AFTER A MODEL BY GIUSEPPE CERACCHI (1751-1802), ITALIAN, CIRCA 1816 | HERM PORTRAIT BUST OF GEORGE WASHINGTON

This marble bust of Washington relates closely to another version of the model in the collection of the White House. Both busts, carved with bare chests all'antica and squared bases, are after Guiseppi Ceracchi's portrait of Washington in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. no. 14.58.235). The White House bust has been dated to circa 1815. In 1809 Thomas Appleton, the American consul at Livorno, acquired the original plaster model of Ceracchi's portrait from his fellow Consul, William Lee in Bordeaux. Lee had multiplied the likeness on a small scale before he sold the plaster, and Appleton continued to do so, exporting the busts to the United States for sale. In 1816 Appleton paid the sculptor Massimiliano Ravenna 100 francs for four "Busts of Washington to be Deliver'd & Afterwards to be sent to the U. S." They were to be sold for $80 each. Appleton later sent four larger-than-life and two colossal versions of the portrait. It seems likely that the present bust, like the White House version, can be identified as one of the four busts commissioned by Appleton in 1816. Another version of the model was sold at Christies New York for $83,650 (15-16 January 2004, lot 522.)

RELATED LITERATURE

P. Fehl, 'The Account Book of Thomas Appleton of Livorno: A Document in the History of American Art, 1802-1825, in Winterthur Portfolio, vol. 9, 1974, pp. 123-151; C. Sicca, 'Il Negozio di Giacinto Micali e figlio in Livorno ove si trovano ogni sorte di Mercanzie e oggetti die Belle Arti in Marmo', in L. Passeggia (ed.), Carrara e il mercato della scultura. Arte, gusto e cultura materiale in Italia, Europa e Stati Uniti tra XVIII e XIX secolo, Milan, 2005, pp. 78-85