Charles Loring Elliott

Launt Thompson

1870 · Marble · The American Wing

Thompson’s mastery of naturalistic portraiture is evident in this posthumous bust of Charles Loring Elliott (1812-1868), a successful New York portrait and genre painter. Here facial features are portrayed with honesty—wrinkles, a crooked nose, and a mole on his forehead individualize Elliott’s likeness. Thompson and Elliott shared the distinction of being New York’s leading portraitists working in a realist vein, the former in marble and bronze, the latter in paint. Even if the painter did not sit for his portrait prior to his death in August 1868, the sculptor had access to visual aids such as photographs.

Artist

Launt Thompson

Date

1870

Medium

Marble

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Samuel P. Avery, 1890