Powers, Hiram (1805-1873), was one of the best-known American sculptors of the mid-1800’s. His Greek Slave (1843), a full-length female nude, ranks among the most famous sculptures in American art. Praised as a symbol of beauty, virtue, and innocence, the marble statue helped establish the nude as an acceptable subject for art in the United States.
Powers was especially gifted at creating realistic portrait busts of famous people, including Andrew Jackson (1835) and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1869). His other works include Fisher Boy (1844), California (1850), Benjamin Franklin (1862), and Thomas Jefferson (1863). Powers was born on July 29, 1805, in Woodstock, Vermont. He died on June 27, 1873.
