Hamilton Grange Foyer Collection

This marble bust has been passed through the Hamilton family before being donate to the Grange.

NPS Photo

Marble Bust

Italian Neoclassical sculptor Giuseppe Ceracchi arrived in America in 1791 with a sense of awe for the new country. He spent the next two years creating busts of American Founding Fathers, including Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson. His plan was to enshrine these men with a “reputation distingué” --a distinguished reputation, and to preserve the ideals of “American liberty and independence”.

Ceracchi planned to use the busts to create a Neoclassical monument for the newly fledged nation. In a letter to Hamilton in 1792, he gave a thorough description of what he wished to create: a monument, 60 feet tall, with a 700-foot circumference. Washington would be featured in bronze atop a horse, surrounded by about a dozen other Founding Fathers, most of them 15 feet tall. To pay for this project, Ceracchi estimated a cost of about 50,000 guineas.

Ultimately, congress decided not to pursue the creation of this monument, citing a financial reluctance to participate in the project. A few years following, in March of 1796, Hamilton recorded in his cash book an expense for $620, for “this sum through delicacy paid upon Cherachi’s [sic] draft for making my bust on his own importunity & as a favour to him”. Hamilton received his bust, and it is unclear where he displayed it during his lifetime.

After his death, Hamilton’s bust aided in his remembrance. Some of the most well-known portraits of Hamilton that exist today, including one by John Trumbull in 1806, were painted posthumously, with the Ceracchi bust as the model. [more info on Trumbull portrait with the outstretched hand]

This well-known painting by John Trumbull was painted after Hamilton's death in 1806, using Ceracchi's bust as the model.

John Trumbull, 1806. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Henry Cabot Lodge.

After his death, Hamilton’s bust aided in his remembrance. Some of the most well-known portraits of Hamilton that exist today, including one by John Trumbull in 1806, were painted posthumously, with the Ceracchi bust as the model. [more info on Trumbull portrait with the outstretched hand]

Copies of the bust were created for use in public spaces where Hamilton held influence and made contributions. One copy was purchased for Thomas Jefferson and put on display in Monticello, Jefferson’s country home. The bust is still displayed opposite from Jefferson, a symbolic nod to the famous political and philosophical rivalry the two shared in life.

However, the original bust stayed in the Hamilton family until 1896. Elizabeth, Alexander’s widow, kept the bust until her death in 1854. Reportedly, it served as a focal point for her remembrance of him. As a visitor to Eliza recalled, she “always paused before it in her tour of the rooms, and leaning on her cane, gazed and gazed...” and remembered her late husband as “My Hamilton”.

This simple bust, depicting Hamilton in white marble with a soft smile and determined demeanor, was humble in comparison to Ceracchi’s vision to enshrine the Founding Fathers as colossi. It reveals that Hamilton was a human that left behind much at his death: a family, a career, and a grand stature in the American story.

This full-length portrait hangs in the Hamilton Grange foyer.

NPS Photo

Full-Length Portrait

Portrait, Alexander HamiltonArtist: Adrian Stymets Lamb (1901-1988)Oil painting, wood frame62 1/2 x 90 1/4c. 1981Copy of full -length portrait of Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull (original c. 1792). This copy was purchased by the New York Chamber of Commerce and Industry when the Trumbull painting was sold. It has remained in the possession on the Partnership for New York City, the successor organization, and is a gift from the Partnership for New York City.Adrian Lamb was born in New York City. He attended the Art Students League, followed by study abroad where he developed his talent as a portrait painter. Among his many subjects are David Rockefeller and Joseph P. Kennedy. His best-known work may be his copy of an 1848 portrait of Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts. Lamb's Portrait was commissioned by the Special Committee on the Senate Reception Room and was installed in the Senate Reception Room of the U.S. Capital.