Interestingly, the Metropolitan Museum of Art includes Erastus Dow Palmer in the slideshow that accompanies their article American Neoclassical Sculptors Abroad. While Palmer's work is certainly of the same genre as his fellow American sculptors in the nineteenth century, he remained in America. Most American neoclassical sculptors studied and worked in Italy. A carpenter by trade, Palmer taught himself sculpture, moving from wood to marble. His work includes relief sculpture and sculpture in the round that includes both busts and full figures.
Marble Reliefs
Palmer's reliefs are beautifully classic marble portraits. Hamilton Fish, a New York art collector and politician, included a relief known as Virginia or Rebecca Knower in his collection of Palmer's work. A second relief known as Sappho is part of a private collection, and one of an unknown subject was recently appraised for $10,000 to $15,000 on Antiques Roadshow.
As fine as Palmer's reliefs and busts are, he is most famous for his full size marble sculptures. The most famous of these are The White Captive and Dawn of Christianity or Indian Girl, which was commissioned by Hamilton Fish. The ideal communicated in the Dawn of Christianity is the moment that a young Indian girl is introduced to civilization represented by the crucifix in her right hand.
Dawn of Christianity
To see a larger image of the work, click the pictures below. From the right side of the semi nude sculpture, the figure shows beautifully modeled curves. The Indian girl's face is serenely concentrated on the crucifix, and her hair is demurely pulled back into a knot on her neck. The tie of her wrap that rests on her right hip, and the wrap itself have the only decorative touch, rows of raised dots.
Viewed from the left side, Palmer's attention to the nuances of anatomy is evident in the ribs and stomach. The girl's left hand is hanging at her side, holding feathers. In stark contrast to the fine modeling of the girl, the feathers are not as fully modeled as might be expected. The hair, always a challenge to portray in stone, is somewhat "plastic" in contrast to the hair of the White Captive which is more finely defined. Dawn of Christianity was sculpted from 1855 to 1856, and the White Captive was sculpted later, from 1858 to 1859.
Palmer Sculpture Next to the Dog Food Dish
A marble relief of an unknown female subject sculpted in 1864 was rescued from its place next to the dog's bowl and brought to the Antiques Roadshow in Des Moines, Iowa. Sebastian Clarke, an appraiser for the show described Palmer as "widely considered to be one of the most important American sculptors of the nineteenth century."
In addition to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Albany Institute of History and Art has a large collection of Palmer's sculptures. Some are part of private collections, and some may just be where they are least expected.
Corinne Shibley - Corinne Shibley studied sculpture in art history and created her own sculpture on the way to a B.A. in Studio Art. "There's something ...
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