14.5 Inches High x 13 Inches Wide x 6.5 Inches Deep
This piece is from the bust of Longfellow. The striking, white marble bust of the great American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) was unveiled in March of 1884, two years after his death, in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey in London. Longfellow was the first American to receive this honor. His grave can be found in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Sculptor Sir Thomas Brock (1847-1922) depicted Longfellow wearing a toga to represent the honorary Doctorate of Letters that Oxford University presented to him in the late 1860s. A plaster or marble replica of the original marble was presented to Harvard University by King Edward VII, then Prince of Wales. From this replica, through the courtesy of Harvard President Charles William Eliot (president from 1869-1909), our predecessor P.P. Caproni and Brother was allowed to make a mold. The company offered the reproduction for sale in its first catalog published in 1894. The Caproni Collection (formerly the Giust Gallery) created the mask from its antique Caproni plaster bust in 2018.
Artist: Thomas Brock
Location: Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey, London
Time Period: Modern, 1884
Sources:
“The Bust of Longfellow.” The Harvard Crimson, 23 Jan. 1885. The Harvard Crimson, Inc., http:///long/blogs/english-longfellow-memorial-association-book.htm.
The Dean and Chapter of Westminster. “Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.” Westminster Abbey, 2018, http:///biography/Thomas-Brock.
“Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.” Poetry Foundation, 2018, par. 26, https:///poets/henry-wadsworth-longfellow.