Smithsonian American Art Museum
Judge Alphonso Taft
Hiram Powers, born Woodstock, VT 1805-died Florence, Italy 1873 · 1869
Alphonso Taft was born in Townshend, Vermont, in 1810. He graduated from Yale and began a successful law career in Cincinnati. In 1876 he was appointed secretary of war to President Grant, and was soon promoted to attorney general. Hiram Powers employed many workmen to carve marble replicas of his busts and statues. This was a time-consuming process, and the hair alone in this portrait took almost six weeks to complete.
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