POWERS, Longworth

American photographer and sculptor. He was the eldest son of the great Neoclassical sculptor, Hiram Powers. Like his father, he was active in Florence for much of his life, yet although he had been trained in sculpture, his career was largely spent as the leading portrait photographer in Florence.

He spent one semester at the United States Military Academy at West Point, after which he was asked to leave, and then attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute without obtaining a degree. After his family moved to Florence in 1835, Powers worked as a bookkeeper in his father’s studio and learned the sculptor’s craft. He returned to America for some years but in 1860 returned to Florence. He created a few portrait busts and ideal pieces, but his interest soon waned and he worked as a photographer, creating portraits of prominent men and women in the city.