William Rush and the American figurehead

Magazine Antiques, Nov, 2005 by Ralph Sessions

In 1775 John Hancock instructed the superintendent of two frigates being built in Massachusetts to

let the heads & Galleries for the Ships be neatly carv'd and Executed,
I leave the Device to you, but by all means let ours be as good,
handsome, strong & as early compleated as any building here in
Philadelphia. (1)

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Hancock's concern reflected the fact that Philadelphia had become Boston's chief rival in shipbuilding by the last quarter of the eighteenth century. Philadelphia was also the most populous city in the country and the most important port south of New England. Its wharves and shipyards were busy throughout most of the Revolution, but were particularly active in the decades following the end of the war. A number of ship carvers worked there, producing a wide range of carving that was highly regarded by local residents. As one observer noted in 1971:

The art of carving, especially heads of ships, we may without boasting
say is brought to the greatest degree of perfection in this city. A
stranger walking along the wharves, must be struck with the beautiful
female figures of Peace, Plenty, Love, Harmony, Ariel, Astronomy,
Minerva, America, etc., etc., and also with the masculine statues of
American Warriors, Alexanders, Hannibals, Caesars, etc., etc.... as we
may allow sea Captains to be judges, they are generally of the opinion
that the carving of heads of vessels in Philadelphia is superior to any
they have seen in any part of the world. (2)

Of the many ship carvers responsible for this diversity of figures, the most gifted was William Rush, who is best known today as one of America's first sculptors and a founder of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. In 1794, more than a decade before the founding of the Pennsylvania Academy, he was one of about forty artists who organized one of the first art academies in the United States, the short-lived Columbianum in Philadelphia. He also served on the common council of Philadelphia for many years, and was particularly active on the watering committee, which was responsible for overseeing the city's waterworks. His architectural sculpture and terra-cotta portrait busts of leading citizens were much admired in their day. Among his finest works is the famous Allegory of the Schuylkill River or Water Nymph and Bittern of 1809, which was created for an ornamental fountain in Centre Square (see Pl. II). The version illustrated here is a posthumous bronze cast of the wooden original, which has almost entirely disintegrated. John Lewis Krimmel's painting Fourth of July in Centre Square of about 1812 (Pl. III) shows Rush's sculpture in place. Krimmel's engaging view of a fashionable gathering in celebration of a major national holiday highlights the importance of Rush's participation in the cultural and civic life of his city.

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While Rush's figureheads have received less attention, no doubt partly because of their extreme rarity, they represent another major contribution to the history and development of American sculpture. Rush trained as a ship carver and operated an active workshop for more than fifty years. His work for both the federal government and Philadelphia's leading merchants and shipbuilders was widely recognized during his lifetime. In fact, he was the most innovative and influential American ship carver of his day, and was largely responsible for charting the course that figurehead carving took in the nineteenth century.

In 1794 the Philadelphia shipbuilder Joshua Humphreys (1751-1838) was appointed the nation's first naval constructor, charged with establishing the beginnings of the United States Navy. He was authorized by Congress to design six new frigates, each to be built in a different city. The USS United States was completed in Philadelphia in 1797, followed by the USS Constellation in Baltimore, and the USS Constitution in Boston. The other three, the USS Chesapeake of Norfolk, Virginia, the USS Congress of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and the USS President of New York were completed in 1800. (3)

Humphreys turned to Rush for preliminary designs for all the figureheads and stern carvings, and for a list of carvers who could accomplish the work in a timely fashion. The extent of Rush's prominence is demonstrated in a letter from the secretary of war, Timothy Pickering (1745-1829), to George Washington advising that the decorative work for the ships being built in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York would take a long time, because Rush was the only carver in the Middle States who was competent enough to undertake the carving. (4) Rush's shop eventually completed four of the six figureheads. The one for the Constitution was done in Boston by John Skillin (1745-1800) and Simeon Skillin Jr. (1756-1806). In New York City Daniel N. Train (w. c. 1799-1812), a former apprentice of Rush, carved the figurehead for the President. (5)

Rush's preliminary designs survive in a letter to Humphreys, and his descriptions of two of the figureheads that he completed are known. In each case, they were elaborate, symbolic groups that expressed American political ideals while following English design precedents. A central figure, either a mythological hero or a female allegorical figure, was surrounded and supported by smaller figures and related motifs extending from the figurehead back into the trail board. The best description of one of them comes from Rush himself: