63.5 cm × 35.6 cm × 30.5 cm (25.0 in × 14.0 in × 12.0 in)
Alexander Hamilton is a marble bust portrait of American Founding FatherAlexander Hamilton, done in the style of a Roman Senator, by the Italian sculptor Giuseppe Ceracchi.[1] Ceracchi also created many replicas, in both marble and plaster. The bust was later used as a model for several notable sculptures, paintings, and other works featuring Hamilton.
The work was then sent to Rome, where Ceracci created the marble version. In July 1792, he wrote Hamilton saying he was "impatient to receive the clay that I had the satisfaction of forming from your witty and significant physiognomy".[3]
Presented to Hamilton
In 1794, Ceracchi returned to the United States, where he delivered the bust to Hamilton. He did not receive payment for it until March 3, 1796, when Hamilton's cash book includes the entry, "for this sum through delicacy paid upon cherachi’s draft for making my bust on his own importunity & as a favour to him $620"[4]
Ceracchi portrayed Hamilton in the style of a Roman Senator, with wavy hair and bare-chested, wearing a ribbon of the Order of the Cincinnati over his right shoulder.[1][2]
Inscription
Ceracchi inscribed the original work on the back of in Latin, which reads:[5]
DE FACIE PHILADELPHIAE
EX ECTIPO FLORENCIAE
FACIEBAT JOS. CERACCHI
CIDDCCLXXXXIV
The Latin inscription translates as, "Executed in Philadelphia and copied in Florence, Executed by Joseph Ceracchi, 1794."[2]
Legacy
Between 1804 and 1808, John Trumbull used the bust as a model for a series of portraits of Hamilton.[6][7]
In 1870, the first U.S. Postal Service stamp to honor Hamilton was a 30-cent stamp, which used the bust as a model.[8]
After completing his work in Philadelphia, Ceracchi returned to Europe, visiting France, where he had once presented Napoleon with a bust. On his return to France, however, Napoleon turned against him. After experiencing an unsuccessful plot designed to depose him, Napoleon had Ceracchi guillotined at the Place de Grève on January 30, 1801 at age 49.[9][11]
Gallery
Portrait developed from the bust in 1806 by John Trumbull
^ ab"Alexander Hamilton, (sculpture)". Inventory of American Sculpture, Smithsonian Institution Research Information System. Smithsonian American Art Museum.
^Dearinger, David Bernard (2004). "Giuseppe Ceracchi". Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design: 1826–1925. Hudson Hills Press. pp. 90–91. ISBN1-55595-029-9.
Dearinger, David Bernard (2004). "Giuseppe Ceracchi". Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design: 1826–1925. Hudson Hills Press. pp. 90–91. ISBN1-55595-029-9.