Permanent Collection

 Sculpture

Southern Alleghenies

Museum of Art

Thomas Dow Jones

(American,  1811-1881)

Abraham Lincoln., 1861

Bronze, 28" x 21" x 15"

Gift of the Franciscan Friars, St. Francis University, Loretto

(74.011)

 

 

 

 
Among Thomas Dow Jones' most important works is a bust of Abraham Lincoln commissioned by the leading Republicans of Cincinnati.  It was modeled  in the early days of 1861, before Lincoln left for Washington, and is one of the earliest depictions of the famous president (the first to show him with a beard). Arriving in Springfield, Illinois, on Christmas Day of 1860 with an introductory letter from Ohio Governor Salmon P. Chase, Jones rented a room on the top floor of the St. Nicholas Hotel.  Lincoln consented to sit for him one hour a day.  It is said that Lincoln enjoyed the quiet time away from the tumult of his impending inauguration and that he read or worked quietly during the sittings.

A sculptor and medallionist, Jones was born December 11, 1811, in Oneida County, New York.  He moved to Ohio in the 1830s and began working in Cincinnati as a stone-mason.  By 1842 he was sculpting portrait busts. Jones received commissions in Cincinnati as well as in Boston, New York, Detroit and Nashville.  In 1851 he moved to New York City and in 1853 was elected an Associate Member of the National Academy.  In addition to portrait busts, he also produced numerous profile bas‑relief medallion portraits which were usually cast in plaster.  His famous works include medallions of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster and a marble bust of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase which is now in the Supreme Court Building.

Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art
Saint Francis University Mall

P.O. Box 9,

Loretto, Pennsylvania  15940
Phone: (814) 472-3920  

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