Object Details
Cast after
Thomas Ball, 3 Jun 1819 - 11 Dec 1911
Foundry
Modern Art Foundry
Sitter
P. T. Barnum, 5 Jul 1810 - 7 Apr 1891
Exhibition Label
Born Bethel, Connecticut
Showman Phineas T. Barnum opened the curtain on modern mass entertainment. He dazzled in the era before technology facilitated the broadcasting of performance—just before the advent of the recording, radio, and motion picture industries; before the rise of the advertising industry; before the mass distribution of photography in the new rotogravure sections of the Sunday newspapers. Yet Barnum still succeeded with such orchestrated events as the introduction of the diminutive General Tom Thumb in the 1840s, the American tour of songbird Jenny Lind in 1850–51, and the creation, in 1881, with James Bailey, of the Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Date
1883 (cast 1973)
Object number
NPG.70.24.1
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Sculpture
Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
With Socle: 77.5 x 63.5 x 38.1cm (30 1/2 x 25 x 15")
Socle footprint: 24.1 x 24.1cm (9 1/2 x 9 1/2")
See more items in
National Portrait Gallery Collection
Location
Currently not on view
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Topic
P. T. Barnum: Male
P. T. Barnum: Arts and Culture\Performing Arts\Performer\Showman
P. T. Barnum: Arts and Culture\Performing Arts\Circus owner
P. T. Barnum: Arts and Culture\Education and Scholarship\Museum Administrator
Portrait
Link to Original Record
Record ID
npg_NPG.70.24.1