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ISAIAH THOMAS (1749-1831), 1859
Benjamin Kinney (1821-1888)
plaster, black paint
25 (h) (63.50)
incised on right side: 'Hon. ISAIAH THOMAS/Founder & first
President/of
the/American Antiquarian Society/By/B. H. Kinney/1859.'
Gift of Peter Mack Brown, 1975
Hewes #129
More
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In May 1859, Benjamin Kinney, a sculptor working in Worcester,
Massachusetts,
completed a plaster bust of Isaiah Thomas.(1) Kinney exhibited the
plaster
cast in his studio, and the local newspaper reported, 'It is with
no ordinary
degree of satisfaction that we are enabled to announce another
highly
successful effort in sculpture, by our townsman B. F. Kinney. We
have
already noted the fact that he was engaged on a bust of the late
Isaiah
Thomas. The original model of it having been completed, he has
made a
cast from it, which, since it was finished, is pronounced by good
judges
the most successful of his works; and this is no small praise. So
perfect
is the likeness that it was instantly recognized by one of our
elderly
citizens . . . As a work of art, the bust is creditable to Mr.
Kinney's
talent and skill - as a faithful representation of [Thomas], it is
invaluable.'(2)
The public success of this plaster bust, which acquired a coat
of black
paint sometime after it was completed, led to a second commission
for
the same composition, this time in marble. Isaac Davis, a member
of the
American Antiquarian Society who had patronized Kinney earlier,
commissioned
the marble bust for the Society in June 1859, while the plaster
bust remained
in the possession of the artist. In 1975 it appeared in a private
collection
in Washington, D.C., and was offered to the Society by the owner.
Accepting
the offer, the director of the American Antiquarian Society wrote,
'[W]e
are extremely happy to have this cast to add to our collections .
. ..
To our way of thinking the plaster cast is more pleasing in that
its detail
is somewhat finer than the marble rendition, which we have had
since 1859.'(3)
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| 1) Massachusetts
Spy, May
25, 1859, p. 2. For inspiration, Kinney may have visited Antiquarian
Hall
to study the American Antiquarian Society's portrait of Thomas by
Ethan
Allen Greenwood.
2) Massachusetts Spy, June 1, 1859, p. 2.
3) Marcus A. McCorison to Peter Mack Brown, December 12,
1975,
American Antiquarian Society Archives.
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