Stockton
Richard Stockton (1730-1781)
Richard Stockton was an American lawyer, jurist, legislator, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.-Early life:...
(all in the National Statuary Hall
National Statuary Hall
National Statuary Hall is a chamber in the United States Capitol devoted to sculptures of prominent Americans. The hall, also known as the Old Hall of the House, is a large, two-story, semicircular room with a second story gallery along the curved perimeter. It is located immediately south of the...
, United States Capitol
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
, Washington, D.C.); De Witt Clinton (illustration, below) and The Angel of the Resurrection, both in Green-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood Cemetery was founded in 1838 as a rural cemetery in Brooklyn, Kings County , New York. It was granted National Historic Landmark status in 2006 by the U.S. Department of the Interior.-History:...
, Brooklyn, New York; and an Aboriginal Hunter.
The New York Times remarked that the DeWitt Clinton was the first American full-length sculpture cast in a single piece, when it was exhibited temporarily in City Hall Park in 1855.
Family
Henry Brown's children include Harold Bush-Brown, a long time director of Georgia TechGeorgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
's architecture school
Georgia Institute of Technology College of Architecture
The College of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology was established in 1908 as the Department of Architecture, offering the first four-year course of study in architecture in the Southern United States.-History:...
, and James Bush-Brown, landscape architect and co-author of America's Garden Book.
External links
- Bush-Brown Family Papers
- "Brown, Henry Kirke, 1814-1886, sculptor", SIRIS
- "Henry Kirke Brown papers, 1836-1893" Archives of American Art