America

Hiram Powers

1850–54; carved after 1854 · Marble · The American Wing

Powers modeled his personification of "America" as a bust after completing a full-length version intended to "embody the political creed of our country." The youthful maiden wears a diadem with thirteen stars referring to the thirteen original colonies, which the sculptor saw as "giving majesty and dignity." America was among the most popular of Powers’s idealized busts, and he reaped a steady profit from it, replicating it at least twenty-eight times.

Artist

Hiram Powers

Date

1850–54; carved after 1854

Medium

Marble

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. William A. M. Burden Jr., 1966