Born near Woodstock, Vermont in 1805, Hiram Powers went on to become America’s premier Neoclassical sculptor of the 19th century. Powers inadvertently found sculpture through his first career as a watchmaker in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was asked to create and mechanize wax figurines of characters from Dante’s Divine Comedy for Joseph Dorfeuille’s Western Museum, and from there found his talent and passion for sculpture. After this he began to study with portrait sculptor Frederick Eckstein, who taught him how to make clay models and plaster casts. He began to receive portrait commissions, which brought him to the attention of patron Nicholas Longworth, who paid for him to make the move to Washington, D.C. It was in the nation’s capital that Powers completed his portrait bust of President Andrew Jackson, modeled from life. This high-profile commision brought him more portrait work, notably those of John Colhoun and John Quincy Adams. The patronage of Colonel John S. Preston allowed him to move to Florence, where more marble and workmen awaited him. When he arrived, renowned sculptor Horatio Greenough helped him get settled in, and eventually influenced his style. In 1846 New Orleans railroad financier James Robb commissioned Powers’ most famous work, The Greek Slave. At the time nudity in art was not accepted in the States. However, because the slave was understood to be a Christian, naked not by choice, the work became the first widely accepted nude in the United States. It toured around the country, bringing Powers an even further-reaching reputation as a spectacular sculptor. After this he was commissioned to do portraits of Benjamin Franklin (1862) and Thomas Jefferson (1863) [Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.]. Hiram Powers died of pneumonia in Florence in 1873. Today he is heralded as America’s premier Neoclassical sculptor of the 19th century.