Honorable John Pitman

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TITLE Honorable John Pitman
CREATORAnnable, George O., 1829-1887
DATE 1853
DIMENSIONS 20 x 29.5 x 10.5 in.
ORIGINAL FORMAT Sculpture
MEDIUM Marble
PHYSICAL NOTE The marble sculpture presents Hon. John Pitman in traditional Roman toga - it was commissioned by “a number of friends of the Athenaeum” to honor the first President of the Board
DONOR Friends of the Athenaeum
DATE OF ACCESSION 1853
LOCATION Providence Athenæum: Main Library
John Pitman served as a U.S. District Court judge in Providence for nearly forty years, beginning in 1824, and also served as the first President of the Providence Athenæum, 1836-1853.

This portrait bust was commissioned by friends of the Athenæum from the local artist, George O. Annable. Annable had studied drawing under miniaturist Jane Catherine Chapin but later turned to sculpture, working mainly in cameo cutting. Though he typically worked in small scale, he completed at least two portrait busts of local community leaders before leaving Providence for Brooklyn, New York. This marble sculpture recognized Pitman’s efforts on behalf of the Athenæum and joined the institution’s collection of plaster busts representing important scholars and statesmen.
Lancaster, Jane. Inquire Within: A Social History of the Providence Athenæum Since 1753. Providence Athenæum, 2003, p. 56.

"The Honorable John Pitman." The Providence Athenæum, 2019, www.providenceathenaeum.org/collections/art-collection/sculpture/. Accessed 28 June 2019.

Bowman, Ceara. “Honorable John Pitman.” 2016. ARTH 401: Cataloguing Curiosity, Wheaton College, student paper.
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