A statue of Alexander Hamilton by

William Rimmer William Rimmer (20 February 181620 August 1879) was an American artist born in Liverpool, England. Biography William Rimmer was the son of a French refugee, who emigrated to Nova Scotia, where he was joined by his wife and child in 1818, and ...

is installed along Commonwealth Avenue, between Arlington and Berkeley Streets, in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

, United States.

Description

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 John Jay (December 12, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, patriot, diplomat, abolitionist, signatory of the Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served as the second governor of New York and the f ...

, and

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

History

The artwork was surveyed by the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

's "

Save Outdoor Sculpture! Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS!) was a community-based effort to identify, document, and conserve outdoor sculpture in the United States. The program was initiated in 1989 and ended in 1999. History Save Outdoor Sculpture! was initiated by Herit ...

" program in 1993.

Reception

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." William H. Downes wrote that it "suggested a snow image which had partly melted." 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."

References

External links

* 1865 sculptures Statues of Alexander Hamilton George Washington in art Granite sculptures in Massachusetts John Jay Monuments and memorials in Boston Outdoor sculptures in Boston Sculptures of men in Massachusetts Statues in Boston {{Massachusetts-sculpture-stub