American Art Collaborative

Paul Manship’s portrait medal shows Henry de Forest Baldwin (1862-1947), a descendant of Roger Sherman, who signed the Declaration of Independence. Baldwin started his law practice in 1888 in New York and became a powerful behind-the-scenes figure active in reforming the city’s corrupt politics. He was eulogized in 1947 as a rock-ribbed “Connecticut Yankee” and “a noble Roman” whose quiet integrity accounted for his wide-ranging influence. When Manship created this medal in 1939, he was associated with Baldwin through the American Academy in Rome and the Century Club in Manhattan, where both men served as president