Hiram Powers

Hiram Powers moved to the Cincinnati area from Vermont at age fourteen and began his artistic career working in a wax museum, where his representations of scenes from Dante’s Inferno drew public acclaim. He modeled busts of prominent Americans including President Andrew Jackson before relocating to Florence, Italy, in 1837. His marble sculpture The Greek Slave (1843) became an international sensation and made him one of the first American artists to gain a worldwide reputation.