Bowdoin College Museum of Art | - Bust of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Preview image of work. bronze, Bust of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 12034

2019.33

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Bust of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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Artist

Thomas Brock (1847 - 1922)

Title

Bust of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Creation Date

1884

Century

19th century

Dimensions

32 1/4 in. x 25 in. x 11 3/4 in. (81.92 cm x 63.5 cm x 29.85 cm)

Object Type

portrait

Creation Place

Europe, United Kingdom

Medium and Support

bronze

Credit Line

Gift of David G. Brown, Class of 1979, and Maureen E. Brown; John F. Cooper-Mullin, Class of 1975; and Alison Cooper-Mullin, Class of 1976; Kenneth W. Slutsky, Class of 1976; and Jacquelin A. Gorman, Class of 1976; and William S. Janes, Class of 1976 and Alice R. Janes

Copyright

This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s Copyright Terms and Conditions.

Accession Number

2019.33

In 1884, two years after the death of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Class of 1825, a marble bust of the famous poet by British sculptor Thomas Brock was unveiled in Poets’ Corner in London’s Westminster Abbey. Longfellow was the first American to be honored in this hallowed space. Given Longfellow’s wide popularity, replicas of the bust in marble, plaster, and bronze were produced and installed at various institutions and public venues, including Harvard University, where Longfellow taught, and the Portland City Hall, the town of his birth. Brock created the sculpture based on photographs of the poet. A member of the Royal Academy, Brock was famous for his memorial sculptures, most especially his large monument to Queen Victoria that was commissioned for the front of London’s Buckingham Palace.