Collection Highlights
The Course of Empire: Destruction
Date:
1836
Object Number:
1858.4
Medium:
Oil on canvas (relined)
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Museum Collections
Luce Center
Benjamin Silliman (1779-1864)
Object Number:
X.55
Date:
1860
Medium:
Cream painted and overpainted plaster
Dimensions:
Overall: 32 1/4 x 21 1/8 x 12 in. ( 81.9 x 53.7 x 30.5 cm )
Marks:
inscribed: back of bust: "C B Ives. 1860"
inscribed: back of under bust in red: "S-59" [old N-YHS cat #]
inscribed: back of under bust in pencil: "59" [written twice]
Description:
Portrait bust
Gallery Label:
The subject was a chemist, geologist, and professor at Yale College. He was the first to encourage the study of geology in America, and was one of the most learned and well-traveled men of his time. Through his marriage to Harriet Trumbull he became related to the artist John Trumbull, and was instrumental in obtaining the large collection of the painter's work which is owned by Yale University. This portrait bust is a replica of one Ives modeled about 1839 or 1840 and exhibited in 1841 at NAD.
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
