The Real Face of Martin Van Buren - Life Mask Reconstruction

What did Martin Van Buren Look Like?

When one thinks of eighth U.S. President Martin Van Buren thoughts of unkempt hair and massive side burns might come to mind as shown in the following photograph of Van Buren.

However, in 1833 when Martin Van Buren was vice-president of the United States, his hair was still brown and he presented a more groomed appearance.

"The latest work that we have from the hand of Browere, is the bust from the life mask of “the Little Magician,” as Martin Van Buren was called, made in 1833, the year before Browere’s death. Van Buren was then in his fifty-first year, and he lived until July 24, 1862. His life covered a longer era and his career witnessed greater changes in national life than those of any other man who has occupied the presidential chair. He was born and died in Kinderhook, Columbia county, New York; studied law with William P. Van Ness, the friend of Burr; and was admitted to the bar on attaining his majority. He was fitted by taste and temperament for politics, and politics were fitted for him."¹

During the late spring of 1833, Browere embarked on a journey to Washington with the intention of creating a life mask of President Andrew Jackson. However, Jackson declined the offer to sit for the mask. Fortunately, Vice President Martin Van Buren stepped in and agreed to be the subject instead. Browere captured Van Buren's likeness in the form of a life mask bust, marking the the last known life mask to be cast by Browere.

The life mask of Van Buren presents a different image than what we are accustomed to seeing in his later photographs. Unlike the familiar portrayal of him with disheveled hair and large sideburns, the life mask captures him during a time when his hair was brown and he maintained a more polished and well-groomed appearance.

Browere's casting process was done with his subjects sitting upright using a lighter plaster mixture that did not distort the facial features.

According to David Meschutt's "A Bold Experiment: John Henri Isaac Browere's Life Masks of Prominent Americans","In preparing his subjects, Browere oiled the skin, eyebrows and hair, and put straws in the nostrils to facilitate breathing. He then warmed his mixture in order to make it more pliable and applied it in several light layers to the face and, in some cases, to the neck, shoulders, and chest of the subject. He allowed about twenty minutes for the plaster to set. When he removed the hardened plaster, he had a negative mold; by pouring plaster into the mold, he produced a positive cast of the subject's head. He then applied the mask to an armature and molded the torso in plaster. He refined the mask by by modeling open eyes and hair, but did not otherwise alter its appearance. The result was a startlingly realistic likeness, in no way idealized.

Martin Van Buren Speaks

Portrait Comparisons

In the portrait comparisons below, Van Buren is shown in paintings circa 1828 and 1830 with brown hair. I reconstructed the life mask based upon these paintings.

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Sources & References:
¹ Charles Henry Hart. “The Project Gutenberg EBook of Browere’s Life Masks of Great Americans” https://www.gutenberg.org/files/51890/51890-h/51890-h.htm
Original Life Mask Image Source: Cheryl Daniel with special thanks to Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York.

Image Sources:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Martin_Van_Buren_by_Mathew_Brady_c1855-58.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Francis_Alexander_-_Martin_Van_Buren_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Martin_Van_Buren_by_Ezra_Ames,_c._1828-1829,_oil_on_canvas_-_Albany_Institute_of_History_and_Art_-_DSC08122.JPG