Daniel Chester French
1850 to 1931
Sculptor of the seated Lincoln and the Minute Man
Artists
Daniel Chester French was the leading American monument sculptor of his day. His first success, The Minute Man in Concord, Massachusetts, was unveiled in 1875 on the hundredth anniversary of the battle, and his last great work is the seated Abraham Lincoln inside the Lincoln Memorial, carved in marble by the Piccirilli brothers from his design and enlarged to 19 feet so the temple would not dwarf it.
You meet him on walk after walk. He made the John Harvard statue in Harvard Yard, the Oglethorpe monument in Savannah's Chippewa Square, the fountain in Washington's Dupont Circle, and Alma Mater on the steps of Columbia's library, installed in 1903. That last one has a secret: an owl, the bird of wisdom, is hidden in the folds of her robe near her left leg.
This story has not been written in your language yet, so it is shown in English.
Known for
- The Minute Man1875
- John Harvard1884
- Alma Mater1903
- Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln Memorial1920
Where to meet them
Boston
- Boston Public Library, McKim BuildingStop 9, Boston, Beacon Hill and the Back Bay
- Harvard Yard, CambridgeDestination Book
Cambridge, Massachusetts
- John Harvard StatueStop 4, Harvard, the Yard and around it
New York
- Alma MaterStop 2, Columbia, the Morningside campus
- National Museum of the American Indian and Bowling GreenStop 9, New York, Lower Manhattan origins to the harbor
Savannah
- Chippewa SquareStop 8, Savannah, the River, the Squares and Forsyth Park
Washington DC
- Dupont CircleDestination Book
- Abraham LincolnDestination Book