Art Institute of Chicago

Daniel Webster

Thomas Ball (American, 1819–1911)

Date

Modeled and cast 1853

Medium

Bronze

Culture

Chicopee

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Thomas Ball modeled Daniel Webster prior to receiving his first formal training in sculpture. A Massachusetts native, Ball admired the great orator and was inspired to create this full-length statuette a year after Webster’s death. Despite the mid-19th-century taste for Neoclassicism, Ball rendered his figure with decided naturalism. Webster stands assuredly with his right hand tucked Napoleon-like into his lapel, yet Ball likewise portrayed the senator’s rumpled clothing and round waistline. A commercial success, Daniel Webster was one of the earliest sculptures in the U.S. to be patented and mass-produced. The artwork later inspired two monumental versions, one of which stands in Central Park in New York.

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