The Greek Slave
model 1841-1843, carved 1846
Sculptor, American, 1805 - 1873
Sensational and scandalous for an American audience unused to seeing classically nude statues of women, this figure by Hiram Powers caused a frenzy when it was first exhibited in the mid-19th century. Curious viewers came in droves to see it after Powers sent several copies from Italy, where he created the work. His sculpture was inspired by Greece’s struggle for independence in the 1820s, but American abolitionists seized on it as a condemnation of slavery. The controversial artwork soon became America’s most famous sculpture. Powers made numerous reproductions, and the image graced everyday items, from sheet music to tobacco tins.
Artwork overview
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Medium
Seravezza marble
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 167.5 × 51.4 × 47 cm (65 15/16 × 20 1/4 × 18 1/2 in.)
gross weight: 235.87 kg (520 lb.) -
Accession
2014.79.37
More About this Artwork
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Sarah Cash, associate curator, Department of American and British Paintings, National Gallery of Art, speaks with Ka’mal McClarin, museum curator, Frederick Douglass National Historic Site Collection, National Park Service, about Frederick Douglass's involvement in the visual arts.
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Ordered from the artist by William Ward, 11th baron Ward [1817-1885, later 1st earl of Dudley], but released by him prior to the sculpture's completion; purchased 1848 by James Robb, New Orleans; purchased April 1850 by the Western Art Union, Cincinnati; offered by them 20 February 1851 as the first lottery prize; won by James D'Arcy, New Orleans; purchased 1851 by William Wilson Corcoran [1798-1888], Washington; deeded 1869 by him to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; accessioned 1873 by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington;[1] acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art.
[1] Provenance per Richard P. Wunder, Hiram Powers: Vermont Sculptor, 1805-1873, 2 vols., Newark, London, and Toronto, 1991: 2:161-162. James D'Arcy was a hat manufacturer and a brother-in-law of the previous owner, James Robb. See also: Martina Droth with Sarah Kraus, “Mapping The Greek Slave” digital interactive, in "The Greek Slave by Hiram Powers: A Transatlantic Object,” eds. Martina Droth and Michael Hatt, special issue, _Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide_15, no. 2 (Summer 2016), http://interactive.britishart.yale.edu/mapping-the-greek-slave/map, accessed 6 February 2018.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1847
[Tour of the sculpture under the management of Miner K. Kellogg], National Academy of Design, New York; The Odeon, Washington; Carroll Hall, Baltimore; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1847-1848.
1848
Cooke's Gallery, New Orleans, 1848-1849.
1850
Gallery of the Western Art Union, Cincinnati, 1850-1851.
1957
Tastemakers, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 18 January - 24 February 1957.
1966
Past and Present: 250 Years of American Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 15 April - 30 September 1966, unpublished checklist.
1993
The Century Club Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 21 July - 13 September 1993, unpublished checklist.
Bibliography
1845
Lester, C. Edwards. The Artist, the Merchant, and the Statesman, of the Age of the Medici, and of Our Own Times. 2 vols. New York, 1845: 2:191-192.
Lester, C. Edwards. The Artist, the Merchant, and the Statesman, of the Age of the Medici, and of Our Own Times. 2 vols. New York, 1845: 1:84-89.
"American Artists in Europe." The North American (November 8, 1845): 1.
"Powers, the Sculptor." The North American (November 8, 1845): 1.
1846
Headley, J. T. Letters from Italy. New York, 1846: 197.
An American [George Henry Calvert]. Scenes and Thoughts in Europe. New York, 1846: 96, 115.
1847
Calvert, G. H. "How Statues Are Made." Daily National Intelligencer (October 18, 1847): 2.
"A Word of Art." Daily National Intelligencer (October 14, 1847): 2.
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"The Greek Slave." The Evening Post (Ocotober 13, 1847): 2: 2.
"Powers' Statue of the Greek Slave." The Spirit of the Times (October 9, 1847): 383.
Morning News 3, no. 274 (October 1, 1847): 2.
Dewey, Orville. "Powers' Statues." Daily National Intelligencer (September 30, 1847): 2.
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Tuckerman, Henry T. "The Greek Slave." New York Daily Tribune (September 9, 1847): n.p.
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"The Greek Slave." The Courier and Enquirer (August 31, 1847): n.p.
"Correspondence of the Courier (New York, August 26, 1847)." Charleston Courier (August 30, 1847): 2: 3.
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"City Items: Powers's Great Statue." New York Daily Tribune (August 26, 1847): 2.
"The Greek Slave of Powers." New York Evening Post (August 26, 1847): 2.
"Correspondence of the Courier: New York, August 17, 1847." Charleston Courier (August 21, 1847): 2: 3.
"The Greek Slave." New York Evening Post (August 17, 1847): 2.
The Charleston Courier (August 16, 1847): sec. 2, 4.
"Art II: Powers' Greek Slave." Massachusetts Quarterly Review 1, no. 1 (December 1847): 54-62.
Cushman, Clara. [Essay on Greek Slave]. Neal's Saturday Gazette (1847): n.p.
"Progress of the Fine Arts." New York Herald (December 29, 1847): 2.
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Dewey, Orville. "Powers' Statues." The Union (October 1847): n.p.
R. S. C. "Editor's Table: Power's Statue of the Greek Slave." Knickerbocker 30 (October 1847): 365.
"Gossip of the Month." Democratic Review (October 1847): 371-372.
"The Greek Slave, by Powers." New Hampshire Sentinel 49, no. 43 (October 28, 1847): 4.
"The Greek Slave." Morning News 3, no. 289 (October 19, 1847): 2.
1848
"Powers' Statue of the Greek Slave." Baltimore Sun (May 3, 1848): 2.
"The Greek Slave." Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser (May 3, 1848): 3.
J. E. S. "Sonnet to Powers' Greek Slave." Baltimore Patriot (May 2, 1848): n.p.
"The Greek Slave." Baltimore Clipper (May 26, 1848): n.p.
"The Greek Slave." Baltimore Clipper (May 2, 1848): n.p.
"The Greek Slave: Last Week of Exhibition." Baltimore Republican and Argus (May 2, 1848): 2.
"The Greek Slave." Baltimore Sun (April 25, 1848): 2.
"The Greek Slave." Baltimore Sun (April 20, 1848): 2.
"The Greek Slave." The Enterprise (April 22, 1848): n.p.
"Powers' Greek Slave." Baltimore Republican and Argus (April 15, 1848): n.p.
"The Greek Slave." Baltimore American (April 20, 1848): n.p.
"The Greek Slave." The Western Continent (April 22, 1848): n.p.
"The Greek Slave." Baltimore American and Daily Advertiser (April 20, 1848): 2.
"Powers' Statue of the Greek Slave." Baltimore Republican and Argus (April 20, 1848): 2.
"Powers' Statue of the Greek Slave." Baltimore Sun (April 17, 1848): 2.
"The Greek Slave." Baltimore Patriot (April 15, 1848): n.p.
"The Greek Slave." The Enterprise (April 15, 1848): n.p.
"Powers' Greek Slave." Baltimore Republican and Argus (April 15, 1848): 2.
"Greek Slave." Baltimore American (April 14, 1848): 2.
"Powers' Greek Slave." Baltimore Republican and Argus (April 14, 1848): 2.
"The Greek Slave." Baltimore Sun (April 14, 1848): 2.
"The Greek Slave." Baltimore American (April 4, 1848): n.p.
"Powers' Greek Slave." Baltimore Clipper (April 4, 1848): n.p.
"The Greek Slave." Baltimore Clipper (April 14, 1848): n.p.
"The Greek Slave." Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser (April 4, 1848): 2.
"Powers' Statue of the Greek Slave." Saturday Evening News, and District General Advertiser (March 25, 1848): 3.
"The Greek Slave." Daily National Intelligencer (March 3, 1848): 1.
"Power's Greek Slave." Daily National Intelligencer (February 14, 1848): 1.
"Correspondence of the Courier." Charleston Courier (February 12, 1848): sec. 2, 2-3.
Excerpts from the Diary of M. R. Miller, Italy 1848: February 8, 1848: 30-31. Greek Slave Curatorial File, Newark Museum, Delaware.
"Power's 'Greek Slave.'" Baltimore Clipper (January 31, 1848): n.p.
"The Greek Slave." Weekly National Whig (February 5, 1848): n.p.
A Lover of the Arts. "Communication (February 3, 1848)." Goergetown Advocate (February 8, 1848): 2.
"The Model Artistes." Daily National Intelligencer (January 31, 1848): 4.
"The Greek Slave." Saturday Evening News, and District General Advertiser (January 29, 1848): 3.
"Powers's Greek Slave." Daily National Intelligencer (January 28, 1848): 2.
Justice to Hiram Powers: Addressed to the Citizens of New Orleans. New Orleans, 1848: 3-14.
"Powers' Greek Slave." The Union (January 24, 1848): n.p.
"The Greek Slave: From the Cincinnati Daily Dispatch of Nov. 15." Daily National Intelligencer (December 29, 1948): 1.
"The Greek Slave." New York Evening Express (January 4, 1848): City News, 1.
"The Greek Slave." The Daily Picayune (December 4, 1848): evening edition, 2.
"The Statue of the Greek Slave." The Home Journal (January 1, 1848): 3: 3.
"The Greek Slave." New Orleans Weekly Bulletin (November 25, 1848): 2.
Putnam, George Palmer. A Pocket Memorandum Book During A Ten Weeks' Trip to Italy and Germany in 1847. New York, 1848: 82-83.
"The Greek Slave." New Orleans Commercial Bulletin (November 25, 1848): 2.
"The Greek Slave." New Orleans Weekly Bulletin (November 25, 1848): 3.
"The Greek Slave." New Orleans Commercial Bulletin (November 24, 1848): 2.
"Power's Greek Slave." New Orleans Commercial Bulletin (November 23, 1848): 2.
"Power's Greek Slave." The Daily Picayune (November 23, 1948): 2.
"Statuary in America." The Home Journal (July 29, 1848): 2: 3-4.
"Powers' Greek Slave." The Pennsylvanian (June 30, 1848): Town Facts and Fancies, 2.
"Power's Greek Slave." The Pennsylvanian (June 15, 1848): Town Facts and Fancies, 3.
"The Greek Slave." The Pennsylvanian (June 10, 1848): Town Facts and Fancies, 2.
"The Greek Slave-A Little Longer." Baltimore Republican and Argus (May 16, 1848): 2.
"Power's Greek Slave." Baltimore American and Daily Advertiser (May 9, 1848): 3.
"The Greek Slave." Baltimore Republican and Argus (May 4, 1948): 2.
1849
Vindication of Hiram Powers in the "Greek Slave" Controversy. Cincinnati, 1849: 3-16.
1850
"Fine Art Gossip." The Literary World (December 14, 1850): 485.
"Western Art-Union, Cincinnati, O." The Home Journal (November 9, 1850): sec. 3, 5.
"Art Intelligence." The Evening Post (October 10, 1850): sec. 2, 3.
1851
G. "Visit to a "Gallery of Art.'" The Western Journal of Agriculture, Manufactures, Mechanic Arts, Internal Improvement, Commerce, and General Literature 6, no. 4160 (1851): 62-64.
"Powers "Greek Slave.'" The Semi-Weekly Eagle 4, no. 58 (March 3, 1851): 3.
"Power's Greek Slave." The Farmer's Cabinet 49, no. 29 (February 27, 1851): 3.
"Power's "Greek Slave.'" The Evening Post (February 24, 1851): sec. 2, 4.
1852
"Cast of the Greek Slave." The Morning Chronicle (March 19, 1852): sec. 5, 2.
1853
Poore, Ben Perley. "Waifs From Washington." Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion 4, no. 11 (March 12, 1853): 167.
1857
"No Resting-Place for the Greek Slave." Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper (July 11, 1857): n.p.
"Sale of Powers's Greek Slave at the Exchange." The Evening Post (June 23, 1857): sec. 3, 6.
"Greek Slave Re-Purchased." Cosmopolitan Art Journal 1, no. 5 (1857): 162.
Lanman, Charles. Catalogue of W.W. Corcoran's Gallery. Washington, 1857: 15, no. 71.
1859
"Shots on the Wing (Washington, Tuesday, January 18)." Cincinnati Daily Enquirer (January 23, 1859): 1.
1867
Tuckerman, Henry T. Book of the Artists: American Artist Life Comprising Biographical and Critical Sketches of American Artists. New York, 1867 (1967): 279, 284-286, 291.
Tuckerman, Henry. Book of the Artists. New York, 1867: 632.
1869
Ellis, Dr. John B. The Sights and Secrets of the National Capital: A Work Descriptive of Washington City in All Its Various Phases. New York, 1869: 503.
1870
"Art and Artists in Washington." National Daily Republican (December 5, 1870): 1.
1871
Hanely, Jane. "Art Galleries: What May Be Seen in Washington." The Evening Post (October 21, 1871): sec. 5, 3.
1872
"Power's Greek Slave." The Evening Star (March 20, 1872): 1: 2.
1873
"The Opening of the Corcoran Art Gallery." The Evening Star (December 16, 1873): sec. 2, 1.
"The Model of the Greek Slave." The Farmer's Cabinet 72, no. 4 (August 6, 1873): 1.
"Death of Hiram Powers." The Evening Star (June 28, 1873): sec. 1, 5.
"Powers' Greek Slave: Where He Got His Model." The Atlanta Constitution (July 27, 1873): 7.
1874
"National Art: Treasures of the Corcoran Gallery." Newark Daily Advertiser (September 29, 1874): sec. 4, 1.
Wiswall, E. A. "The Corcoran Gallery of Art." The Aldine, the Art Journal of America 7, no. 6 (June 1, 1874): 120.
"Art." Atlantic Monthly 33, no. 199 (May 1874): 631.
"Art at the National Capital." The International Review 1, no. 3 (May 1874): 327.
"The Octagon Room." The Daily Graphic (March 21, 1874): 157, repro.
"The Corcoran Gallery." Evening Post (6 April 1874): n.p.
X. A. "The Art Gallery in Washington." New York Evangelist 45, no. 8 (February 19, 1874): 2.
"Home and Foreign Gossip." Harper's Weekly (February 7, 1874): 131cd-132a.
From Our Own Correspondent. "Art in Washington: The Corcoran Gallery." The New York Times (January 20, 1874): 3.
Ossoli, Margaret Fuller. At Home and Abroad; or, Things and Thoughts in America and Europe. Boston, 1874: 371-372.
Bouligny, M. E. P. A Tribute to W. W. Corcoran of Washington City. Philadelphia, 1874: 41-43.
1875
"Aunt Mehitable in Washington: By Her Niece, Alice - Letter V." Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine 90, no. 589 (May 1875): 448.
"A Contrast in the Facilities for Art Education." Daily Evening Bulletin (March 13, 1875): 2: 2.
"The Corcoran Art Gallery." New York Daily Tribune (January 27, 1875): 8: 3-4.
1878
Clark, William J. Great American Sculptures. Philadelphia, 1878 (1977): 45-50.
Macleod, William. Catalogue of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, 1878: 58, Octagon Room, no. 1.
1879
Halsey, Calista. "A Day in the Corcoran Gallery." The Art Amateur 1, no. 3 (August 1879): 49.
"Our School of Design." The Washington Post (April 4, 1879): 1.
1880
Strahan, Edward, ed. The Art Treasures of America. 3 vols. Philadelphia, 1879: 1:16.
1882
Macleod, William. Catalogue of the Paintings, Statuary, Casts, Bronzes, &c. of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, 1882: 63, Octagon Room, no. 1.
Benjamin, S. G. W. "The Corcoran Gallery of Art." The Century 24, no. 6 (October 1882): 819.
1884
Child, Theodore. "The Greek Slave." The Art Amateur 10, no. 4 (March 1884): 89.
1887
Macleod, William. Catalogue of the Paintings, Statuary, Casts, Bronzes, &c. of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, 1887: 70-71, Octagon Room, no. 1.
1891
"A Growing Art Center." The New York Times (January 11, 1891): 14.
1892
Corcoran Gallery of Art. The Corcoran Gallery of Art Catalogue. Washington, 1892: 87, no. 2010.
1893
Marks, Montague. "My Notebook." The Art Amateur 29, no. 5 (Oct. 1893): 104.
1897
"Art Gallery Opening." The Washington Post (January 24, 1897): 2.
1899
Boynton, Henry. "Hiram Powers." The New England Magazine 20, no. 5 (July 1899): 524, 527, 529, repro.
1904
Wilson, William Powell. "The Philippines at St. Louis." The Booklovers Magazine 4, no. 1 (July 1904): 30.
1907
Powers, Ellen Lemmi. "Recollections of My Father, By His Daughter, Ellen Lemmi Powers." The Vermonter n.s. 12 (February 1907): 75, repro.
1910
"A Daily Lesson in History." Boston Daily Globe (August 31, 1910): 12.
1913
"Powers's Greek Slave." The New York Times (November 14, 1913): 10.
1920
"Art and Artists." The Washington Post (Nov. 7, 1920): 14.
1922
Corcoran Gallery of Art. Catalogue of the Sculptures in the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, 1922: 61, no. 2044, repro.
Law, Frederick Houk. "Poor Boys Who Became Great." The Washington Post (June 9, 1922): 2.
1925
Rice, Diana. "Washington's Corcoran Gallery Grows." New York Times (August 30, 1925): Magazine sec., 23.
1926
Connolly, Louise. "The Greek Slave: From the Hand of Hiram Powers." The Museum (1926): n.p.
1927
Mather, Frank Jewett, Jr., Charles Rufus Morey, William James Henderson. The American Spirit in Art. The Pageant of America. 15 vols. New Haven, 1927: 12:179, 181, fig. 293, repro.
1928
Jackman, Rilla Evelyn. American Arts. Chicago, 1928 (1940): 305, pl. CLIII.
1929
Michel, André, ed. Histoire de l'art. L'Art en Europe et en Amérique au XIXe siècle et au début du XXe. 8 vols. Paris, 1905-1929 (1929): 8:1129.
1930
Taft, Lorado. The History of American Sculpture. New York, 1930: 57, 61-64, 176-177.
1937
Federal Writers' Project, Works Progress Administration. Washington: City and Capital. American Guide Series. Washington, 1937: 389.
1945
Gardner, Albert TenEyck. Yankee Stonecutters: The First American School of Sculpture 1800-1850. New York, 1945: 14-16, 29, 31-32.
1947
Seventy-Sixth Annual Report of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, 1947: 4, repro.
1949
Proctor, John Clagett. Proctor's Washington and Environs. Washington, DC, 1949: 67.
1951
Cooper, Anna J. The Life and Writings of Charlotte Forten Grimke. 2 vols. Washington, 1951: 2:38.
Boykin, Edward. "They Blushed When She Came to Town." Washington Star (May 11, 1951): n.p., repro.
1956
Jones, Dorothea. Washington Is Wonderful. New York, 1956: 139.
1960
Dentler, Clara Louise. White Marble: The Life and Letters of Hiram Powers, Sculptor, 196-? Newark Museum Curatorial Files: 131-133.
1961
Ahlander, Leslie Judd. "Backbone of the Corcoran Gallery." The Washington Post and Times Herald (June 25, 1961): G6.
Thorp, Margaret Farrand. "Rediscovery: A lost chapter in the history of 19th century taste: The Nudo and the Greek Slave." Art in America 49, no. 2 (1961): 46-47, repro.
1964
Farrell, Nancie Clow. "The Slave That Captivated America." The Bulletin 22, no. 4 (October 1964): 221-239, repro.
1965
Roberson, Samuel A. and William H. Gerdts. "The Greek Slave." The Museum 17, nos. 1 & 2 (Winter - Spring 1965): 1, 15.
Stevens, Elisabeth. "A Nosegay of 19th Century Art." The Washington Post (June 27, 1965): G7.
Byrnes, Robert B. "Corcoran Gallery... a Treasure House of Art!" Impresario Magazine of the Arts 4, no. 3 (February 1965): 3, fig. 4, repro.
1966
Proske, Beatrice Gilman. "O Pioneers." National Sculpture Review (Spring 1966): 24, repro.
1967
Dodd, Loring Holmes. Golden Moments in American Sculpture. Cambridge, MA, 1967: 13, 63.
Wainwright, Nicholas B., ed. A Philadelphia Perspective: The Diary of Sidney George Fisher. Philadelphia, 1967: 198-199.
1968
Colbert, Charles. "'Each Little Hillock hath a Tongue' - Phrenology and the Art of Hiram Powers." The Art Bulletin 68, no. 2 (June 1986): 285-291, figs. 8 & 9, repro.
Christensen, Erwin O. A Guide to Art Museums in the United States. New York, 1968: 150, no. 322, repro.
1969
Garrett, Wendell D. and Paul F. Norton, Aland Gowans, and Joseph T. Butler. The Arts in America: The Nineteenth Century. New York, 1969: 208-209, pl. 148.
1970
Rockland, Michael Aaron. Sarmiento's "Travels in the United States in 1847". Princeton, 1970: 277-278.
1972
Simmons, Robert Hilton. "Neglected work of a once-famed Yankee artist comes to Washington." Smithsonian 3, no. 8 (1972): 47-54, repro.
1973
Gerdts, William H. American Neo-Classic Sculpture: The Marble Resurrection. New York, 1973: 20, 22, 29, 31-34, 45-46, 51-55, fig. 4, repro.
1974
Bell, Leonard and Francis Pound. "L. J. Steele's 'Spoils to the Victor' and the 'Women in Bondage' Convention." Bulletin of New Zealand Art History. 2 vols. (1974): 2:21-22, repro.
Wunder, Richard P. Hiram Powers: Vermont Sculptor. Taftsville, VT, 1974: 23-27, repro.
1976
Wilmerding, John. American Art. Hammondsworth, England, and New York, 1976: 108, n. p. fig. 122, repro.
Batterberry, Ariane Ruskin and Michael Batterberry. The Pantheon Story of American Art For Young People. New York, 1976: 71, repro.
1977
Reynolds, Donald Martin. Hiram Powers and His Ideal Sculptures. New York and London, 1977: 137, 140-142, 144-150, 152-156, 158.
1978
Dean, Roberta Hampton. "The Western Art Union 1847-1851." M.A. thesis, George Washington University, Washington, 1978: 30, 34.
1979
Bogart, Michele Helene. "Attitudes Toward Sculpture Reproductions in America 1850-1880." Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1979: 137-149.
1980
Getlein, Frank, and Jo Ann Lewis. The Washington D.C. Art Review: The Art Explorer's Guide to Washington. New York, 1980: 14.
1981
Gibbs-Smith, C. H. The Great Exhibition of 1851. London, 1981: 129, fig. 184, repro.
1982
Green, Vivien M. "Hiram Powers's Greek Slave: Emblem of Freedom." The American Art Journal 14, no. 4 (Autumn 1982): 31-39, repro.
1983
Cosentino, Andrew J., and Henry H. Glassie. The Capital Image: Painters in Washington, 1800-1915. Washington, 1983: 125.
1987
Moore, Barbara. "Recalling the Melody: Planning an Installation at the Corcoran." Museum News 65, no. 4 (April 1987): 37-39, repro.
1988
Headley, Janet A. "English Literary and Aesthetic Influences on American Sculptors in Italy, 1825-1875." Ph.D. diss., University of Pittsburgh, 1988: 230-231, 238-253, 413, fig. 72, repro.
1989
Dillenberger, John. The Visual Arts and Christianity in America: From the Colonial Period to the Present. New York, 1989: 117, 126-128, 163, plate 76, repro.
1990
Kasson, Joy S. _"Narratives of the Female Body: The Greek Slave." Marble Queens and Captives: Women in Nineteenth-Century American Sculpture. New Haven, 1990: 46-72, repro.
Headley, Janet A. "The (Non) Literary Sculpture of Hiram Powers." Nineteenth Century Studies 4 (1990): 23-25, 31, 34, 38, repro.
1991
Wilmerding, John. "George Caleb Bingham's Geometries and the Shape of America." In American Views: Essays on American Art. Princeton, 1991: 190.
Wunder, Richard P. Hiram Powers: Vermont Sculptor, 1805-1873. 2 vols. Newark, Delaware, 1991: 1:238-239, 244-245; 2:157, 161-162, 232, no. 192, repro.
Dimmick, Lauretta. "Mythic Proportion: Bertel Thorvaldsen's Influence in America." In Thorvaldsen: L'Ambiente l'influsso il mito, edited by Patrick Kragelund and Mogens Nykjaer. Rome, 1991: 180, 184, repro.
Johns, Elizabeth. American Genre Painting: The Politics of Everyday Life. New Haven, 1991: 116-117, repro.
1992
Wilson, Judith. "Getting Down to Get Over: Romare Bearden's Use of Pornography and the Problem of the Black Female Body in Afro-U.S. Art." In Black Popular Culture, edited by Michele Wallace and Gina Dent. Seattle, 1992: 115, 119-120, repro.
1993
Duncan, Carol. The Aesthetics of Power: Essays in Critical Art History. Cambridge, 1993: 111-112, repro.
Reynolds, Donald Martin. Masters of American Sculpture: The Figurative Tradition from the American Renaissance to the Millenium. New York, 1993: 18, repro.
The Human Factor: Figurative Sculpture Reconsidered. Exh. cat. The Albuquerque Museum, 1993: 2, repro.
Dearinger, David Bernard. "American Neoclassic Sculptors and Their Private Patrons in Boston." Ph.D. diss., The City University of New York (1993): 239, 244-249.
1994
Lewis, Jo Ann. "Purchases Put Corcoran 'Back on Track:' Bierstadt Sketches, Powers Bust Complement Gallery's Collection." The Washington Post (March 18, 1994): Style sec., 2, repro.
1995
Hollander, John. The Gazer's Spirit: Poems Speaking to Silent Works of Art. Chicago, 1995: 160-162, 369, repro.
Rose, Anne C. Voices of the Marketplace: American Thought and Culture, 1830-1860. New York, 1995: 105-106, repro.
1998
Wallach, Alan. Exhibiting Contradiction: Essays on the Art Museum in the United States. Amherst, 1998: 28, repro.
2000
Colaguori, Jennifer. Hiram Powers' Greek Slave and the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 2000.
Colbert, Charles. "Spiritual Currents and Manifest Destiny in the Art of Hiram Powers." The Art Bulletin 82, no. 3 (Sept. 2000): 529-543, repro.
Voorsanger, Catherine Hoover, and John K. Howat. Art and the Empire City: New York, 1825-1861. New Haven and London, 2000: 38, 40, 78, 158,162, 165-166.
Junker, Patricia. "Thomas Cole's Prometheus Bound: An Allegory for the 1840s." American Art Journal 31, nos. 1 & 2 (2000): 46-49, repro.
2001
"From the Collection: Washington's Prize Possessions." The Washington Post (April 15, 2001): Arts, sec. G4, repro.
2002
Katz, Wendy Jean. Regionalism and Reform: Art and Class Formation in Antebellum Cincinnati. Columbus, 2002: 6-7, 25-26, 137-139, 142, 151-167, repro.
Pohl, Frances K. Framing America: A Social History of American Art. New York, 2002: 258-259, repro.
Stone, Marjorie. "Between Ethics and Anguish: Feminist Ethics, Feminist Aesthetics, and Representations of Infanticide in "The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point" and Beloved." In Between Ethics and Aesthetics: Crossing the Boundaries, edited by Dorota Glowacka and Stephen Boos. Albany, NY, 2002: 132-137, repro.
2006
Dabakis, Melissa. "Ain't I A Woman?" In Seeing High and Low: Representing Social Conflict in American Visual Culture, edited by Patricia Johnston. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London, 2006: 90-91, repro.
Meslay, Olivier. "American Artists in France Before the Civil War." In American Artists and the Louvre, edited by Elizabeth Kennedy and Olivier Meslay. Exh. cat. Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2006: 50-51, repro.
2007
Ambrosini, Lynne D. "'Pure, White Radiance:' The Ideology of Marble in the Nineteenth Century." In Hiram Powers: Genius in Marble, ed. by Lynne D. Ambrosini and Rebecca A. G. Reynolds. Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, 2007: 19-23, repro..0
2008
Ambrosini, Lynne D. "Eyeing the Sculptural Nude: A Short History of Public Response in the Modern Era." Sculpture Review 57 (Summer 2008): 9, repro.
2009
Clapper, Michael. "Imagining the Ordinary: John Rogers's Anticlassical Genre Sculptures as Purposely Popular Art." Winterthur Portfolio 43, no. 1 (2009): 5, repro.
Moore, Charlotte Emans. "Art as Text, War as Context: The Art Gallery of the Metropolitan Fair, New York City's Artistic Community, and the Civil War." Ph.D. diss. Boston University, 2009: xii, 21, 22, 62 (note 89), 551, fig. 1-2.
2010
Wood, Marcus. The Horrible Gift of Freedom: Atlantic Slavery and the Representation of Emancipation. Athens and London, 2010: 156-160, repro.
Painter, Nell Irvin. The History of White People. New York and London, 2010: 53-54, repro.
Sesnic, Jelena. Mrane Zene. Prikazi zenstva u americkoj knjizevnosti. Zagreb, 2010: 62-65, repro.
MacKay, Keith D. "The Corcoran Mansion: House of Feasts." White House History, 27 (Spring 2010): 38-39, repro.
Lessing, Lauren. "Ties That Bind: Hiram Powers's Greek Slave and Nineteenth-Century Marriage." American Art 24, no. 1 (Spring 2010): 41-65, repro.
2011
Lessing, Lauren. "Angels in the Home: Adelicia Acklen's Sculpture Collection at Belmont Mansion, Nashville, Tennessee." Winterthur Portfolio 45, no. 1 (2011): 53-54, repro.
Greenhalgh, Paul. "The Origin and meaning of the Exposition Medium." In Fair World: A History of World's Fairs and Expositions From London to Shanghai, 1851-2010. Berkshire, 2011: 27, repro.
2012
Manganelli, Kimberly Snyder. Translatlantic Spectacles of Race: The Tragic Mulatta and the Tragic Muse. New Brunswick, NJ and London, 2012: 6-7, 71, 82, 87, repro.
2016
Cole, Bruce. "Breaking the Bonds of the Past." The Wall Street Journal (January 1, 2016): n. p., repro.
2017
Dickerson III, C.D. "The Sculpture Collection: Shaping a Vision, Expanding a Legacy." _ National Gallery of Art Bulletin_ 56 (Spring 2017): 17, repro.
Inscriptions
on back of the base: H. POWERS. sc. / 1846.
Wikidata ID
Q63864020