Nathan Hale

Details

FREDERICK WILLIAM MACMONNIES (1863-1937)
Nathan Hale
inscribed 'F. MacMonnies 1890' and stamped with foundry mark 'Roman Bronze Works N-Y-' (along the base)—inscribed 'R.B.3' (underneath the base)
bronze with dark brown patina
27 ½ in. (69.9 cm.) high
Modeled circa 1890.

Provenance

Private collection, New Jersey.
Private collection, New Jersey, by descent from the above.
Christie’s, New York, 29 November 2007, lot 205, sold by the above.
Acquired by the present owner from the above.

Literature

L. Taft, The History of American Sculpture, New York, 1925, pp. 336, 339, pl. X, another example illustrated.
L.A. Shepherd, F. Trapp, American Art at Amherst: A Summary Catalogue of the Collection at the Mead Art Gallery, Middletown, Connecticut, 1978, p. 130, another example illustrated.
C.A. Cibulka, Marble and Bronze: 100 Years of American Sculpture, 1840-1940, exhibition catalogue, Washington, D.C., 1984, p. 17, another example illustrated.
J.A. Gordon, Cast in the Shadow: Models for Public Sculpture in America, exhibition catalogue, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1986, pp. 48-50, another example illustrated.
J. Conner, J. Rosenkranz, Rediscoveries in American Sculpture: Studio Works, 1893-1939, Austin, Texas, 1989, pp. 126, 128-29, another example illustrated.
W.H. Gerdts, et al., Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1869-1915, Evanston, Illinois, 1992, pp. 61, 62, fig. 57, another example illustrated.
M. Smart, E.A. Gordon, A Flight with Fame: The Life and Art of Frederick William MacMonnies, Madison, Connecticut, 1996, pp. 74, 85-89, 91, 99, 102-05, 116, 136-37, 157, 188, 201, 210, 256, 289, no. 24, other examples illustrated.
E.A. Gordon, The Sculpture of Frederick William MacMonnies: A Critical Catalogue, Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1998, pp. 133-42, no. 24, pl. 24, other examples illustrated.
T. Tolles, ed., American Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. I, New York, 1999, pp. 434-36, no. 195, another example illustrated.
C. Rosenkranz, Conner·Rosenkranz: Selections from Thirty Years, Concord, New Hampshire, 2001, pp. 34-35, another example illustrated.
S. Holt, "Memorializing Nathan Hale," The Magazine Antiques, July 4, 2024, illustrated.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

Nathan Hale was an American Revolutionary who was captured and hung while on an espionage mission for George Washington in 1776. The present work depicts Hale moments before his death, when he would utter his famous final words: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

In 1889, Frederick MacMonnies entered a competition arranged by the Sons of the American Revolution of New York for a statue commission of Nathan Hale to be placed in City Hall Park. He was to submit a three foot plaster model adhering to the following guidelines, "a well-built young man of American type, dressed in simple costume of the end of the last Century...at the moment immediately preceding his execution by the British." (M. Smart, A Flight with Fame: The Life and Art of Frederick MacMonnies, Madison, Connecticut, 1996, p. 86) As no portrait of Hale is known to exist, MacMonnies was left to his creative devices to render an image of the national hero, opting to present him as an idealized, defiant figure. MacMonnies won the competition, producing an approximately 8-foot-tall bronze that was unveiled in 1893. The present work is a reduction of MacMonnies' eminent monument.

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