Frederick Douglass – Item #440 Caproni Collection

27.5 Inches High x 18 Inches Wide x 10 Inches Deep

In 2019, the Providence Athenaeum in Providence, Rhode Island commissioned the Caproni Collection and its sister company Skylight Studios, Inc. to sculpt a reproduction of the bust of Frederick Douglass by Johnson Mundy held in the collection of the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York. The Providence Athenaeum was beginning a mission to add to its collection of sculpted portrait busts ones that represented figures who were writers, who left an important legacy, who had a connection to Providence, and who would diversify the collection of portrait busts in race and gender. To accomplish the reproduction of the bust of Douglass, the Caproni Collection used a series of techniques. First, we made a 3D print. The University of Rochester had previously 3D laser scanned the bust and made the resulting file available for public use, which led to our creation of a print from the file. We then used clay to augment the details of the print, using photographs of the original sculpture as reference to make the final model as accurate as possible. Next, we made a mold of the model. Then we used the mold to pour a plaster cast of the bust that finally was patinated to the Athenaeum’s specifications. The Douglass bust now sits in the main hall of the library accompanied by many other busts and sculptures. The Providence Athenaeum generously granted us permission to add the reproduced Frederick Douglass bust to our historic collection and to produce copies for our customers. The Caproni Collection and the Athenaeum realize the importance of diversifying the figures represented in both of our collections and in making available to a wider audience Mundy’s beautiful artwork of a well-known and respected figure in American history.

Johnson Mundy was commissioned by the citizens of Rochester to sculpt a marble bust of Douglass from life after the writer left for Washington, D.C. in 1872. The men both lived in Rochester for some decades during the second half of the 19^th century. The artwork was dedicated at a public ceremony at the University of Rochester on June 17, 1879. A few months later, on March 23, 1880, Douglass wrote a letter to Mundy describing his satisfaction with his likeness, saying “The more I look at the bust, the better I like it. There is a fullness and a completeness about it which I have not often found in that class of work. Its rigid truth strikes at once, and I am content to be made known through this specimen of your art to all who may come after me, and who may wish to know how I looked in the world.” His words are an important confirmation of the truthfulness of the portrait.

Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was a human rights advocate, author, and orator. Born into slavery in Maryland, Douglass eventually escaped when he was around 20 years old, settling in Massachusetts. His experiences, as well as his lessons in reading and writing given to him by his owner’s wife, formed the young man into a passionate and eloquent abolitionist and human rights advocate. Douglass spoke at anti-slavery conventions, promoted rights for freedmen, and staunchly supported women’s rights. He published an autobiography that has become a classic in American literature, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, and ran an abolitionist newspaper, The North Star. He spoke abroad in Britain and Ireland and gained abolition supporters there, as well as enough funds from them to secure his freedom upon his return to America. In his day, Douglass held the highest ranks for a Black citizen in the U.S. government. He was first a counsel to President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Later he served in such roles as marshal in the District of Columbia (D.C.) and as U.S. minister and consul general to Haiti. Douglass was one of the most famous people in America and is thought to have been the most-photographed individual of the 19^th century.

New York sculptor and painter Johnson Marchant Mundy’s (1831-1897) most well-known works are the statue of a Civil War soldier in a monument in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Tarrytown, New York, a plaster statue of author Washington Irving, and portraits of respected figures in the Rochester, New York area such as Martin B. Anderson, the University of Rochester’s first president. Mundy settled in Rochester for many years, and he established quite the reputation there, gaining commissions and being at the center of the art scene. In 1880, he founded an art school in the city. His deteriorating eyesight left him unable to paint, but he continued to sculpt – more and more by touch – and to teach during the last years of his life which he spent in Tarrytown.

Artist: Johnson Marchant Mundy

Museum: University of Rochester, New York

Time Period: Modern, 1879

Sources:

Biography.com Editors. “Frederick Douglass Biography.” The Biography.com Website, A&E Television Networks, 5 Jan. 2021, https:///activist/frederick-douglass.

“The Bust Project.” The Providence Athenaeum, https://providenceathenaeum.org/collections/the-bust-project/.

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Frederick Douglass.” Encyclopædia Britannica, https:///biography/Frederick-Douglass.  

“Frederick Douglass.” The Providence Athenaeum, https://providenceathenaeum.org/collections/the-bust-project/frederick-douglass/.

“Johnson Mundy.” askART, https:///artist/Johnson_Marchant_Mundy/5038490/Johnson_Marchant_Mundy.aspx. 

Levin, Yisrael. “‘I am content to be made known through this specimen of your art to all who may come after me.'” Newscenter, University of Rochester, 27 June 2018, https:///story/news/2018/07/25/frederick-douglass-sculptor-failing-eye-sight-remarkable-rochesterians/827572002/.

Memmott, Jim. “Making the Case for Frederick Douglass’ Connection with UR.” Democrat & Chronicle, 18 July 2018, https:///story/news/local/columnists/memmott/2018/07/18/frederick-douglass-ur-john-muller-book/790729002/.

Swann Auction Galleries. “Frederick Douglass, Lots 185-197: 194. Douglass, Frederick. Letter to the sculptor of his well-known bust, praising the work.” Public Auction Sale 2471 – Printed & Manuscript African Americana, March 29, 2018, pp. 134. Swann Auction Galleries, https:///3dcat/2471/134/#zoom=z.