Letter from GEORGE PERKINS MARSH to SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD, dated May 6, 1881.
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I have this day visited the studio of Mr W. W. Story and inspected the colossal statue of the late Professor Henry, upon which Mr Story has been for some months engaged in Execution of a contract with the government of the United States for that purpose
The statue is finished in clay ready for the plaster caster, and as good a judgment of the work can now be formed as if it were complete in bronze.
I find the figure dignified and graceful, the attitite not distorted or disturbed by
action unsuited to the character and personal habits of the original, but easy,
natural, and marked by the calm repose which the
symmetry of his countenance
and whole person so well expressed.
In the costume, upon which so much of the effect of statuary depends, Mr Story has been very successful by adopting an academic garb which sufficiently shows the whole frame, and at the same time avoids the difficulty of the intractability of our modern habiliments for plastic purposes.
As to the likeness, I can speak with confidence, having been well acquainted with Prof Henry for may years. Mr Story, though he had the disadvantage of not personally knowing his subject and was, therefore, obliged to rely on photographs and descriptions of him, has given his work features and an expression which are not only at once recognizable as those of Prof Henry, but will be, I think, satisfactory to his numerous friends as a faithful reproduction of the lineaments of the orignal.
George P Marsh
References in this letter:
William Wetmore Story (1819-1895), a graduate of Harvard Law School, eventually left the law for sculpture, settling in Rome. Two of his most famous pieces, both reflecting an interest in exotic subjects, are "Cleopatra" (1858) and "The Libyan Sibyl" (1861).
Trained as a physicist, Joseph Henry (1797-1878) was professor of natural philosophy at Princeton University where he conducted original research on electricity and magnetism. When the Smithsonian Institution was created, he was chosen as its first Secretary. From 1846 to 1878 Henry established basic policies and defined the scope of the Smithsonian's activities.