Daniel Chester French
Since the passing of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Daniel Chester French has been regarded by many as standing at the head of American sculpture. He was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1850. After having one year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he studied with Doctor Rimnier of Boston, the first teacher of art anatomy in the United States. Later he studied with Thomas Ball of Florence, Italy, and a short time in Paris. He has been practically his own instructor. His work is of the noblest type. It is anatomically correct, of a high intellectual order, perfect technique and of fine imagery. His first important work was “The Minute Man” of Concord, Massachusetts. Among his many works are “Death and the Sculptor,” “The Alice Freeman Palmer Memorial,” the head of “Emerson” (which caused Emerson to say, “This is the head I shave”), “The Milmore Memorial,” “The Alma Mater of Columbia College,” and finest of all, the wonderful “Mourning Victory” in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord. His memorials are of high spiritual import.