Jonathan Scott Hartley, American sculptor, was born on September 23, 1845 at Albany, New York to Joseph Hartley (1816–1893) & Margaret (nee Scott) Hartley (1816–1901).
He was a teenager carving tombstones for a living when the sculptor Erastus Dow Palmer discovered him and became one his pupils. He apprenticed with Palmer for two years, developing his carving skills and knowledge of anatomy. With the older artist's encouragement, Hartley traveled to England to study at the Royal Academy, London; he later studied for a year in Berlin and for a year in Paris. His first important work (1882) was a statue of Miles Morgan, the Puritan, for Springfield, Massachusetts.
After training in London, Berlin, and Paris, Hartley ascended from the ranks of marble cutter to become a distinguished sculptor of portraits. He received particular notice for his portrait bust of his father-in-law, the esteemed American artist George Inness. In 1900, Hartley modeled the "George Inness Gold Medal," an award that honored excellence in landscape painting at the National Academy of Design’s annual exhibition from 1901 to 1918. The obverse features a portrait of Inness; the reverse bears an inscription designating the award to its recipient. In 1905, the year this medal was distributed, the winner was Edward Gay, whose landscape "Broad Acres" (87.1.8) is in the Metropolitan’s collection.
Among his other works are the Daguerre Memorial in Washington; Thomas K. Beecher, Elmira, New York, and Alfred the Great, Appellate Division Courthouse of New York State. He devoted himself particularly to the making of portrait busts, in which he attained high rank. In 1881 he became a member of the National Academy of Design.
He sculpted three of the nine busts around the front of the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. His Nathaniel Hawthorne, often mistaken for Mark Twain, has pride of place in the ornate west front gallery of the original Library of Congress building, finished in 1897. He also sculpted the Washington Irving and the Ralph Waldo Emerson. The Emerson bust is an exact likeness, as Hartley, and especially his supervisor, Ainsworth Rand Spofford, knew how prominent Emerson's nose actually was.
He passed away at his residence on December 6, 1912 at New York, New York, NY.
He was a teenager carving tombstones for a living when the sculptor Erastus Dow Palmer discovered him and became one his pupils. He apprenticed with Palmer for two years, developing his carving skills and knowledge of anatomy. With the older artist's encouragement, Hartley traveled to England to study at the Royal Academy, London; he later studied for a year in Berlin and for a year in Paris. His first important work (1882) was a statue of Miles Morgan, the Puritan, for Springfield, Massachusetts.
After training in London, Berlin, and Paris, Hartley ascended from the ranks of marble cutter to become a distinguished sculptor of portraits. He received particular notice for his portrait bust of his father-in-law, the esteemed American artist George Inness. In 1900, Hartley modeled the "George Inness Gold Medal," an award that honored excellence in landscape painting at the National Academy of Design’s annual exhibition from 1901 to 1918. The obverse features a portrait of Inness; the reverse bears an inscription designating the award to its recipient. In 1905, the year this medal was distributed, the winner was Edward Gay, whose landscape "Broad Acres" (87.1.8) is in the Metropolitan’s collection.
Among his other works are the Daguerre Memorial in Washington; Thomas K. Beecher, Elmira, New York, and Alfred the Great, Appellate Division Courthouse of New York State. He devoted himself particularly to the making of portrait busts, in which he attained high rank. In 1881 he became a member of the National Academy of Design.
He sculpted three of the nine busts around the front of the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. His Nathaniel Hawthorne, often mistaken for Mark Twain, has pride of place in the ornate west front gallery of the original Library of Congress building, finished in 1897. He also sculpted the Washington Irving and the Ralph Waldo Emerson. The Emerson bust is an exact likeness, as Hartley, and especially his supervisor, Ainsworth Rand Spofford, knew how prominent Emerson's nose actually was.
He passed away at his residence on December 6, 1912 at New York, New York, NY.
Jonathan Scott Hartley, American sculptor, was born on September 23, 1845 at Albany, New York to Joseph Hartley (1816–1893) & Margaret (nee Scott) Hartley (1816–1901).
He was a teenager carving tombstones for a living when the sculptor Erastus Dow Palmer discovered him and became one his pupils. He apprenticed with Palmer for two years, developing his carving skills and knowledge of anatomy. With the older artist's encouragement, Hartley traveled to England to study at the Royal Academy, London; he later studied for a year in Berlin and for a year in Paris. His first important work (1882) was a statue of Miles Morgan, the Puritan, for Springfield, Massachusetts.
After training in London, Berlin, and Paris, Hartley ascended from the ranks of marble cutter to become a distinguished sculptor of portraits. He received particular notice for his portrait bust of his father-in-law, the esteemed American artist George Inness. In 1900, Hartley modeled the "George Inness Gold Medal," an award that honored excellence in landscape painting at the National Academy of Design’s annual exhibition from 1901 to 1918. The obverse features a portrait of Inness; the reverse bears an inscription designating the award to its recipient. In 1905, the year this medal was distributed, the winner was Edward Gay, whose landscape "Broad Acres" (87.1.8) is in the Metropolitan’s collection.
Among his other works are the Daguerre Memorial in Washington; Thomas K. Beecher, Elmira, New York, and Alfred the Great, Appellate Division Courthouse of New York State. He devoted himself particularly to the making of portrait busts, in which he attained high rank. In 1881 he became a member of the National Academy of Design.
He sculpted three of the nine busts around the front of the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. His Nathaniel Hawthorne, often mistaken for Mark Twain, has pride of place in the ornate west front gallery of the original Library of Congress building, finished in 1897. He also sculpted the Washington Irving and the Ralph Waldo Emerson. The Emerson bust is an exact likeness, as Hartley, and especially his supervisor, Ainsworth Rand Spofford, knew how prominent Emerson's nose actually was.
He passed away at his residence on December 6, 1912 at New York, New York, NY.
He was a teenager carving tombstones for a living when the sculptor Erastus Dow Palmer discovered him and became one his pupils. He apprenticed with Palmer for two years, developing his carving skills and knowledge of anatomy. With the older artist's encouragement, Hartley traveled to England to study at the Royal Academy, London; he later studied for a year in Berlin and for a year in Paris. His first important work (1882) was a statue of Miles Morgan, the Puritan, for Springfield, Massachusetts.
After training in London, Berlin, and Paris, Hartley ascended from the ranks of marble cutter to become a distinguished sculptor of portraits. He received particular notice for his portrait bust of his father-in-law, the esteemed American artist George Inness. In 1900, Hartley modeled the "George Inness Gold Medal," an award that honored excellence in landscape painting at the National Academy of Design’s annual exhibition from 1901 to 1918. The obverse features a portrait of Inness; the reverse bears an inscription designating the award to its recipient. In 1905, the year this medal was distributed, the winner was Edward Gay, whose landscape "Broad Acres" (87.1.8) is in the Metropolitan’s collection.
Among his other works are the Daguerre Memorial in Washington; Thomas K. Beecher, Elmira, New York, and Alfred the Great, Appellate Division Courthouse of New York State. He devoted himself particularly to the making of portrait busts, in which he attained high rank. In 1881 he became a member of the National Academy of Design.
He sculpted three of the nine busts around the front of the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. His Nathaniel Hawthorne, often mistaken for Mark Twain, has pride of place in the ornate west front gallery of the original Library of Congress building, finished in 1897. He also sculpted the Washington Irving and the Ralph Waldo Emerson. The Emerson bust is an exact likeness, as Hartley, and especially his supervisor, Ainsworth Rand Spofford, knew how prominent Emerson's nose actually was.
He passed away at his residence on December 6, 1912 at New York, New York, NY.
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