| Daniel Chester French one of the most productive sculptors of his time
Daniel Chester French was born in
Exeter, New Hampshire, on
April 20, 1850, to Henry Flagg and Anne (Richardson)
French. In 1867, the family moved to Concord, Massachusetts, where
their neighbors included Ralph Waldo Emerson
and the Alcott family. He entered the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in the fall of 1867, but withdrew
after two semesters to pursue a career in sculpture, an
endeavor that was encouraged by Abigail May Alcott.
French completed his first scultpures
in 1869, a bust of his father and a relief of his sister,
Sarah Flagg French. In 1870 he spent a month as an
apprentice in the studio of John Quincy Adams Ward, supplemented
by evening drawing classes at the National Academy of
Design, and he spent the winters of 1871 and 1872 in
Boston attending anatomy lectures given by William Rimmer
and taking drawing lessons from William Morris Hunt.
Between 1870 and 1874, he produced 25 decorative
statuettes in plaster.
French's first foray into public art came in 1873,
when Concord, through the auspices of Emerson,
commissioned The Minute Man to
commemorate the centennial of the Battle
of Concord, which was dedicated on April 19, 1875.
French used the money from the commission to go to
Florence, Italy, where he studied from October 1874 to
November 1876. During this time he lived with the family
of sculptor Preston Powers and worked in the studio of
Thomas Ball.
Upon his return to the United States, French opened a
studio in Washington, D. C., where his father was then
serving as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. His
father's influence helped him get his first government
commission, a marble statue for the U.S. Post Office and
Custom House in St. Louis, Missouri -- Peace and
Vigilance (1876-78). He subsequently provided
sculptures for the U.S. Court House and Post Office in
Philadelphia and the U.S. Post Office and Subtreasury in
Boston. Returning to Concord in 1878, French quickly
established himself as one of the most prominent
sculptors in the country. By 1888 he had established a
second home and studio in New York City, and in 1897 he
established a summer residence and studio (Chesterwood)
in Glendale, Massachusetts.
Daniel Chester French died at Chesterwood on October
7, 1931. He was survived by his wife, Mary Adams French
(whom he had married on July 7, 1888), and by their only
child, Margaret French (born in Concord on August 3,
1889), and is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord.
Important Works
(year of completion)
Minute Man, Old North Bridge, Concord, MA
(1874)
Peace and Vigilance, U.S. Post Office and Custom
House, St. Louis, MO (1878)
John Harvard Monument, Harvard University,
Cambridge, MA (1884)
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Alice Cogswell,
Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C. (1889)
Lewis Cass, National Statuary Hall, Washington,
D.C. (1889)
Thomas Starr King Monument, San Francisco (1891)
Statue of the Republic, colossal centerpiece of
the World's
Columbian Exposition in Chicago (1893)
Death and the Sculptor, a memorial for the grave
of the sculptor Martin Milmore and his brothers, Forest
Hills cemetery, Boston (1893)
Clark Memorial, Forest Hills Cemetery, Jamaica
Plain, MA (1894)
Chapman Memorial, Forest Home Cemetery,
Milwaukee, WI (1897)
John Boyle O'Reilly Memorial, intersection of
Boylston Street and Westland Avenue, Boston (1897)
Rufus Choate Memorial, Old Suffolk County
Courthouse, Boston (1898)
Angel of Peace, grave of George Robert White,
Jamaica Plain, MA (1898)
Richard Morris Hunt Memorial, perimeter wall of
Central Park, at 5th Avenue and 70th Street, New York
City (1900)
Justice, Appellate Division Courthouse of New
York State, New York City (1900)
Peace, sculpture for the Admiral George Dewey
Triumphal Arch and Colonnade, Madison Square, New York
City (1900)
Commodore George H. Perkins Monument, New
Hampshire State House, Concord (1902)
DeWitt Clinton; Alexander Hamilton; and John
Jay, New York Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Building, New York City (1902)
Alma Mater, Columbia University, New York City
(1903)
Bronze Doors, Boston (MA) Public Library (1904)
Four Continents, Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom
House, New York City (1904)
Memory, the Marshall Field Memorial, Graceland
Cemetery, Chicago (1906)
Progress of the State, six statues on entablature,
Minnesota State Capitol, St. Paul (1907)
Melvin Memorial, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery,
Concord, MA (1908)
Greek Epic; Lyric Poetry, and Religion,
Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, New York City
(1908)
Samuel Spencer (first president of Southern
Railway), Norfolk Southern offices, Atlanta (1909)
August Meyer Memorial, 10th and The Paseo,
Kansas City, MO (1909)
Jurisprudence and Commerce, Federal
Building, Cleveland, OH (1910)
Pediment, New Hampshire Historic Society Building,
Concord (1911)
John Hampden, and Edward I, two attic
figures, Cuyahoga County Courthouse, Cleveland, OH (1911)
Standing Lincoln, Nebraska State Capitol,
Lincoln (1912)
Pediment, Brooklyn Museum, New York City (1912)
Gen. William Franklin Draper, Draper Memorial Park,
Milford, MA (1912)
Lady Wisconsin, figure surmounting the dome,
Wisconsin State Capitol, Madison (1914)
Brooklyn and Manhattan, seated figures from the
Manhattan Bridge, now on display at the Brooklyn (NY)
Museum (1915)
The Spirit of Life, memorial to Spencer Trask,
Congress Park, Saratoga, NY (1915)
Samuel Francis du Pont Memorial Fountain, Dupont
Circle, Washington, D.C. (1921)
Alfred Tredway White Memorial, Brooklyn Botanic
Garden, Brooklyn, NY (1921)
Russell Alger Memorial Fountain, Grand Circus
Park, Detroit (1921)
Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln
Memorial, Washington, D.C. (1922)
Gale Park War Memorial & Park, Exeter, NH
(1922)
Casting Bread Upon the Waters, aka George Robert
White Memorial, Public Garden, Boston (1924)
James Woods, “Uncle Jimmy” Green,
University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS (1924)
Bust of Washington
Irving and reliefs of Boabdill and Rip Van Winkle for
the Washington Irving Memorial, Irvington, NY
(1927)
Beneficence, Ball State University, Muncie, IN
(1930)
William Henry Seward Memorial, Florida, NY
(1930)
WEB SOURCES
Chesterwood chesterwood.org
The Metroplitan Museum of Art www.metmuseum.org
SEE ALSO
New Hampshire
Massachusetts
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Battle
of Concord
World's
Columbian Exposition
Lincoln
Memorial
Washington
Irving
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