ERASTUS DOW PALMER | BUST OF A WOMAN

Erastus Palmer was a prominent American Neoclassical sculptor. A native of New York State, Palmer began his career as a carpenter, but his talent was soon recognised and he became a cameo engraver and later a sculptor. By 1849, Palmer was working in Albany and went on to exhibit twelve of his marbles, 'the Palmer Marbles', at the National Academy of Design in 1856. His masterpiece is The White Captive (1858) which is one of the highlights of the American sculpture collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 94.9.3).