Printed circular letter praising Edward Augustus Brackett: "Shipwrecked Mother and Child"

HORATIO GREENOUGH TO RICHARD H. DANA PRAISING EDWARD AUGUSTUS BRACKETT'S SHIPWRECKED MOTHER AND CHILD, BASED ON THE DEATH OF MARGARET FULLER AND HER SON SIGNED BY EDWARD EVERETT

GREENOUGH, Horatio, American sculptor, 1805-1852. Printed circular letter, 1p., 4to, to Richard Henry Dana. Boston, Feb. 23, 1852. Ship

Docketed in manuscript "Edwd Everett/ Chairman/ Committee Athenaeum." Everett played a major role in the life and careers of a number of artists, including sculptor Horatio Greenough. Hand addressed and stamped for mailing to Ebenezer Francis, Esq. (1775-1858), "the well-known millionaire," on State St. [Boston]. Francis was a merchant, financier, and Dirctor of the Boston Bank and President of Suffolk Bank. Brackett's "Shipwrecked Mother and Child, a well-known and controversial marble sculpture was inspired by the drowning of renowned feminist and transcendentalist Margaret Fuller and her family off of Long Island in 1850."-Tufts University exhibit. It is considered the masterwork, of Edward Augustus Brackett (1818-1908), although it was controversial because Brackett chose to render the figures in the nude. Here is a full page of praise for the sculpture by Horatio Greenough, who says "I can only say, that, if a Subscription is organized to purchase this work for some public institution, I shall be happy to contribute my mite for the object." Brackett had to rely on his brother Walter and Richard Henry Dana for support in completing his sculpture. First exhibited in New York, the sculpture was displayed in the Boston Athenaeum from 1854 until the early 1900s, then returned to the artist. In 1904 Brackett gave it to the WAM where it was displayed for some years before being put into storage. Relegated to the basement of WAM from which it was "roused" after 80 years, it was slated for a 12 to 18 months restoration (see the articles in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, November 10, 2019, and December 4th. Not in OCLC, but partially quoted by Maggie M. Cao, The Entropic History of Ice (Sterling and Francis Clark Art Museum, 2018), from Kasson, Marble Queens and Captives, p. 36. Folded for mailing. 84658