American, 1814 - 1886
Brown was raised on a farm and received an academic education in his native Massachusetts. At fourteen, he was inspired by a traveling silhouette cutter to try his hand at this form of portraiture but soon he also was experimenting with oils on canvas with some success. This latter effort caused his parents to realize the inevitablity of his professional leanings and he was apprenticed to Boston portraitist Chester Harding in 1832. After four years under Harding, Brown went west to Cincinnati to set up a practice of his own.
In Cincinnati, while pursuing portrait commissions, Brown also taught drawing. One of his students, John S. Whetstone, had requested permission to make a medallion relief of his teacher and Brown could not resist experimenting with Whetstone's clay. He was immediately delighted with the medium and gradually decided to give up painting for sculpture, no doubt further encouraged by his friendship with local sculptor, Shobal Clevenger. Having at last found his true calling, he began modelling in plaster and marble. In 1838 he returned to the east and spent some time in Boston and then in the Albany, New York, area, executing portrait commissions. By 1842 he had saved enough money to travel with his wife, Lydia Udall Brown, to Florence and Rome where he produced a number of ideal works as well as portrait busts.
In 1846, the Browns returned to America where Henry set up a studio in New York. He continued an investigation, begun in Italy, of native American subject matter, especially the American Indian, and began experimenting with animal forms. In a move unusual for its time, he set up a small foundry in his studio for the casting or finishing of works in bronze. An exhibition of his work, probably the first ever given by a sculptor in New York, was held in the Academy galleries in November 1846. Thomas S. Cummings noted in his Historic Annals of the National Academy of Design that it was "a beautiful and chaste exposition of talent, and gratified his friends, although with little pecuniary success to the artist." The Academy customarily sublet its galleries as often as possible when they were not in use for its own annual exhibition. Although the sponsorship of this exhibition is not noted in Academy records, it is likely Brown in a shrewd entrepreneurial move arranged for the exhibition himself.
Brown first exhibited in an Academy annual in 1847, and was promptly elected an Associate. He continued a regular exhibitor through 1853, then after a decade when presumably he was preoccupied with major public commissions, he showed again in 1863, 1865 and 1868. He was especially well represented in 1850, when thirteen of his sculptures were shown, all but one being lent by prominent partrons including Charles Leupp, Jonathan Sturges and Henry G. Marquand.
Soon after Brown was awarded a commission, initially to be a collaboration with Horatio Greenough who eventually dropped out, for an equestrian statue of George Washington to be erected in New York's Union Square. In 1856 the Washington was completed by Brown with assistance from his pupil John Quincy Adams Ward, and was unveiled to general acclaim. This work established his reputation as a master in full scale, public sculptural monuments; there soon followed major commissions from the state of South Carolina for sculptural decorations for it capitol building, and for four figures executed for Statuary Hall in the Capitol at Washington.
A serious accident which befell Brown while he was working in Columbia, South Carolina, on the State's commission, made it impossible for him to work for several years, and with the outbreak of the Civil War that project was never completed. In 1861 Brown moved his family to Newburgh, New York, where he lived and continued to work for the rest of his life.
In Cincinnati, while pursuing portrait commissions, Brown also taught drawing. One of his students, John S. Whetstone, had requested permission to make a medallion relief of his teacher and Brown could not resist experimenting with Whetstone's clay. He was immediately delighted with the medium and gradually decided to give up painting for sculpture, no doubt further encouraged by his friendship with local sculptor, Shobal Clevenger. Having at last found his true calling, he began modelling in plaster and marble. In 1838 he returned to the east and spent some time in Boston and then in the Albany, New York, area, executing portrait commissions. By 1842 he had saved enough money to travel with his wife, Lydia Udall Brown, to Florence and Rome where he produced a number of ideal works as well as portrait busts.
In 1846, the Browns returned to America where Henry set up a studio in New York. He continued an investigation, begun in Italy, of native American subject matter, especially the American Indian, and began experimenting with animal forms. In a move unusual for its time, he set up a small foundry in his studio for the casting or finishing of works in bronze. An exhibition of his work, probably the first ever given by a sculptor in New York, was held in the Academy galleries in November 1846. Thomas S. Cummings noted in his Historic Annals of the National Academy of Design that it was "a beautiful and chaste exposition of talent, and gratified his friends, although with little pecuniary success to the artist." The Academy customarily sublet its galleries as often as possible when they were not in use for its own annual exhibition. Although the sponsorship of this exhibition is not noted in Academy records, it is likely Brown in a shrewd entrepreneurial move arranged for the exhibition himself.
Brown first exhibited in an Academy annual in 1847, and was promptly elected an Associate. He continued a regular exhibitor through 1853, then after a decade when presumably he was preoccupied with major public commissions, he showed again in 1863, 1865 and 1868. He was especially well represented in 1850, when thirteen of his sculptures were shown, all but one being lent by prominent partrons including Charles Leupp, Jonathan Sturges and Henry G. Marquand.
Soon after Brown was awarded a commission, initially to be a collaboration with Horatio Greenough who eventually dropped out, for an equestrian statue of George Washington to be erected in New York's Union Square. In 1856 the Washington was completed by Brown with assistance from his pupil John Quincy Adams Ward, and was unveiled to general acclaim. This work established his reputation as a master in full scale, public sculptural monuments; there soon followed major commissions from the state of South Carolina for sculptural decorations for it capitol building, and for four figures executed for Statuary Hall in the Capitol at Washington.
A serious accident which befell Brown while he was working in Columbia, South Carolina, on the State's commission, made it impossible for him to work for several years, and with the outbreak of the Civil War that project was never completed. In 1861 Brown moved his family to Newburgh, New York, where he lived and continued to work for the rest of his life.
