Mahlon Dickerson Eyre

{{short description|American sculptor}}

File:George Washington by Mahlon Dickerson Eyre, Trenton, NJ - profile (detail).jpg, Trenton, New Jersey.]]

Mahlon Dickerson Eyre (April 13, 1821 – August 28, 1882) was an American banker from Philadelphia who later lived in Florence, Italy.{{cite news |title=He Couldn't Get Washington in a Ship-hold |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-philadelphia-times-he-couldnt-get-w/162934120/ |work=The Philadelphia Times |date=April 1, 1876 |page=1 |via=Newspapers.com |quote=the colossal marble statue of Washington, which Mahlon Dickinson Eyre, American banker in Florence, Italy, will exhibit at the Centennial}}

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of a successful merchant, he attended Princeton University.{{cite book |last1=Schenck |first1=William Edward |title=Biography of the class of 1838 of the College of New Jersey at Princeton, N.J. |date=1889 |pages=76–78 |url=https://archive.org/details/biographyofclass00sche/ |chapter=Mahlon Dickerson Eyre, A. M. |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/biographyofclass00sche/page/76}} He traveled in Europe, and settled in Florence, Italy, where he met his wife Isabella. He exhibited 14 works at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. One of these was a marble statuette of Hercules and Antaeus, a copy after Stefano Maderno's c. 1622-25 original.[http://www.rauantiques.com/item/Hercules-and-Antaeus-Marble-Sculpture-by-Mahlon-Dickerson-Eyre.29-8730.html?sort=score+desc%2CPrice+desc&facet.query=Price%3A%5B0+TO+5000%5D&start=0&q=*%3A*&fq=PRI_CAT%3AWEB.FINE_ART.SCULPTURE&activeNav=fineart&rows=99999&follownutch=no Hercules and Antaeus] from M. S. Rau Antiques.

He is best-known for owning a twice-lifesize marble statue of George Washington, depicted standing at the prow of a boat while crossing the Delaware River. The statue was carved by Fratelli Gianfranchi and was displayed at the Centennial Exposition of 1876 in Philadelphia.{{cite web|title=George Washington, (sculpture)|url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&menu=search&index=.NW&term=IAS%2074100126|work=Inventory of American Sculpture, Smithsonian Institution Research Information System|publisher=Smithsonian American Art Museum}} The statue was purchased for Trenton, New Jersey in 1889.{{cite news |title=Centennial Relic Sold |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-philadelphia-inquirer-centennial-rel/162934693/ |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=April 26, 1889 |page=4 |via=Newspapers.com |quote=A Heroic Sized Statue of Washington Crossing the Delaware Brings $300}} It was installed in Cadwalader Park in 1892, and moved to the Mill Hill neighborhood of Trenton in 1976.{{cite book |first1=Nadine |last1=Sergejeff |first2=Damon |last2=Tvaryanas |first3=Ian |last3=Burrow |first4=Richard |last4=Hunter |title=The Assunpink Creek in Mill Hill. A History and Consideration of Historic Interpretive Opportunities |url=https://www.trentonhistory.org/Documents/MillHillReport.html |date=December 2002}}

Eyre died in Florence.{{cite news |title=Death of a Former Citizen |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-philadelphia-inquirer-mahlon-dickers/162946700/ |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=September 14, 1882 |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |page=3 |via=Newspapers.com}} He is buried in Bagni di Lucca, Tuscany, Italy. He was an uncle of the architect Wilson Eyre.