Existing comment:
Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737-1832), 1826, by John Henri Isaac Browere (1790-1834).
Charles Carroll, signer of the Declaration of Independence, lived through the upheavals of the Revolution like his archrival, Daniel Dulany, Jr. Like Dulany, Carroll trained in England as a lawyer and inherited vast Maryland estates from his father, Charles County of Annapolis. Unlike Dulany, as a Catholic Carroll was unable to hold public office.
In a battle of wits published in the Maryland Gazette Dulany and Carroll argued the constitutionality of the Maryland charter: Dulany for the proprietary government, Carroll against. This confrontation put Carroll in the network of patriots, thus eventually securing him a seat in the Continental Congress.
This life mask, molded directly from Carroll's face by John Henri Browere in July 1826, is the most accurate image of the signer, Carroll commented at the time: "At his request, I set to him to take my bust; he has taken it. The resemblance in my opinion and of that of my family & all who have seen it is most striking; the operation from its commencement to its completion was performed in two hours with very little inconvenience and no pain to myself."
Browere exhibited this bust at the Baltimore Exchange in 1826 -- the last time it was seen in Maryland. |