Hiram Powers’s eldest son, Longworth, did not have an easy time establishing a career. After his termination from West Point, he enrolled at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, only to abandon his studies before completing his degree. He then traveled to Florence to try his hand at sculpture, but ultimately decided that portrait photography was his true interest. Hiram gave his son a pushcart so that he could peddle his work through the streets of Florence. This portrait of his father has an unfinished quality about it that resonates with Longworth’s earlier tendencies to abandon projects before completion. The fingerprints still visible on the torso reveal the effort that went into the modeling.
