Shobal Vail Clevenger (22 October 1812 near
Middletown, Ohio – 23 September 1843 at sea) was a United States sculptor.
Biography
He was the son of a
New Jersey weaver, went to
Cincinnati when a boy, and found occupation as a stone cutter. Having developed artistic ability, as was shown by some very creditable tombstone work, he was induced by David Guid to carve busts in freestone. His first effort in this direction was the likeness of E. S. Thomas, then editor of the
Cincinnati ''Evening Post'', which was executed directly in the stone, without the intervention of plaster.
He subsequently devoted himself to art, and transferred his studio to New York City. Among his sitters were
William Henry Harrison,
Henry Clay
Henry Clay Sr. (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American attorney and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. He was the seventh House speaker as well as the ninth secretary of state, al ...
,
Martin Van Buren,
Daniel Webster,
Edward Everett, and
Washington Allston. Specimens of his work are now preserved in the art galleries of the
Boston Athenaeum, the
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
and Philadelphia historical societies, the
Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...
, the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the
Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. His bust of Daniel Webster was selected by the
United States Post Office as best adapted for representation on the fifteen cent U.S. postage stamp.
In 1840, he went to reside in Rome, where he executed the "North American Indian," which was the first distinctive American piece of sculpture made in Rome, and attracted a large number of Italians to his studio. While in Italy, he contracted pulmonary phthsis by inhalation of stone dust. He died when one day's sail from
Gibraltar
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, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
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, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
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, and his body was consigned to the ocean.
Family
His son,
Shobal Vail Clevenger, Jr., was a noted physician.
Notes
References
*
External links
Art and the empire city: New York, 1825–1861 an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on ___ (see index)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clevenger, Shobal Vail
1812 births
1843 deaths
19th-century American sculptors
19th-century American male artists
American male sculptors
Sculptors from Ohio
People from Middletown, Ohio
American expatriates in Italy
People who died at sea
Burials at sea