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History time: The statues made by Daniel Chester French at Franklin Park

Print | Comments () Posted by Matt Rocheleau January 31, 2012 09:00 AM

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Part of an occasional series highlighting a piece of neighborhood history. The following is the first installment in a two-part series about the statuary groups made by Daniel Chester French at Franklin Park.

By Richard Heath, Guest Columnist

Within a two mile arc in Boston are three works of art by the preeminent American sculptor Daniel Chester French (1850-1931), who is best known for his design of the massive seated figure at the Abraham Lincoln Memorial. Two of the works in Boston are publicly owned; the privately owned is the bronze Death Staying the Hand of the Sculptor (1891) at Forest Hills Cemetery. This is a national treasure. The Parkman Memorial at Jamaica Pond is one of only two deep relief sculptures the artist ever made. It is widely acknowledged by art historians to be a masterpiece, even though it is not as highly recognized in Boston. The third is a pair of monumental groups, colloquially known as Science and Labor on pedestals at the Playstead Entrance to the Franklin Park Zoo.

Daniel Chester French was born on April 20, 1850 in Exeter, NH. His family moved to Cambridge, MA where his father practiced law. After two unsuccessful semesters at MIT at age seventeen (he failed most of his courses) he went to work at the family farm in Concord (where they had moved in 1867). Over the winter of 1868- 1869, he showed an interest in carving, which was encouraged by the Concord artist Abigail May Alcott. French could intuitively create in three dimensions and in 1869 made a plaster bust of his father.

(Courtesy)

The "Labor" statue.

French apprenticed for a month in 1870 under the sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward in New York City. Back in Boston, he spent the winter of 1871-1872 taking anatomy classes taught by William Rimmer and drawing classes from William Morris Hunt. This was the extent of his training when the Town of Concord commissioned French to create the Concord Minuteman statue for the forthcoming 1875 centennial anniversary of the American Revolution. In preparation, he studied antique casts at the Boston Athenaeum—he was inspired by the cast of the Apollo Belvedere—and took drawing classes there in the spring of 1873. The seven foot tall Minuteman was completed in the fall of 1874, but French was not at the dedication; he had been invited to work at the studio of Thomas Ball in Florence late in 1874. He spent the next eighteen months at Ball’s studio, traveling and studying Classical and Renaissance sculpture, particularly Michelangelo. French returned to the United States in August, 1876 and set up a studio in Washington, D.C., where his father served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury—appointed in the Grant administration—until his death in 1885.

Before his death, Henry Flagg French wanted to advance his son’s career as a sculptor, and so the elder French recommended his son to model the sculptural groups planned for three huge federal buildings. The buildings, designed by Alfred B. Mullett (1834-1890), were built in France’s Second Empire style. Michael Richman, editor of the Daniel Chester French papers, noted that it was unclear why sculpture was wanted for government buildings, but the inclusion of French’s work was Mullet’s decision. Richman states that the iconography and allegorical themes were probably the responsibility of French.

French signed contracts for three commissions under the supervising architect for federal buildings in St Louis, MO, Philadelphia, PA and Boston, MA. James G. Hall was supervising architect for the Philadelphia and Boston Post Office and Subtreasury buildings.

French began work in November, 1876 on the statuary group for the St. Louis post office. Titled Peace and Vigilance, it is composed of two reclining figures, one alert and holding a sword, and the other resting and holding an olive branch. The figures are placed on each side of a round arch dormer, on top of which a screaming eagle is perched with wings spread, ready to pounce.

(Courtesy)

The "Science" statue.

Peace and Vigilance was accepted by the supervising architect in April, 1878. French delivered a half-scale plaster model, about three to six feet high and thirteen feet long. Here, the involvement of the sculptor ended. The half-scale plaster models were then delivered to stone carvers who enlarged the sculpture and assembled it onto the building.

The contract for the Philadelphia group was signed in May, 1878. The theme French chose was Law, Prosperity and Power. The group is designed of three figures with a central and dramatic woman, Law, standing sixteen feet high and holding high above her head the tablets of law. Seated on her right is a man representing Power, his torso turned to face the standing figure. On Law’s left is a seated woman representing Prosperity, chest bared and looking forward. The work was completed in May, 1880.

For the Boston Post Office and Subtreasury Building a pair of allegorical groups was planned, and as early as November, 1879 the group Science was under discussion. Why only the new federal building for Boston was planned for two allegorical statues is not clear but it may have been because it was the second and much larger building on the site.

The Boston Post Office and Subtreasury Building broke ground in 1869 and was built of fireproof walls of Cape Ann granite. The cornerstone was laid on Oct 16, 1871 and it was nearing completion when it was engulfed in the Great Boston Fire of November, 1872. The huge walls and iron roof trapped the blaze and stopped the fire from spreading further, but the building had to be rebuilt.

The destruction of neighboring buildings provided the Treasury Department the opportunity to acquire a full city block, which was first desired when the post office building was planned, but was frustrated by high land costs. The first, uncompleted building faced Devonshire Street. The reduction of property values because of the fire gave the city the chance to widen the fire-burnt Milk and Franklin Streets, while allowing the opportunity to create a wide Congress Street plaza (in forestry management this would be called firebreaks but the intention was the same). When construction resumed in 1875 the Treasury Department had a 4,500 square foot lot (nearly one acre) facing Congress Street.

French created two completely different groups for the Boston post office. Each is composed of three interlocking figures in a triangular shape with one tall, seated central person and two subordinate forms modeled as a single work of art. The themes chosen, Labor Supporting the Arts and Domestic Life and The Forces of Steam and Electricity Subdued and Controlled by Science, are much different allegorical statements than at St. Louis and Philadelphia sculptures, which used more universal themes in Peace and Law. Boston has the more ideological sculptures, representing the region’s full blown capitalism.

This column is a submission from the Jamaica Plain Historical Society.

To read more about the rich history of Jamaica Plain, visit the Jamaica Plain Historical Society website at: http://www.jphs.org/.

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