Erastus Dow Palmer (April 2, 1817March 9, 1904) was an American sculptor.

Life

Palmer was born in

Pompey, New York Pompey is a town in the southeast part of Onondaga County, New York. The population was 7,080 at the time of the 2010 census. The town was named after the Roman general and political leader Pompey by a late 18th-century clerk interested in the Clas ...

. He was the second of nine children. He showed early artistic promise, and pursued his father's trade of carpentry. Palmer married Matilda Alton in 1839 and had a son, but both mother and child died soon after; he remarried, to Mary Jean Seamans, in 1840, and settled in

Utica, New York Utica () is a Administrative divisions of New York, city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The List of cities in New York, tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 ...

. In his leisure moments as a carpenter Palmer started by carving portraits in cameo, and earned the encouragement of Thomas R. Walker, a local art patron in Utica, who introduced him to prominent artists in New York City. By 1849, Palmer had relocated to Albany with his family and had transitioned from cameo-cutting to large-scale sculpture. He worked in a primarily neoclassical style. Palmer mounted an exhibition of twelve of his sculptures, known as "the Palmer Marbles," at the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...

in 1856, aiding his rise to prominence. His major works include ''The White Captive'' (1858) in the permanent collection of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, New York, ''Peace in Bondage'' (1863), ''Angel at the Sepulchre'' (1865), in Albany, New York, a bronze statue of ''Chancellor

Robert R. Livingston Robert Robert Livingston (November 27, 1746 (Old Style November 16) – February 26, 1813) was an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat from New York, as well as a Founding Father of the United States. He was known as "The Chancellor", afte ...

'' (1874), in Statuary Hall,

Capitol A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity. Specific capitols include: * United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. * Numerous ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and many portrait busts. Palmer died at his home in Albany on March 9, 1904, and is buried in

Albany Rural Cemetery The Albany Rural Cemetery was established October 7, 1844, in Colonie, New York, United States, just outside the city of Albany, New York. It is renowned as one of the most beautiful, pastoral cemeteries in the U.S., at over . Many historical Am ...

. Palmer admired the work of

William Cullen Bryant William Cullen Bryant (November 3, 1794 – June 12, 1878) was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the ''New York Evening Post''. Born in Massachusetts, he started his career as a lawyer but showed an interest in poetry ...

Asher B. Durand Asher Brown Durand (August 21, 1796, – September 17, 1886) was an American painter of the Hudson River School. Early life Durand was born in, and eventually died in, Maplewood, New Jersey (then called Jefferson Village). He was the eighth ...

, and

Frederic Edwin Church Frederic Edwin Church (May 4, 1826 – April 7, 1900) was an American landscape painter born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters, best known for painting large landscapes, ...

. Palmer was a friend of Church, and his work is represented in the collection at

Olana Olana State Historic Site is a historic house museum and landscape in Greenport, New York, near the city of Hudson. The estate was home to Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900), one of the major figures in the Hudson River School of landscape pa ...

, Church's home in

Hudson, New York Hudson is a city and the county seat of Columbia County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 5,894. Located on the east side of the Hudson River and 120 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, it was named for the rive ...

. The

Albany Institute of History & Art The Albany Institute of History & Art (AIHA) is a museum in Albany, New York, United States, "dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting and promoting interest in the history, art, and culture of Albany and the Upper Hudson Valley region". ...

also has significant holdings of Palmer's sculpture. Palmer's son,

Walter Launt Palmer Walter Launt Palmer (August 1, 1854 – April 16, 1932) was an American Impressionist painter. Palmer's father Erastus Dow Palmer was a prominent sculptor, and the family residence was frequented by his father's friends, notably Frederic Edwin Ch ...

(1854–1932), was also an artist best known for his paintings of winter scenes. Erastus Palmer - Captive blanche

Notes

Sources

External links

Art and the empire city: New York, 1825-1861
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Palmer (see index)
Marble Statue Female Nude and others

Painting by Walter Launt Palmer

Overview of an archival collection on Erastus Dow Palmer. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Erastus Dow 1817 births 1904 deaths American male sculptors 19th-century American sculptors 19th-century American male artists Burials at Albany Rural Cemetery Artists from Albany, New York