James Buchanan

Henry Dexter, born Nelson, NY 1806-died Cambridge, MA 1876 · modeled ca. 1859

When Henry Dexter set out to create his portrait gallery of the fifteenth U.S. president and all the governors, he began at the White House. Buchanan expressed surprise that a Massachusetts artist would want to sculpt him, since he was unpopular there. The artist reportedly said, “We have some crazy heads,” to which Buchanan replied, “All are.” Buchanan sat for Dexter in a room in the White House daily, and the president treated the ambitious artist with “great cordiality.” This bust was in the collection of Buchanan’s beloved niece and adopted daughter Harriet Lane Johnston at the time of her death.