U.S. Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, Immortalized in Boston by Sculptors Martin Milmore and Thomas Ball

Bust of MA Senator Charles Sumner by Martin Milmore

Massachusetts State House

Charles Sumner, the U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 1851 to 1874, was famous as a leading advocate for abolishing slavery during his distinguished career.   

Sumner was one of the first subjects for the rising young sculptor, Martin Milmore, who was born in County Sligo, Ireland in 1844 and emigrated to Boston with his widowed mother in 1851. Milmore's artistic genius was recognized early on as a student at the Martin Brimmer School and later at Boston Latin School. 

According to the US Capital Historical Society, "Sumner sat (for) Milmore in 1863, after which the two became friends and maintained a lengthy correspondence, living, as they were mostly, in different cities."

The original bust was presented to the Massachusetts State House on April 27, 1869 by A.A. Lawrence, according to the book, Massachusetts State House by Ellen Mudge Burrill, published in 1905.

"The tribute was probably commissioned by friends of the senator and presented to the State House in recognition of his long and distinguished representation of the Commonwealth," writes State House Art Curator Susan Greendyke in her 2012 book, Art of the Civil War at the State House.

The bust was the first interation of several pieces Milmore did on the famous senator. This one employs classical clothing and style, which Milmore and other sculptors favored during this time. 

Writes historian Thomas Brown, "The Roman toga, a manner out of favor by 1875, is also preserved from the early bust. Milmore not only captured the appearance of the famous orator and advocate with his careful naturalism but also created an aura of greatness of the man."

In November, 1869, Milmore was awarded a gold medal for the Sumner bust at an exhibition by the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics’ Association.”

The original bust remains in the State House Senate Chamber.  In 1878, a replica was given by the state of Massachusetts to George William Curtis in recognition of his eulogy on the senator in 1874.

"After Curtis’s death, his widow Anna Shaw Curtis offered the bust to the US Senate, where it was immediately accepted. Among the many busts of Charles Sumner executed in his lifetime, Martin Milmore’s has been generally considered the most out- standing," writes the US Capital Historical Society.

Courtesy of U.S.Capital Historical Society 

Senator Sumner is also an unfortunate footnote in an unsavory episode in the U.S.Senate Chamber in Washington, DC on May 22, 1856, when Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina came into the Chamber unannounced and savagely beat Sumner into unconsciousness, due to their differences on the slavery issue.

Photo Courtesy, Wikipedia

Sumner had an interest in the "Irish Question," according to the U.S.Capital Historical Society, and befriended many of the political figures on both sides of the Atlantic.  "When Frederick Douglass visited Ireland in 1845, he carried with him a letter of introduction from Sumner to nationalist politician Daniel O'Connell."

A full-length statue of Charles Sumner, designed by sculptor Thomas Ball, was unveiled on December 23, 1878 in the Boston Public Garden along Boylston Street Mall. As a young boy, Milmore apprenticed to Ball, famous for the George Washington Statue in the Boston Public Garden and the Daniel Webster statue in Central Park, New York.  

Find more information on Irish-relevant artwork at the Massachusetts State House.  For more about Irish history and culture in Boston, visit IrishHeritageTrail.com.