James Henry Haseltine was an American sculptor. He also participated in the American Civil War.
Background
James Henry Haseltine was born on November 2, 1833, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, the third of the eleven children of John and Elizabeth Stanley (Shinn) Haseltine, his parents being of American birth and English ancestry. His father was a prosperous merchant; his mother, as revealed in a portrait by Sully, was notably beautiful. A brother, William Stanley, was a painter and became a member of the National Academy of Design. A still younger brother, Charles Field, dealt in pictures and founded the Haseltine Art Galleries in Philadelphia. Clearly the family had artistic affiliations.
Education
James studied sculpture under the French sculptor Joseph A. Bailly at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Career
After graduation James Haseltine went to Paris and to Rome to pursue his art but in 1861 returned to enlist in the Union army, being mustered into service in September of that year. On March 1, 1863, he was promoted from captain to major, Company E, 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry, 70th Regiment. He was discharged November 12, 1863, and returned to his studies.
Like his brother the painter, James spent most of his life abroad, chiefly in Rome, but also in Florence and in Paris. During his self-imposed exile, he sent home many works, pseudo-classic in type, and commented upon by critics of the day. Among these were “Superstition, ” a heathen mother sacrificing her child to Moloch, and “Religion, ” a Christian mother presenting her child for baptism. His marble “Excelsior” Tuckerman considered an effective representation of aspiring youth, while his “New Wine, ” “America Victorious, ” and "Grateful and Ungrateful Love” he praised as having been “conceived with vividness and executed with skill. ”
Haseltine also worked in portraiture, making studies of a number of well-known contemporaries. Among these were busts of the poets Longfellow and T. B. Read, and the generals Forsyth, Hartsuff, Merritt, and Sheridan. At the Centennial Exposition of 1876 he exhibited three figures, “Spring Flowers, ” “Captivity, ” and “Lucretia. ” During the last years of Haseltine’s life little was heard of him. He died in Rome.
Achievements
James Haseltine was famous as a portrait sculptor of historical figures including General Philip Sheridan and of patriotic genre. His most famous work, "America Honoring Her Fallen Brave, " was done for the Philadelphia Union League Club; it still stands at the club today.
Membership
Haseltine was a member of the National Academy of Design.
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
"Haseltine is perhaps too eager to express his fancies in marble embodiment and his “America Victorious, ” though spirited, has perhaps overmuch of symbolism in its details. ” - Samuel Osgood
Connections
On July 5, 1881, in Paris, Haseltine was married to Marie N. F. Trombetti.
