John La Farge
Edith Woodman Burroughs American
Cast by C. Valsuani
Burroughs modeled this bust of John La Farge (1835–1910) when the distinguished artist was seventy-three years old, toward the end of his extended career. In contrast to the optimistic dandy who appears in La Farge’s 1859 self-portrait (34.134), Burroughs presented him without apology as a pensive and melancholic elder. The vigor of the portrait rests in the assured surface modeling and the sharp horizontal termination at the chest.