1855-12-31 Otis Statue: Copy of Agreement with Thomas Crawford, 1831.039.006-003

[stamp: embossed CAREW encircled with laurel wreath]

Copy

An agreement made & concluded at Boston on the 31st day of December A.D. eighteen hundred & fifty five, by & between the Proprietors of the Cemetery of Mount Auburn, a Corporation established by law, of the one part, & Thomas Crawford of Rome^^Italy, Sculptor, of the other part.-

The said Crawford on his part agrees to make execute & deliver to said Corporation as hereinafter more especially set forth, a marble Statue of James Otis of Revolutionary memory, of pure & fine white marble of the first quality, suitable for statuary, & in size to correspond & be companionable with a Statue of John Adams, now in process of being made by Randolph Rogers, to be placed in the Chapel at said Cemetery, & also to do certain other things as herein after set forth, as preliminary & incidental thereto, in aid of the general object of said Corporation in making this contract.

And furthermore, said Crawford agrees to provide & deliver to said Corporation, with said statue, a suitable marble pedestal for the same.

The said Crawford shall forthwith proceed to make, execute & complete in a good ^^and workman like manner, a figure in plaster of said statue, which shall be of the full size of said statue, & which shall be completed within two years from the date of this agreement, & conveyed & made over to said

Corporation, subject to the right of said Crawford to have the same at all times in & about the further execution of this contract.

And said Crawford further agrees to make finish & deliver to said Corporation, the said marb marble statue and pedestal as aforesaid, within three years & six months from the date of this agreement; and if not otherwise ordered by the Trustees, said statue & pedestal shall, upon reasonable notice to the Treasurer for the time being of said Corporation be delivered to said Treasurer at some wharf in the City of Boston. The Statue, when so delivered, shall be whole & complete, and without fracture or damage, and ready to be set in such place as said Trustees shall designate.

And said Corporation agrees that when said marble statue shall have been so delivered as aforesaid, to said Corporation, that said Corporation will forthwith relinquish all claim to said full sized plaster model in due form to said Crawford. But in case that the said Crawford shall fail to complete, finish & deliver to said Corporation as aforesaid the said marble statue within three years & six months from the date of this agreement, the said full sized figure in plaster, whether previously delivered, or not delivered, shall be & remain the property of said Corporation, free from any claim in said Crawford, or any other person claiming

under him, to be possession use or improvement of the same: and said Crawford shall have no further claim on said Corporation on account of, or by reason of this contract, or his services in any way rendered in or about the said statue or model figure as aforesaid.

The said Corporation agrees to pay to said Crawford, he doing & performing this contract on his part, as above set forth, the sum of five thousand dollars in two equal payments, as follows - twenty five hundred dollars upon the completion & conveyance of the full sized figure in plaster to said Corporation as aforesaid: and twenty five hundred dollars, upon the final & full performance of this contract, & the delivery of the said Statue of James Otis, as aforesaid, together with said pedestal, to said Corporation, within the term of three years & six months, as aforesaid.

Provided always, that if the said marble statue & pedestal are not so delivered to said Corporation, as aforesaid, within said term of three years & six months, the said Crawford shall have no claim upon said Corporation for any sum there remaining unpaid to him, nor any claim for, or on account of his services rendered in the matter, as above more specifically set forth.

In witness whereof the said Crawford hath hereunto set his hand & seal on the day of the date

of this instrument, & on the same day, the said Corporation, hath hereunto set its common seal, & caused these presents to be signed by its President Jacob Bigelow who acting herein assumes no personal responsibility in the premises, & acts exclusively & only, under the vote of the Trustees of said Corporation, (an attested copy of which is hereunto annexed) and as the agent of said corporation.

At the regular monthly of the Trustees of the Proprietors of the Cemetery of Mount Auburn holden in Boston on the sixth day of November A.D. 1854, it was, Voted, the President be instructed and authorized in the name & behalf of this Corporation, to contract with some suitable artist, to be selected by him, for a statue of James Otis, in marble the cost of which shall not exceed five thousand dollars. Attest,

Austin J. Coolidge Secretary of the Corporation

Copy

Copy of Contract sent to Tho^s Crawford signed by JB, and to be signed in duplicate by him & returned May 1856