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POWERS, HIRAM (1805-1873)

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 224 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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POWERS, HIRAM (1805-1873) , See also:American sculptor, the son of a See also:farmer, was See also:born at See also:Woodstock, See also:Vermont, on the 29th of See also:June 18o5. In 1819 his See also:father removed to See also:Ohio, about six See also:miles from See also:Cincinnati, where the son attended school for about a See also:year, staying meanwhile with his See also:brother, alawyerin Cincinnati. After leaving school he found employment in superintending a See also:reading-See also:room in connexion with the See also:chief hotel of the See also:town, but, being, in his own words, " forced at last to leave that See also:place as his clothes and shoes were fast leaving him," he became a clerk in a See also:general See also:store. His second employer in this See also:line of business having invested his See also:capital in a See also:clock and See also:organ factory, Powers set himself to See also:master the construction of the See also:instruments, displaying an aptitude which in a See also:short See also:time enabled him to become the first mechanic in the factory. In 1826 he began to frequent the studio of Mr Eckstein, and at once conceived a strong See also:passion for the See also:art of See also:sculpture. His proficiency in modelling secured him the situation of general assistant and artist of the Western Museum, kept by a Frenchman named Dorfeuille, where his ingenious See also:representation of the infernal regions to illustrate the more striking scenes in the poem of See also:Dante met with extraordinary success. After studying thoroughly the art of modelling and casting, at the end of 1834 he went to See also:Washington, where his remarkable gifts soon awakened general See also:attention. In 1837 he settled in See also:Florence, where he remained till his See also:death. While he found it profitable to devote the greater See also:part of his time to busts, his best efforts were bestowed on ideal See also:work. In 1839 his statue of " See also:Eve " excited the warm admiration of See also:Thorwaldsen, and in 1843 he produced his celebrated " See also:Greek Slave," which at once gave him a place among the leading sculptors of his time. Among the best known of his other ideal statues are the " See also:Fisher Boy." " Il Penseroso," See also:Proserpine," " See also:California," " See also:America " (modelled for the Crystal See also:Palace, See also:Sydenham), and the " Last of his Tribe." He died on the 27th of June 1873. See an See also:article by T.

A. See also:

Trollope in Lippincott's See also:Magazine for See also:February 1875.

End of Article: POWERS, HIRAM (1805-1873)

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