Ferdinand Pettrich

Washington Resigning His Commission, ca. 1841, now at the Smithsonian American Art Museum Friedrich August Ferdinand Pettrich (1798 – 14 February 1872) was a German sculptor active in Germany, Brazil, the United States, and Italy. He was an internationally famous portrait sculptor who created busts of political figures in Washington D.C. as well as Native Americans such as Tecumseh. In the early 1840s he moved to Brazil to become the Court Sculptor to Emperor Dom Pedro II.

Life Born in Dresden to sculptor Franz Pettrich, court sculptor to Elector Frederick Augustus III of Saxony, Pettrich studied in Rome under Bertel Thorvaldsen. After achieving fame in Europe, in 1835 Pettrich and his wife moved to the United States, first in Philadelphia, then Washington, D.C. Pettrich died in Rome in 1872.

Sculptures by Pettrich

The Dying Tecumseh Martin Van Buren John Vaughan (wine merchant) Washington Resigning His Commission Mrs. Frederich Augustus Ferdinand Pettrich Self-Portrait William Norris Our Lady of the Confederacy in the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist (Charleston)