Development In or , Ceracchi created a now-lost
terracotta model of
Alexander Hamilton, an
American Founding Father and the first
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury during
George Washington's presidency. His initial work on the model was completed during Ceracchi's stay in
Philadelphia, then the post-
Revolutionary capital of the new nation. The work was then sent to Rome, where Ceracci created the marble version. In , he wrote Hamilton, saying he was "impatient to receive the clay that I had the satisfaction of forming from your witty and significant
physiognomy".
Presentation to Hamilton In , Ceracchi returned to the United States, where he delivered the bust to Hamilton. He did not receive payment for it until , when Hamilton's cash book includes the entry, "for this sum through
delicacy paid upon cherachi’s draft for making my bust on his own importunity & as a favour to him $620" The Hamilton family kept the bust until 1896 when it was bequeathed to the
New York Public Library along with a portrait of
George Washington and
The Constable-Hamilton Portrait, painted by
Gilbert Stuart.
2005 sale Both works were subsequently sold together, as requested by the will, on to the
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art for over $8 million.
Current display locations One of the original Ceracchi copies of the bust is now housed at
Hamilton Grange in
New York City. The original is on display at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in
Bentonville, Arkansas. ==Description==