Acquired by William Corcoran of Washington, DC, 1851
Detroit Publishing Co., “Charles Loring Elliott, William Corcoran (1867),” between 1900 and 1912. Photograph. Library of Congress.
“Owner of the Greek Slave,” Baltimore Sun, March 5, 1851, 1.
Untitled article, New York Herald, July 2, 1851, 4.
Acquired by William Corcoran of Washington, DC, 1851
Soon after winning The Greek Slave at the Western Art Union prize-draw, James D’Arcy sold the statue to the banker William Wilson Corcoran (1798–1888) for $3,500. Corcoran was a banker and financier who had made his fortune with government loans during the Mexican-American War. He began collecting in earnest in the late 1840s. (See Martina Droth's essay.)