THOMAS JEFFERSON. AGE 82. SIDE VIEW OF THE BUST SHOWN ON THE OPPOSITE PAGE.
especially sculpture. He returned to New York in 1820, and began modeling; but being of an inventive turn, he experimented to obtain casts from the living face, in a manner and with a composition different from those usually employed by sculptors.
His first satisfactory achievement was a cast of his friend and preceptor, Robertson, and his second that of Judge Pierrepont Edwards, of Connecticut. But it was left for "The Nation's Guest" to lift Browere into prominence in his art. At the request of the Common Council of New York, Lafayette permitted Browere to make a cast of his head, neck, and shoulders on July 11, 1825. But a slight accident happened to the cast, and the operation was repeated a week later at Philadelphia. The result of the second trial was a likeness so admirable and of such remarkable fidelity that De Witt Clinton, S. F. B. Morse, and many others came forward and enthusiastically bore witness to its being "a perfect facsimile" of the distinguished Frenchman.
From this on, Browere devoted his time and means to making casts of the most noted men in the country's history who were then living, with the purpose of forming a national gallery of the busts of famous Americans. But after years of labor and the expenditure, as he writes to Madison, of $12,087, the scheme was abandoned, owing to lack of support
