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Statue of Alexander Hamilton (Boston)

Coordinates: 42°21′12.4″N 71°4′20.8″W / 42.353444°N 71.072444°W / 42.353444; -71.072444
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Statue of Alexander Hamilton
The statue in 2017
Map
ArtistWilliam Rimmer
MediumGranite sculpture
SubjectAlexander Hamilton
LocationBoston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Coordinates42°21′12.4″N 71°4′20.8″W / 42.353444°N 71.072444°W / 42.353444; -71.072444

A statue of Alexander Hamilton by William Rimmer is installed along Commonwealth Avenue, between Arlington and Berkeley Streets, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

Description

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The 1864–1865 granite statue measures approximately 10 ft. x 3 ft. 4 in. x 3 ft. 4 in., and rests on a granite base measuring 8 ft. 5 in. x 5 ft. 4 in. x 5 ft. 4 in. The base has three relief portrait busts depicting Hamilton, John Jay, and George Washington.

History

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The artwork was surveyed by the Smithsonian Institution's "Save Outdoor Sculpture!" program in 1993.[1]

Reception

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The statue was widely regarded as a failure by nineteenth-century commentators. The critic George B. Woods stated that Hamilton appeared to be "swathed like an infant or a mummy."[2] William H. Downes wrote that it "suggested a snow image which had partly melted."[2] Lincoln Kirstein, writing in 1961, offered a more favorable assessment, commenting that "the mass and its drapery are powerfully suggestive, anticipating Rodin's Balzac in the looming treatment of the rising form."[2]

References

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  1. ^ "Alexander Hamilton, (sculpture)". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c Kirstein, Lincoln (1961). "William Rimmer: His Life and Art". The Massachusetts Review. 2 (4): 685–716. JSTOR 25086738.
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