Collection Highlights
Portrait of two girls
Date:
Object Number:
PR.012.1.326.Box12
Medium:
Ambrotype
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Museum Collections
Luce Center
Thomas Hart Benton (1782-1858)
Object Number:
1946.364
Date:
ca. 1940
Medium:
Off-white painted plaster
Dimensions:
Overall: 11 x 8 5/8 x 4 1/2 in. ( 27.9 x 21.9 x 11.4 cm )
Marks:
inscribed: on back in pencil: "T. H. Benton"
paper label: on back: "Benton mask 20-87"
Description:
Life mask
Gallery Label:
This cast was part of the Phrenological Museum of Fowler & Wells, which opened in New York City in 1842. Brothers Orson Squire Fowler (1809-1887) and Lorenzo Niles Fowler (1811-1896) and their business associate Samuel Roberts Wells (1820-1875) were noted phrenologists who read heads to understand the subject's "temperament." Their Phrenological Cabinet displaying casts, skulls, and charts became a popular fixture in the city.
Credit Line:
Purchase, General Fund
Provenance:
The Fowler Mask Collection
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
