Daniel Webster

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

Thomas Ball modeled Daniel Webster prior to receiving his first formal training in sculpture. A Massachusetts native, Ball admired the great orator and was inspired to create this full-length statuette a year after Webster’s death. Despite the mid-19th-century taste for Neoclassicism, Ball rendered his figure with decided naturalism. Webster stands assuredly with his right hand tucked Napoleon-like into his lapel, yet Ball likewise portrayed the senator’s rumpled clothing and round waistline. A commercial success, Daniel Webster was one of the earliest sculptures in the U.S. to be patented and mass-produced. The artwork later inspired two monumental versions, one of which stands in Central Park in New York.

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