Andrew Jackson 1834-1835; this version, 1839
Hiram Powers (1805-1873)
Marble; 34 3/4 x 23 1/2 x 15 1/2 in. (88.3 x 59.7 x 39.4 cm)

Description:
This portrait, arguably Powers`s finest, launched his career. With financing provided by his Cincinnati patron Nicholas Longworth and letters of introduction that gained him access to President Andrew Jackson (1767?845), Powers went to Washington, D.C. in the fall of 1834. Jackson sat for Powers in a room next to the president`s sitting room in the White House. The model, which was completed in several sittings by January 1835, realistically depicts the sixty-seven-year-old Jackson with his head and gaze turned to his left, his long lean face deeply marked with wrinkles, his mouth and cheeks sunken from lack of teeth, and his creased forehead set off by a shock of thick, brushed-back hair. The only aspects of the bust that relate it to the Neoclassical mode are the unincised eyeball and the toga. The "Jackson," along with other portrait busts of statesmen, was translated into marble after Powers settled in Florence permanently in 1837.