President Andrew Jackson

Hiram Powers, born Woodstock, VT 1805-died Florence, Italy 1873 · modeled 1835

Hiram Powers modeled this portrait of Andrew Jackson during his second term as president. Sixty-seven-year old Jackson removed his false teeth for the sittings, insisting, "Make me as I am, Mr. Powers . . . I have no desire to look young as long as I feel old." Powers faithfully sculpted Jackson's sunken upper jaw and the heavy folds of his skin but added a classical flair by draping the bust with a toga and leaving the eyeballs uncarved to reflect contemporary neoclassical tastes. The portrait was deemed a true likeness of the problematic figure, who benefitted financially from labor of enslaved people and whose administration was marked by policies of racial violence, including the Indian Removal Act.