Background
Erastus Dow Palmer was born on April 2, 1817 in Pompey, New York, United States. He was the son of Erastus Dow and Laurinda (Ball) Palmer.
Erastus Dow Palmer was born on April 2, 1817 in Pompey, New York, United States. He was the son of Erastus Dow and Laurinda (Ball) Palmer.
Erastus had only six months of schooling. In 1873 Union College conferred upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts.
Palmer's first business was carpentry. It is recorded that at the age of nine he constructed a little sawmill, which became the marvel of the townfolk, and that at twelve he was an expert in making window sashes. At seventeen, with two other boys, he set forth on foot to seek his fortune in the western part of the state. Of the three he alone reached Dunkirk, on Lake Erie, where for six years he earned good wages. He next moved eastward to Amsterdam, New York, where again he found plenty to do, not only in simple carpentry, but also in wood-carving and cabinet making. After his marriage, he went to Utica, and there built his house. Having seen and admired certain shell cameos, he attempted a cameo portrait of his wife. Though he knew nothing of the technique of the craft, and indeed was obliged to devise the necessary tools, his result was excellent. It met the approval of a connoisseur, who gave an order for his own portrait, and before long Palmer turned from carpentry to cameo-cutting as a means of livelihood.
His precise eye and delicate skill of hand found such favor that within two years he had carved two hundred cameos, some of them "perfect gems, " according to Tuckerman. When the delicate work proved a strain on his eyes, at the suggestion of his patron he began to express his ideas in the ampler medium of clay. His first effort, the "Infant Ceres, ' modeled from one of his children, was successful. When carved in marble, the bust attracted attention at the 1850 exhibition of the National Academy of Design, and Palmer was taken into the Academy as an honorary member.
In 1846 he had moved to Albany where his career as a sculptor, already auspiciously begun, was to continue for a quarter-century. Pleasing bas-reliefs of winged heads called "Morning Star" and "Evening Star" were followed by the "Spirit's Flight, " "Mercy, " and "Faith. " The original of "Faith, " a large relief modeled in 1852, for St. Peter's Church, Albany, represents a draped female figure, standing with clasped hands before a cross. Photographs of this gentle composition had a wide popularity in American homes. It was not a masterly work, but its sweetness and simplicity appealed to the public. "Few photographic copies of any work of sculpture have had so large a sale". Palmer continued to occupy himself with reliefs and with ideal busts such as the "Infant Flora" and the "June, " the womanly "Resignation, " and the maidenly "Spring. "
Palmer continued to occupy himself with reliefs and with ideal busts such as the "Infant Flora" and the "June, " the womanly "Resignation, " and the maidenly "Spring. " It was not until 1856 that he produced the "Indian Girl, " now owned by the Metropolitan Museum. It was his first full-length marble statue and represented an Indian maid meditating upon a little cross found in the forest. Thus he was about thirty-nine years of age before he found the opportunity to model carefully a nude figure. The wonder is that his eye and hand served him so well. Powers' "Greek Slave, " at that time a familiar figure in sculpture, was produced in Florence, in an atmosphere of artistic tradition, while Palmer's "Indian Girl" of 1856 and his more beautiful "White Captive" of 1858 sprang up in virgin soil, not far from the edge of the wilderness. The "White Captive, " now in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, surrounded by sculptures of far greater sophistication, remains his finest work. It tells a story of the American Indian wars, just as the "Greek Slave" tells a story of European strife. It is a simple standing nude figure of a young white girl, awaiting her fate from her savage captors. "Nothing so fine, " wrote Lorado Taft, "had come over the seas from Italy; nothing so original, so dramatic, so human; nothing that could approach it, even in charm of workmanship". In 1864, the critic Jarves had expressed a contrary opinion. To him it suggested "meat and immodesty".
In 1857, Palmer, like other sculptors of his time, hoped that he might design a relief for the empty triangle in the gable of the House wing of the Capitol. Taking as his theme the landing of the Pilgrims, he composed an elaborate small-scale model for a large composition which he hoped would match and perhaps excel Crawford's "Past and Future of the Republic, " sculptured over the Senate wing. Utterly untrained though he was in such work, his efforts were encouraged by influential citizens, and he believed that the commission was to be his. It was perhaps fortunate that his design was rejected. The government paid him for his model but did not award the commission. Palmer was an individualist and firmly believed that beauty in art could be captured in his native state of New York as well as in Italy. His Albany studio, sixteen feet by eight feet, with its north light was said to be one of the best in the country. From that studio came a series of portrait busts in which Palmer's genius found triumphant expression, probably beyond anything that might have been attained in his pediment group. A bust of Alexander Hamilton was of necessity studied from various sources Ceracchi, Trumbull, Stuart, Robertson, Sharpless but most of the series were made from life. Among his notable sitters were Washington Irving, Moses Taylor, Erastus Corning, Governor Morgan, Dr. James H. Armsby, and Henry Burden.
By a sympathetic searching of American traits revealed with the skill of a hand disciplined from his childhood, the sculptor imparted a new vitality to portraiture in this field. Tuckerman devotes an eloquent paragraph to "marvels of plastic skill" such as the portrait of Mrs. McCormick; Taft states that "it is difficult to conceive a finer bust" than that of Henry Burden. In 1862, moved by the sacrifices of the Civil War, Palmer created his "Peace in Bondage, " a three-quarters' length winged female figure in marble, the nude torso, the head, the wings and the fragment of drapery being carved with a charm rare at that time. Three years later came the majestic seated "Angel of the Sepulchre, " an Albany Cemetery monument a draped male figure definitely prefiguring the noble quality to be attained in such work a generation later by Saint-Gaudens, who, like Palmer, had begun his career in art as a cameo-cutter.
It was not until 1873 that Palmer went abroad.
At the mature age of fifty-four, well prepared by his own experience as a creative artist, he visited European cities and enjoyed their treasures of art. For a few months he took a studio in Paris, there to work on his studies for his bronze statue of Chancellor Robert R. Livingston. This statue, ordered by the state of New York, was placed in the national Capitol in 1874. It was Palmer's last important work, but it shows no decline in his powers. The folds of the academic gown are skilfully disposed, and the hands beautifully modeled. A replica, shown at the Centennial of 1876, won a medal of the first class. Also among his works are "Pleasures of Memory, " "Emigrant Children, " "Sleeping Peri, " and "Ambush Chief. " He continued to create fine portrait busts, and in his Albany studio Jonathan Scott Hartley and Launt Thompson laid the foundations of their careers.
He died on March 9, 1904 in Albany. In the Albany Historical and Art Society, there is a collection of his models in plaster.
Erastus Dow Palmer is widely known for his notable works such as Indian Girl (1856), The White Captive (I858), Peace in Bondage (1863); Angel at the Sepulchre (1865), a bronze statue of Chancellor Robert R. Livingston (1874), anbd many others. He is rightly accounted a pioneer, because in such works as the "White Captive, " he was the first to endow American sculpture with that greatly needed liberating gift, lyric charm.
Erastus Dow Palmer was a member of the National Academy of Design.
From childhood, Erastus Dow Palmer had a sound body, a clear mind, a delight in beauty, and a skill of hand in expressing form. He learned much by systematic reading, as well as through intercourse with persons of culture who were attracted to him by his goodness and charm.
Erastus Dow Palmer was married to Mary Jane Seaman, daughter of a farmer in the neighborhood. A son, Walter Launt Palmer, born in Albany in 1854, gained recognition as a painter of winter landscapes.
