Talk:Hiram Powers

Untitled
Someone should write an article about the Greek Slave.

I was thinking that the list of his works could be better shown as a bullet list with two columns. Filious (06/02/07 7:15am EST)

Photographic portrait of Powers
I have reverted to the older, c. 1839 image of Hiram Powers with the bust of the Greek Slave. My reason is that it is older, not as digitally massaged as the image in oval form, and does not carry the contemporary advertisement for Risorgimento's Lombardi Historical Collection. This advertisement is not an orignal part of the c. 1863 image. Any credit given to this collection should appear in the image summary, not on the image itself. Please review Wikipedia policy on self-promotion, advertising, and SPAM. Thanks. CApitol3 18:20, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

"America" for Crystal Palace
"When the London Crystal Palace was enlarged and rebuilt in the suburb of Sydenham in 1852 -54, a permanent display of representative pieces of contemporary sculpture was planned. Through the influence of George Peabody, Powers was asked to submit an enlarged copy of his America, and one hundred pounds was sent him to cover the cost of having the copy fabricated in plaster. Not wishing to involve his own studio personnel in the task, he instead hired Fantacchiotti. When the copy was finished and ready for inspection, Powers discovered that "a good deal of retouching" would be necessary and that the "measurements are mostly wrong. . . it would require at least 2 months. . . to make this attempted copy true to the original" which he reported to John Maquay on 13 February 1856. Rather than have a work of his represented in so untrue a reproduction, Fantacchiotti was paid for his labours out of Powers own pocket and the one hundred pounds was returned to Peabody. The copy was then destroyed at Power's orders."

Source: Hiram Powers: Vermont sculptor, 1805-1873, Volume 1 By Richard P. Wunder —Preceding unsigned comment added by Victorianaesthete (talk • contribs) 17:32, 14 September 2009 (UTC)

Swedenborgianism
There is no indication in the article that Powers was Swedenborgian, so I am removing the two categories. If someone adds text, with a reliable source, indicating that Powers was Swedenborgian, and that this is notable and relevant, the cats can be restored. At this point, they are not justified. ---  RepublicanJacobite  The'FortyFive' 03:33, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

I may have found a reliable source from the Internet Archive. It is a book about the genealogy of the Powers family titled "The Powers family: Genealogical and Historical Record of Walter Power And Some of His Descendants To The Ninth Generation" by Amos H. Powers of Chicago, IL dated 1884. Here is the link:

Hiram Powers is listed on pages 116-119. At the bottom of page 119 it states that he was "devoted to the Swedenborgian church". I hope this helps.Joyinpdx (talk) 21:54, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

Bremer story on "Hell" contruction
Fredrika Bremer tells the following story in The Homes of the New World (Letter XXVIII, v. 2, pp. 373-374, 1854):

Many Swedes are resident at this place [Cincinnati], and among them several who, after having been unsuccessful in the Old World, have succeeded in the New, and are now in comfortable circumstances. One of these has made his fortune by exhibiting “Hell,” a youthful production of the American sculptor, Hiram Powers, who was born in Cincinnati, worked here at a watchmaker's, and here commenced various works of art. Among these was a mechanical, moving representation of Hell. The Swede purchased it, set it up in a kind of museum, invited people to come and see how things went on in Hell, passed some violent electric shocks among them, accompanied by thunder and lightning, and is now a rich man, with wife, children, and country-house, all acquired by his representation of Hell!

This sounds kind of like the Dante's Inferno story currently in the article, but different. Library Guy (talk) 22:12, 16 March 2021 (UTC)