Biografie von John Adams JACKSON (1825-1879)

Birth place: Bath, ME

Death place: Pracchia, Italy

Addresses: Boston, 1851-53; Florence and Paris, 1853-58; NYC, 1858-60; Florence, from 1860

Profession: Sculptor and crayon artist

Studied: David Claypoole Johnston, in Boston; Suisse, in Paris, 1845-50

Exhibited: NAD, 1859, 1867; PAFA, 1869, 1876-78; Brooklyn AA, 1871; Boston AC, 1874

Work: Confederate Mus., Richmond, VA

Comments: After studying in Paris, Jackson began his career in Boston, producing a sculptural bust of Daniel Webster in 1851. After returning to Europe in 1853, he stopped first in Florence, where he put several of his portrait busts into marble. He moved to Paris in 1854 and there modeled likenesses of Lyman Beecher and Wendell Phillips. Jackson returned to the U.S. in 1858 and settled in NYC, where he completed a bust of William Lloyd Garrison. In 1860 he moved permanently to Italy, revisiting the U.S. only once (1867) before his death. Although Jackson was primarily a portraitist, he completed several ideal figures and groups, the most noteworthy being his Eve Mourning Over the Dead Body of Abel," which drew much attention when shown at the Pa. Academy in 1869.

Sources: G&W; DAB; Clement and Hutton; Taft, History of American Sculpture; Bolton, Crayon Draftsmen; Boston BD 1855-59; Swan, BA; Cowdrey, NAD; Naylor, NAD; Craven, Sculpture in America, 203-04; Rutledge, PA; Falk, Exh. Record Series.