lawyer painter politician sculptor
John Stevens Cogdell was born on September 19, 1778 in Charleston (or Georgetown), South Carolina, United States. He was the son of George Cogdell, a captain in a South Carolina regiment, and Elizabeth Stevens, mistress of a girls’ school.
John received his grounding in English from his mother and later was graduated from the College of Charleston. When about seventeen, he entered the law office of William Johnson, Jr. , and in 1799 was admitted to the bar.
In June 1800, for the sake of his health, Cogdell made with his brother Richard an eight months’ voyage to the Mediterranean. Prior to this trip he had shown no great inclination for art although he had at times found amusement in making copies of prints in watercolor. In Italy, however, his ambition was fired by the paintings he saw and and by a visit to Canova. Though handicapped by ill health, he took up oil painting and drawing from plaster casts and soon tried painting from life, doing portraits of many of his friends as gifts.
On his return to Charleston from Europe he began the practise of law. In spite of his profession he found time to paint. As a gift to a former instructor, the Reverend Simon Gallagher, he painted a “Crucifixion” which the latter placed in St. Mary’s Church. He likewise did a picture for the orphanage and numerous heads and landscapes for his friends. He made several visits to northern cities and on one of his trips to Boston, in 1825, he was persuaded by Washington Allston to attempt modeling in clay.
In the following year he studied anatomy and made a clay head of his professor. A number of his earliest busts were exhibited at the Athenaeum in Boston. Greatly desirous of visiting Europe with his wife, he had nearly accumulated the necessary funds when a prominent New York banker induced him to invest in his bank, which failed and left Cogdell ruined. Fortunately he could fall back on his profession and his position in the customs. He had been elected to the state House of Representatives in 1810, 1814, 1816, and 1818. In this last year he was made comptroller general of South Carolina but resigned during his second term to become naval officer of the custom-house in 1821. From 1832 until his death he was president of the Bank of South Carolina.
He seems not to have given up his art, however, for he made a tablet to the memory of his mother in St. Phillip’s Church. The National Academy of Design, besides the bust already mentioned, has one of General Ruckney and the Pennsylvania Academy has two. Failing health compelled Cogdell to give up active employment some time before his death which took place in Charleston. As a sculptor he is interesting in that he belongs to an early epoch of American art and in that, coming from a section where sculpture was little known, he acquired through his own effort a certain proficiency in that art.
Cogdell achieved his fame as a successful lawyer and sculptor. His favorite works were the busts of Dr. Holbrook, Stephen Elliott, Lafayette, Gen. Moultrie (one cast was given to Congress, one also in the National Academy of Design), Scott (cast, dated 1834, owned by Charleston Library Society), and Washington. He also made busts from memory of Judge De Saussure, Judge Elihu H. Bay, and Bishop England. He was instrumental in the formation of the Academy of Art in Charleston.
In 1806 Gogdell married Maria Gilchrist.
