The Letters by Junius Brutus Stearns (2011)

JUNIUS BRUTUS STEARNS 106 E. Second Street

Brooklyn, N.Y.

34 Passage des Abesses Paris, France

3 July 1848

Mr. Chas. L. Elliott 43 Division Street, Studio 7th Fl. N.Y., N.Y. Dear Charles,

To begin with I will say I am thankful to have had the benefit of your

judgment and instruction for the years we occupied the adjoining studios at

Division Street and think of you often, hoping my work is so informed and does

justice to you. I am also indebted to your good counsel that I should study here in

Europe following the National Academy’s rejection of my proposal for the

sponsorship of the Washington series. I plan to stay several months, no more, as

my wife Emeline, has chagrined at the prospect of managing our household and

tending to our four sons (I assure you, a handful!) in Williamsburg without me.

Although I will confess it to you that when I am there I am not of great assistance

and she oft-complained I had supped at the studio and conversed with you more

than I had with her. As you know her temperament – and mine, she meant no

offense toward you for her remarks.

Before leaving home, I had undertaken initial studies for the Washington

series, my eldest sons Michael Angelo and Raphael Correggio posing in Geo.

Washington’s stead. They are but twelve and ten years of age respectively, but of

tall stature, especially Raphael who reminds me of myself in my salad days.

I am embellishing upon my sons’ images, drawing and redrawing them in

varying poses to ascertain the right mix of guests for The Marriage of George and


Brooklyn, N.Y.

Martha Washington, the first in the series. I recall your instruction well and may

interpose a self-portrait among the crowd to diversify the subjects, but this based

upon one already completed during my student-ship at the Academy in the

interest of time. I welcome your further guidance as you may wont to provide it.

Finding a suitable study for Washington’s face has presented a challenge.

In the history of nations our country is toddling, but so young for an artist in my

association to have viewed Geo. Washington vis-à-vis. My father lived in that age,

but as you know, he is a stranger to me. And I thought on the issue of who might

have had the opportunity to know Him well enough that I could execute a more

faithful rendering of his face and stature. Thus I inquired of John Augustine

Washington, His grand-nephew, about visiting Mt. Vernon, hoping there I would

have access to life portraits. Unfortunately, J.A. Washington’s letter had not

arrived before I reached Paris. Emeline informed me of its contents, and I am

excited to tell you a trip is planned on my return. J.A. is relieved, apparently, that

an artist has such keen interest in so depicting his uncle and says the family has

been disappointed in other likenesses.

You know of the sculptor and artist Jean Antoine Houdon, of course. J.A.

states that Houdon made a cast of Washington’s full body in life, and two life

masques, one of which is in the possession of the Mt. Vernon Estate – the other

returned with Houdon to his Paris studio. The letter reports that the Houdon bust

commissioned by Geo. Washington himself is the best representation of

Washington’s face as J.A. Washington, his elders passed, or any of his family or

household ever has seen. As Houdon is now deceased I cannot acquire his copy,

but have access to a Houdon bust cast from that life masque upon which my

studies of our Father’s face is now modeled for the first in the series.


Brooklyn, N.Y.

There is more work for me in Paris than I could have imagined and I am

happy enough here, although it has not been uneventful. The February Revolution

that brought The Second Republic, before I sailed, failed to accomplish

Representative Democracy or restore the natural rights of man to the citizens of

France. They envy our Free Press and Free Labor, although I remind them we are

not a Nation of Free Labor altogether, slavery persisting in The South and

constant tension between North and South on this issue, even within our own

Party. This whine means little to them when they know we enjoy the right to

speak our minds on the subject.

I do not know how The Times or The Herald handle events of here, but will

tell you that upon my arrival a few weeks ago, I set out to rent a studio with small

living quarters but was directed back to port by my landlady, as she rumored of

another revolution. I thought her emotion a bit outré, but decided to heed it for

safety’s sake and took my things by carriage to Le Havre, the most attractive

option, it being only a day’s journey from the heart of Paris. Reports soon spread

of bloody violence by workers in The City, and later of some four thousand people

killed by the National Guard, which also suffered casualties. Who can say with

certainty what will come of this but the bloody aspect is over for now. Given our

own history, I must think such sacrifice is not for naught.

I do admit to accruing personal gain from this latest People’s uprising,

having received now several commissions for portraits from French patrons

enamored anew with now infamous American delegates to our Constitutional

Convention. And received another order by letter from an Irish immigrant living

in N.Y., Dr. Brandreth, a man of considerable wealth and the inventor of that

infamous purifying pill factory at Sing Sing. A young surgeon friend of his at the


Brooklyn, N.Y.

Royal London Hospital now seeks to commission work as well. Such productivity

after the Academy refused to support the series! Thus hope persists that I will

soon raise enough funds to support the project and return home posthaste.

I trust this finds you in good health and good spirits.

I am Very Truly Yours,


Brooklyn, N.Y.

34 Passage des Abesses Paris, France

4 July 1848

Mr. Jonathan Sturges 449 Mill Plain Road Fairfield, Connecticut Dear Sir:

I am settled in Paris, in a studio not far from the great master Houdon,

working on the Washington series I had proposed this year to the Academy.

Please accept my gratitude for your encouragement to pursue this project. Your

advice, and that of my good friend and mentor, Chas. L. Elliot, has worked to great

advantage. There is on display a Houdon bust of Washington after which I am

modeling Washington’s image, at least in the first of the series, his marriage to

Martha Custis.

I have thought about your carefully phrased commentary on the

Academy’s rejection and appreciate you are of a similar mind as for the role of the

artist and art in continuing the struggle for liberty in The States. As a fellow Whig

I imagine you are taken aback at the murmurs we shall not reach a compromise

on the issue of admitting new slave states. Polk’s Grab Game in Mexico has not

assured Free Labor for the new territories and I share the Intelligencer’s alarm

that slavers and their markets will persist without fruitful debate. From here I do

not see the Northern will as strong enough to overtake such a trend without there

being some agreement in Congress requiring the admission of these territories as

Free States. I welcome news from home on the question, a continuing struggle for

civility that frustrates me but inspires my work.


Brooklyn, N.Y.

If you desire, I will notify you of my return and would be happy to receive

your opinion of whatever I have completed of the series. Your grandfather and

father well served our country and I am sure you have been privy to reports as

well as images of those early times.

I am Sincerely Yours,

JONATHAN STURGES

449 Mill Plain Road Fairfield, Connecticut

November 27, 1848 Mr. J. B. Stearns 34 Passage des Abesses Paris, France Dear Mr. Stearns:

Thank you for your kind words. I am much interested in your Washington

project. There is stirring in New York a debate over the accessibility of art to the

general public. The American Art Union plans to open its doors to everyone,

which is my preference, and The Academy remains unfazed by the artists’

request to either lower or eliminate its admission fee, maintaining the line

between the classes.

We are in troubled times and the common man understands this. There is

little work and many more laborers. The penny press talks of Disunion regularly

and I cannot help but think that most Americans know what newsboys holler

from every corner, that insurrection will follow any movement toward insisting

upon the inclusion of the new territories as slave states. In this I share your

grievance for the Hidalgo Treaty and am glad we are in the midst of the changing

of the guard at the palace. If Taylor’s address to us at the convention is of any

consequence, wherein he promised to continue the Wilmot Proviso banning the

admittance of any new slave states, he will adhere to Clay’s plan to muster the

numbers of his Southern Whigs to match our votes and concoct a compromise for

the admission of free states, but I caution us both to avoid naiveté.

This brings me full circle to presume to advise you in the matter of your

project. It is of the utmost importance that we remind people in these times that

JONATHAN STURGES

449 Mill Plain Road Fairfield, Connecticut

the course of democracy is not smooth. I urge you to continue studies abroad, and

seek commissions enough to cover the cost of producing the series yourself. You

may then choose, wisely I trust, with whom to exhibit the work so that the Public

may know its perspective.

Thank you for your letter, sir,

I am Sincerely yours,

Jonathan Sturges

Junius Brutus Stearns 34 Passage des Abesses

Paris, France

February 12, 1849 Mr. Chas. L. Elliot 43 Division Street, Studio 7th Fl. N.Y., N.Y.

Dear Charles,

Nearly completed The Marriage and believe you will enjoy hearing the

brighter news I received from Mr. Jonathan Sturges as much as I did. Our

correspondence enclosed (please keep this until my return or you may forward it

to my wife, Emeline at the Second Avenue address). When Mr. Sturges addressed

me in N.Y. concerning the decision of the Academy Council on my Washington

proposal, he nicely phrased their rejection, saying the project would consume

substantial amounts of time and no benefactor could raise funds adequate to

support my family while I painted four large canvases. Despite his attempt to

contradict the Academy’s insinuation of a rejection ad hominem, I felt it reason

enough for embarrassment and made little effort to hide my hangdog face. It was

that or reveal my truer anger. Sturges seemed compassionate at the time,

extending condolences, apologizing for being unable to patronize me himself.

Although I wondered why this was the case.

He mentioned his grandfather’s place in the Continental Congress, his

father’s service to the U.S. Congress, and his great admiration for my desire to

remind the Nation of our history fraught with strife and compromise. We need to

remind people in these times, he said in his letter, that the course of democracy is

not smooth. He also encouraged me continue studying abroad and seek


Paris, France

commissions for my portraiture, enough to cover the cost of producing the series

myself.

I agree with Struges that we artists must insist on exhibiting our work to

the masses and the Academy’s twenty-five cent admission charge contradicts this

notion. The common man cannot afford the luxury to ignore what is coming. And

something is coming. The Art Union’s free admittance will provide for a greater

avenue to the minds of all men. As such I have decided that upon my return I will

engage them to exhibit the Washington series. I think Sturges whispers this

advice in his letter. Before approaching The Union, however, I would like your

opinion on the subject. I do not also want to risk my achievement of status as

Academician, which I hope will be the Council’s response to my newest

submission this June, entitled Millenium. I am nearly positive they will not see

the work for what it is, but rather esteem it more traditional, but I enclose a study

of it so that you may see for yourself my thinking.

The representation is not direct translation of Isaiah but a wary one at that.

(In case you are wondering, Michael A. posed for the child.) The Leopard and kid

shall lie down together, but here the Leopard keeps watch for enemies from afar,

a building blustery cloud ensues, and the true hunter, the Lioness, engages the

viewer directly. Her strong physique shadows the kid, who sleeps not with the

Lion, who is slumbers well, but instead lies warily, one eye on the Rosy Croix

where the open rose bloom represents the four unities – body, mind, desire and

will – faded and fallen from the center as it begins to disintegrate.

I suppose this may be too dramatic, but it is my way of depicting the

possibility of our long winter of discontent ahead and the need for a wary eye

toward the possibility of our own Union disintegrating before we reach


Paris, France

reconciliation on Free Labor. Yet, nature’s landscape being of recent interest to

Academy patrons, I believe it will not disquiet the Council entirely as they may

interpret it traditionally or literally, ignoring the subtle clues that our brethren

will notice. You know much more of their decision process than I, having achieved

Academician status ahead of me, despite your youth! Thus, I await your opinion.

Sending you heartfelt thanks, as always, for your guidance and friendship,


Charles Loring Elliott 47 Division Street

New York, N.Y.

May 21, 1849 Mr. J. B. Stearns 34 Passage des Abesses Paris, France

Dearest J.B.,

As I know I have told you before, my early days were bread and butter, not

salad. These are your bread and butter days, a time for no shame in taking multiple

commissions for portrait work to fund your efforts. I do not understand fully the

Council’s apprehension in funding your project. One would think that they would

entreat an artist such as you to remind us all of our beginnings in these tense times.

Maybe they do not see the need. Their taste in recent years seems to invite landscapes

and animal scenery, more so than depictions of historic moment, and so your

Millenium will be well received.

As for your series, I commend your brave intention to engage the Art Union. You

already are a member of the Hudson River School as well, and as we all exhibit our

work outside of the Academy, I in Philadelphia, Hudson River and so on, no body

should regard your exhibition at The Union as disloyalty – although your trepidation

is well placed in the acrimony between the two academies. Until late, I thought we

belonged to the more liberal of them, given that we artists manage operations and

draft policy, but we are a diverse bunch. Much like the Nation, it is difficult to hold

ourselves together with a single mind.

I do not know if you have heard yet of the The Astor Place Riot, but this has

fueled the quarrel between The Union and The Academy over admission fees. Some

twenty-two people were killed by local police after a crowd gathered outside the Astor

Place Opera House to denigrate the appearance of Wm. Chas. McCready, the English

stage actor who had visited upon one of our best home-grown actors – Edwin Forrest,


New York, N.Y.

a gardener’s welcome when he appeared on his stage in London. I am sure you heard

of that in Europe.

Every newsboy now waves the blood in our faces from every corner, and even

our own Recording Secretary, Frederick Spencer, is talking of submitting a realist

work, where in evidence pasted on the wall behind a Bowery Boy hawking the news,

will be a notice of the Astor Place Riots and a headline Something is Comeing. He

means to propose it to the National Academy for exhibition next summer. The artists

are in full support but the Council must consider it before presses on. If ever you

required a signal to go ahead with your project, to express your political will opposing

Disunion, Spencer has issued it. Indeed something is coming and Spencer is making it

happen.

As for Sturges, he is a good man of solid means, and you must remember he is

himself the Vice President of the Whigs in N.Y. and a fellow sympathizer against the

expansion of slavery. I suspect the reason why he can not back your project might

concern the solvency of The Academy. We have recently been informed that Sturges

and his business acquaintance and friend Chas. M. Leupp, of Greenwich Savings, have

formed a Business Committee and Trustees to manage the finances of the Academy.

Leupp and Sturges have contributed their own funds to pay off Academy debts and

reckon its accounts. We are all grateful for their rescue, but no doubt Sturges’ funds

are thus bound up, for now.

Aside from the financial reluctance, it seems to me, you are receiving a clear

signal from Sturges as well to move ahead. His ancestry plays no small part in that,

having descended from a signer to the Constitution. He understands intimately what

is at stake in preserving these United States and, though not an artist, possesses an

artist’s intellect and intent in using creative artifacts to stimulate arteries of thinking


New York, N.Y.

in the general public. The newspapers serve in this manner more directly, of course,

but art promotes deeper reflection as well as any words can.

And remember, to act as your own patron will allow you greater power in the

exhibition of your work. As for whether Sturges is advising you in a “whisper” to show

the series at The Union, I would agree with your inference. He has made several

remarks in good company that The Academy has no business keeping art from the

masses and, as I understand it, Spencer is now promoting Sturges as the speaker for

the Annual Exhibition Address next June 1850.

Personally, I see that your stationery implies you are remaining in Paris a bit

longer than anticipated. If you need me to check on your wife and family, I am happy

to do so. I am sure an absent father and husband present difficulties for them. As I

know you have no family, and as a friend, I find no trouble in it to visit them and

report their well-being to you. I hope, in friendship, you do not find this offer fresh.


Charles


New York, N.Y.

April 6, 1851 Mr. Junius B. Stearns 34 Passage des Abesses Paris, France

Dear J.B.,

First may I wish you belated congratulations on completing another year

commemorating your birth. I trust you have made friends in Paris, at least

associations with artists, with whom you could manage a pint or two as well as a little

chicken coq au vin.

Second, but not the least of the two, your Millenium was on full exhibition, to

wit I must tell you the Council decided well in electing you Academician, and welcome

to the Brotherhood. This year Asher Durand submitted and the Academy is exhibiting

yet another landscape. Sturges and Leupp are both patrons of his work.

In unhappy news, Clay’s Compromise did not pass in Congress, but he has

vowed not to rest until he obtains sufficient signatures to bring the measure before

the President, who himself proposed the territories be admitted as two Free States,

California and New Mexico. I suggest we are on sound footing with Taylor’s gesture.

I bear happy news concerning more immediate affairs. Jonathan Sturges

addressed the Academy at our annual exhibition yesterday. You, of all people, will not

be surprised by his speech, but I wish that you had been here so his words would have

put your mind at ease as for the future of your Washington project. My rendition must

do for now. In my best memory, I report to you as follows, that Sturges opened with a

lamenting tone as for Parke Godwin’s earlier address in which he protested that art

should play no role in the “everlasting struggle between vice and virtue” and,

specifically, reprimanded us artists for imagining ourselves teachers in this respect.


New York, N.Y.

Then, Sturges went on to contradict Godwin and squarely stated that, it is our earnest

obligation to:

“…cultivate great thoughts, and study to place them in the most effective way before the people. You must not paint merely for the love of it. You must paint to soften, to refine and to humanize your fellow-men. I believe this to be the great object of your art, and I believe this should be the great object of your exhibitions.” And I believe this paves the way for your exhibition of Geo. Washington at The

American Art Union given that, first, The Academy’s lack of support does not inure

itself to being graced by your work, and second, that The Art Union is, in fact, open to

the masses with no admittance fee, achieving your goal, whereas the Academy

maintains its twenty-five cent cost.

I must take my leave but wanted to send word of Sturges’ address right away. I

look forward to your reply and ask when you are planning to return.

As your friend, I am Very Truly Yours,

Charles


Paris, France

21 August 1850 Mr. Charles L. Elliott 47 Division Street 7th Fl. New York, N.Y. Dear Charles,

I will be coming home soon, certainly no later than this autumn. I am charged to

visit Mt. Vernon by then. Emeline is in receipt of a letter from the late J.A. Washington’s

wife introducing me to her eldest son, Col. J.A. Washington who now possesses the estate.

I have dispatched a letter requesting a visit come September or October, before the

weather turns frigid and a journey to Virginia becomes too precarious. There are a

number of items, which I disclose only for your knowledge, that I might have the

opportunity to view or, with good fortune, borrow in furtherance of my project.

I must also thank you for visiting my darling wife and sons. While Emeline writes

me frequently, and I her, she is not the kind of woman who confides in me her worries --

especially when I am journeyed so far. She does not want me to become pre-occupied

with home whilst I am trying to get back to it. So it is with relief that I hear from you

most recently that she is in good health and that my sons continue to pester her in

amusing ways and none has forgotten their wretched father.

I also have pleasing news: I have completed the final studies for the remaining

three canvasses in the series, entitled The Soldier, The Farmer and In Death. I include

some of the minor sketches here for your review and comment, should you wish to offer

guidance. You are, we all agree, the finest portrait artist among us at the Academy,

perhaps in all of N.Y. I have seen none finer here who paint in modern modes.

You will see from these final sketches that I chose to include my sons Michael A.

and Raphael C., hence the fidgety young boy attending George and Martha’s wedding and


Paris, France

the sprouts in The Farmer’s field. Please relay these to Emeline after your review as I

think it would warm her to know they have been constant in my thoughts and my work.

Martha, as you will see, is the embodiment of Emeline.

I have been thinking hard on your details of the current feud between the

American Art Union and the Academy. As for my two cents, the Academy is not acting in

the public interest and this in consequence of the political frailty of its members. The

artists are, for the most part, Northern Whigs – but perhaps in name only, as they are

not moving us forward with the times as the Party name suggests.

As for Sturges’ address, Hark! I hear the Calvary! With Sturges at the helm of the

Trustees and the finances in his hands, I am assured that my exhibition at the Art Union

will not agitate my relations with the Council in any significant way.

I have a question for you as well: When will you return to Albany? Or will I see you

upon my return to N.Y.?

I am Very Truly Yours

JUNIUS BRUTUS STEARNS

106 E. Second Street

Brooklyn, N.Y.

17 August 1856 Mr. Jonathan Sturges 449 Mill Plain Road Fairfield, Connecticut

Dear Sir:

You invited me to continue our conversation about my work on the Washington

Series and, again I must thank you for your public support of the project when it

exhibited at The American Art Union. My mind has been heavy with the politics of

late, the heated debates in the Press over the positioning of the North against South,

of Whigs against Whigs, in this next election. We are upon the next convention,

remarkably set for 17 September, as you well know the date of the signing of The

Constitution, to which your grandfather pledged his life and honor.

My stay in Europe, though much longer than anticipated, nearly a full three

years, enabled me to fund my series so I am beholden to no particular patron or

gallery. But at this point I am desiring to add a fifth picture to the series – one of

greater import now that we face what may be the final found of elections for the Whigs

as we know ourselves.

I do not know if you would characterize yourself an abolitionist but I have

heard others call you so. I do not want to tempt the destruction of the Union, in its

youth no less, by forcing upon the South to exterminate the practice of slavery –

however, as a matter of principle, I am against it. And yet our Nation’s Father owned

slaves. I do not know how to reconcile the two. As a Northern Whig I have joined our

Party in supporting the radical actions of our own Chester A. Arthur, Esq., and Circuit

Judge Wlm. Rockefeller in the Jennings case last year – whereupon the Third Avenue



Brooklyn, N.Y.

Rail Company forcibly removed a black woman from their car despite no complaints

by her fellow passengers.

The Circuit Court’s subsequent decision in another matter deeming any slave

passing through our State Free wrought the Fugitive Slave Act. It is clear by this swift

reaction of Congress and the Southern Whigs that we no longer share the same ideals

nor are we on the same side. We talk of impending war – of a Southern revolution, but

we are at war already.

To avoid shedding blood, I want to appeal to the highest ideals and the most

honorable form of representative democracy – compromise with the understanding

there will always be further debate. This is the true nature of our Constitution. It is

not Napoleonic; it leaves to reasonable minds room for civil disagreement.

This is a long-winded manner of introducing the fifth piece: The Statesman,

depicting Geo. Washington addressing the Constitutional Convention as they are to

sign the document. Based upon my reading of the Federalist Papers as well as having

listened intently to the anecdotes of my father’s generation, and from time to time,

hearing of the contributions of great men such as your grandfather, I decided that the

series would be incomplete without this work. Especially in these times when

Disunion is talked about so casually as to sound reckless.

You will not see celebration or smiles upon any delegates depicted, rather the

pain and anguish of continued division while they recognize the essential act of

binding their lives to one another and again telling a candid world they stand united.

I have enclosed a study of the work, but the canvas is nearly finished. I would

be honored by your assessment and advice on it.

There is another work, which I want to disclose but will not be able to show you.



Brooklyn, N.Y.

My visit in autumn of 1850 to the Mt. Vernon estate of our First President Geo.

Washington occasioned me to evaluate my beliefs and this series. Col. J.A. Washington

gifted me the Houdoun life masque upon which my depictions are based. Also Geo.

Washington’s frock, waistcoat and trousers and a chair from his study. They have

allowed me to imagine the President in human terms and so caused me to ponder the

man as I constructed him.

For example, it was not until The Farmer that I had contemplated

straightforwardly that good men may disagree about slavery, and – in fact, good men

may own slaves. It is hard to conceive and yet most of us, if not all of us, agree

Washington was a great leader and a great man. And so The Farmer, if you have not

noticed, depicts slaves at rest for a purpose. In showing that if one owns slaves, one

has no need to be inhumane in their treatment. But this is not to say that the South

practices that ideal.

While doing the studies for The Farmer, I was contacted by a well-to-do

businessman of your stature here in the States, who shall remain nameless at his

request. He commissioned a duplicate of The Marriage, but called for one distinct

change – the appearance of a gentle couple of Free blacks. Thus, in place of the elder

couple seated prominently in the foreground and behind the Bride and Groom this

Free Black couple attends in elegant dress. They are not enslaved nor in service at the

event, rather they are simply in attendance. Some would see this as blaspheme. I

would agree with my patron it is simply human.

I would prefer to offer that piece in juxtaposition of the first Marriage but will

remain in the possession of the businessman.



Brooklyn, N.Y.

Remembering your address to the Academy years ago, and regarding my same

sentiments on the matter, I believe it is important – especially now – to make The

Statesman and the entire series accessible to the masses. Therefor I will offer the this

fifth piece as well to The Art Union. Thus, every man and woman who lives, works or

passes through N.Y. will be able to see the faces of your grandfather and his

colleagues – our forefathers, constructing a nation of honorable but contentious

liberty. Contentious because one man’s liberty may encroach upon another and

because liberty is never without responsibility. We must not “mistake unbridled

license for freedom”, I believe Rousseau so instructed, for this is “the very opposite” of

liberty and will deliver us all into bondage.

It is my ardent hope that you see the merit of this latest work and choose to

gossip favorably about its exhibition so that we may increase the number of people

who have the opportunity to contemplate the potential for the destruction or

resurrection of our great Nation.

I remain indebted to your example and your good guidance, and am

Very Truly Yours,

Mrs. Evelyn Stearns Spear 539 East Eighteenth Street

Brooklyn, N.Y.

19 December 1935

Mr. Arthur Harrington Spear, Sr. 247 Gates Avenue Brooklyn, N.Y. My dearest Son,

Last we talked you mentioned you are doing research on the painting my

Uncle Sylvester called The Constitution, but which is truly named The Statesman.

It is the last in a series J.B. did featuring Washington. The Houdon life masque

and clothing referenced in the enclosed letters was donated by the step-son of

Edith Sylvia Stearns (Foy-Petit) to Federal Hall for public view. The chair and

many “doodles” your great-grandfather painted for my father’s walls (Raphael

C.) are in my possession and will become yours upon my death.

My old age getting the better of me in recent months I cannot recall where

the duplicate of The Marriage is but my Uncle Sylvester Lucius, the youngest of

J.B.’s sons, donated The Statesman to the Brooklyn Museum, which in turn sold it

to the New York Public Library for $1. I have contacted the N.Y.P.L. but have

received no response as yet.

I have also included a Photostat of the studies and paintings to which the

letters refer so you may see what is being discussed.

I can tell you this: I have seen The Statesman and it is worth your

investigation. The faces of the delegates do not appear as one might expect at the

culmination of four years of effort to unite us. Their expressions make continued

debate a certainty. You should know that, at fifty, J.B. volunteered for the Twelfth

Regiment of N.Y. but his rheumatism disabled him from leading his men to

combat. He sent his three sons, my father Raphael Correggio among them, as

officers in the Calvary and combat regiments.

Mrs. Evelyn Stearns Spear 539 East Eighteenth Street

Brooklyn, N.Y.

After the war, my father – whose suicide prevented your acquaintance,

organized parades for war veterans, became Brooklyn Parks Commissioner and

raised funds for the design and construction of the arch in honor of the Grand

Army of the Republic, which stands in your old neighborhood. I am sure there are

stories to uncover in these letters, the paintings themselves, and even in my

father’s work.

I wish you the best of luck in your research, son, and encourage you to

share your great-grandfather’s legacy with your new son when he is old enough,

so that he may share the stories you discover with his.


Your loving mother

Documents

The Letters by Junius Brutus Stearns (2011)