Skip to main content
Menu Collections
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Bust
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.

Franklin D. Roosevelt Bust

Object numberMO 1952.243
Name Bust
Artist (American sculptor, 1878-1952)
Maker (American statuary casting company)
Date1933
Mediumplaster, paint
Dimensionsoverall H 29 in x W 22 in (73.7 cm x 55.9 cm )
DescriptionA large plaster head and shoulders bust of Franklin D. Roosevelt with a bronze-painted finish. He is shown wearing a suit jacket, waistcoat, shirt, and tie. On a matching plaster plaque on the front of the integrated pedestal base is an inscription that reads: FRANKLIN DELANO / ROOSEVELT / 31ST [sic] PRESIDENT / OF THE UNITED STATES.

On the proper left side of bust is an emblem or device that comprises of an owl perched on a large "H" with "CA" and he word "VICTOR" beneath.

The maker's information is inscribed on the reverse of the bust: COPYRIGHTED 1933 / BY / AMEDEO P. NARDINI Co. / BOSTON, MASS.
Label TextIn 1933, the City of Boston commissioned Amedeo P. Nardini, sculptor and founder of the Amedeo P. Nardini Co., to create a life-size bronze bust and medallion of Franklin D. Roosevelt. After FDR's passing in 1945, the Amedeo P. Nardini Co. began creating bronze-painted plaster casts of the bust using the original molds. This bust is one of those plaster casts and was presented to Eleanor Roosevelt by Nardini in 1951.

Eleanor Roosevelt wrote about the presentation of the bust in her October 2, 1951 edition of her popular "My Day" newspaper column, sharing: "On Sunday afternoon Mr. Amedeo P. Nardini, who owns the Caproni Galleries in Boston, brought me a bust of my husband that will be turned over at once to the Library. Mr. Nardini is certainly an enthusiastic citizen. I gather that he has in his gallery a complete collection of busts of all the Presidents except President Truman and now he is after one of him."
Additional Details
Custodial History NoteDonated to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum by Eleanor Roosevelt in 1951.
Credit LineGift of Eleanor Roosevelt
National Archives Catalog CollectionFranklin D. Roosevelt Library Museum Collection (National Archives Identifier 735948)
National Archives Catalog SeriesGift Items and Commemorative Artifacts (National Archives Identifier 782690)
Use Restriction StatusUnrestrictedCopyrightReproduction or other use of these holdings or images thereof is unrestricted.
Collections
Non exposé