Daniel Chester French

Daniel Chester French, one of the most prolific and acclaimed sculptors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, is best known for his monumental work, the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial, completed in 1922. French's early education included training in anatomy with William Rimmer and in drawing with William Morris Hunt; he spent a year studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and also several years in Florence, Italy, studying in the studio of Thomas Ball. French first earned acclaim for Minute Man, commissioned by the city of Concord, Massachusetts, in 1875. He soon established his own studio, first in Washington, D.C., moving later to Boston and then New York City. French's reputation grew with his Statue of the Republic for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. Other memorable works by French include: the First Division Monument and the Butt-Millet Memorial Fountain in Washington, D.C.; John Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts; bronze doors for the Boston Public Library; The Four Continents at the U.S. Custom House, New York; and the Pulitzer Prize Medal. In addition to the Lincoln Memorial, French collaborated with architect Henry Bacon on numerous memorials around the country and on the Dupont Circle fountain in Washington, D.C. French was a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; honorary president of the National Sculpture Society; co-founder of the American Academy in Rome; and affiliated with the National Academy, the Architectural League, and the Accademia di San Luca, Rome. His many honors included election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters; Chevalier, the French Legion of Honor; a medal of honor from the Paris Exposition of 1900; and honorary degrees from Dartmouth, Yale, Harvard, and Columbia Universities.