Read the visual description
The sculpture is a marble bust of a woman, depicted from the chest up. She has finely styled hair, a draped garment covering her shoulders, and delicate facial features. The sculpture is detailed and mounted on a circular base.
National Gallery of Art · Sculpture
Agnes Maxwell Kearny (Mrs. Philip Kearny)
Joel T. Hart
- Date
- 1854
- Medium
- marble
- Dimensions
- overall: 55.88 × 48.26 × 25.4 cm (22 × 19 × 10 in.)
- Classification
- Sculpture · Bust
- Accession number
- 2015.19.3695
- Credit line
- Corcoran Collection (Gift of Miss Virginia Livingston Hunt, 1942)
- Time span
- 1851 to 1875
- Department
- CSD
Subjects and terms
- American
- carved
- Acquired after publication of European [and American] Sculpture of the Nineteenth Century
- bust facing front
- portrait
- Kearny, Agnes Maxwell (Mrs. Philip Kearny)
Provenance
Possibly commissioned by Philip Kearny [1815-1862];[1] probably by descent in the family to the sitter's granddaughter, Miss Virginia Livingston Hunt [b. 1890], Washington;[2] gift 1942 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2015 by the National Gallery of Art. [1] The sitter, Agnes Maxwell (1833-1917) began living with Union Army Major General Philip Kearny (1815-1862) in New Jersey in 1854 while he was still married to his first wife; after Kearny was granted a divorce, they married in Paris in 1858. General Kearny was killed during the Civil War, and Agnes married Admiral John Henry Upshur (1823-1917) in 1868. [2] VIrginia L. Hunt was the daughter of Virginia DeLancey Kearny Hunt (1861-1897), youngest child of Gen. Kearny and Agnes Maxwell.
Inscription
on back of the plinth: J.T. Hart. / Sc.t / 1854
NGA object ID 176565. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.