Nathan Hale

Details

BELA LYON PRATT (1867-1917)
Nathan Hale
inscribed ‘NATHAN HALE/by BELA L. PRATT’—inscribed ‘ROMAN BRONZE WORKS N-Y-’ (on the base)
bronze with brown patina
35 in. (88.9 cm.) high
Modeled in 1898.

Provenance

Norton Asner, Baltimore, Maryland.
Estate of the above.
Sotheby’s, New York, 27 May 1992, lot 33, sold by the above.
Acquired by the present owner from the above.

Literature

K. Greenthal, P.M. Kozol, J.S. Ramirez, American Figurative Sculpture in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, 1986, pp. 316-318, fig. 104, another example illustrated.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

The present work depicts Nathan Hale, an American Revolutionary who was captured and hung while on an espionage mission for George Washington in 1776. A life-sized version of this work is displayed at Hale's alma mater, Yale University. "Although some Yale men objected to Hale being portrayed bound and manacled, the [Yale Alumni] Weekly remained staunchly behind Pratt's intent to show the patriot in the last moments before he was hanged by the British," when he famously said: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." (as quoted in K. Greenthal, P.M. Kozol, J.S. Ramirez, American Figurative Sculpture in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, 1986, pp. 318, 316) Another cast of this model resides in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

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