The historical work of the earliest Ameri can sculptors consisted almost entirely of sculpture in the round — statues and busts. The idea of portraying historical subjects in reliefs, upon the bases of monuments, or upon panels in doors or upon the walls of buildings, though familiar abroad, was a later development in American art. Perhaps one of the first ex amples of it was the work of Thomas Craw ford. Crawford was one of the pioneers of American sculpture and famous for his statu ary in ideal subjects. But he did much of the earlier sculpture of the national capitol illus trating American history and was the sculptor of the bronze doors opening from the Senate portico of the capitol. Its eight panels illus trate such subjects as the °Death of Warren at Bunker Hill," Rebuke of Gen eral Charles Lee at Monmouth," "Hamilton's Gallantry at "Washington's Recep tion at Trenton° and his first inauguration. Crawford designed the House portico doors and Rinehard modeled them. Hiram Powers' groups in the Senate portico are a notable feature of the decorations of the capitol and illustrate °American Development and the De cadence of the Indian Race.° Statuary Hall at the capitol is notable for its historical associations, containing reminders in its gallery of portrait sculptures, by many artists, and some • more or less crude and archaic, of the men and women who from the very beginnings of the nation have been the makers of its history. In the decorations of the Congressional Library history and allegory are so intimately mingled that it is hard to draw the line between them. The wealth of adornment runs the gamut of archaeology, his tory, mythology, allegory, poetry, music, the drama and the arts, but in the statues and busts, the bas-reliefs and medallions, mosaic work, etc., one finds a multitude of records in art of the men and women who founded the nation or guided it upon its destiny.
Revolutionary characters and episodes have been most fruitful in recent years in inspira tion to the sculptors. This is owing to many causes but not a little to the work of the patri otic societies, which have been untiring in their study of the period and zealous in efforts to keep green the memory of American warriors and statesmen. Numerous tablets commemo rating Revolutionary incidents have been dedi cated, some containing sculptural reliefs more or less elaborate, and some statues of Revolu tionary characters are traceable to such influ ences, an example being the figure of Nathan Hale, the Patriot Spy, by Frederic Mac Monnies, in City Hall Park, New York, dedi cated in 1893, erected by the Society of Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York. This figure, which is superb as a work of art, is scarcely so truthful a portrayal of Hale, how ever, as are the statues of him executed recently by William Ordway Partridge and Bela L. Pratt, which are the result of very careful historical study. One of Mr. Partridge's Hale figures stands in a park in Saint Paul, Minn., and is the gift of the local Nathan Hale Chap tcr of the Daughters of the American Revolu tion. Another is in Washington, D. C. Mr. Pratt's work is on the Yale campus at New Haven, Conn., opposite the room Hale occupied
as a student at Yale, and was placed there in 1914.
On the Columbia University campus, New Yofk, is Partridge's statue of Hale's friend and fellow officer in the Revolutionary army, Alex ander Hamilton, which was recently dedicated. Within the same period, through the efforts of the Sons of the Revolution and Daughters of the American Revolution, one of Long Island's Revolutionary heroes, Gen. Nathaniel Wood hull, president of the Provincial Congress of New York, who was fatally and brutally as saulted by the British near Jamaica, L. I., because he would not say eGod save the King," has received sculptural honors, including a fine bronze tablet by Albert Weinert picturing the incident of the attack upon him by the enemy. A movement is in progress at this writing to erect a statue and monument to the principal hero of the battle of Long Island, Gen. Lord Alexander Stirling. The deeds of his com mand, a militia regiment of Marylanders, are commemorated in a monument in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, but there is as yet no adequate memorial to Stirling though it was largely be cause of his gallantry in engagements of this battle that the American army was saved from complete destruction and Washington was en abled to make his masterly retreat afterward to New York.
Lafayette, too, has been honored by the ded ication of a monument to him at the Ninth Street entrance to Prospect Park, Brooklyn, in May 1917, on which occasion Joffre, Marshal of France and hero of the battle of the Marne, was the guest of honor. A citizen of Brooklyn, the late Henry Marteau, left $35,000 for this purpose and the commission for the execution of the work was awarded to Daniel Chester French, who completed the model on Lafayette's birthday, 6 Sept. 1916. Many regard it as one of the finest things that have come from Mr. French's studio. The monument symbolizes Franco-American unity, past, present and to come. It embraces a number of features, the central one of which is a bronze tablet upon which in bold relief the sculptor has portrayed Lafayette standing by his horse which is held by an aide. Lafayette wears the uniform of a general of the Continental Army. His drawn sword is in his right hand and his left reposes upon his hip. On each side are accessories re lating to the hero's career which round out the composition as a whole.
To the Revolutionary period belong also Mr. French's The Minute Man," at Concord; the group at Princeton, N. J., by MacMonnies, commemorating the turning of the tide of the Revolution in the battle of Princeton, won by the Americans; C. A. Heber's portrait statue of Franklin, at Princeton; the equestrian statue of Gen. Anthony Wayne at Valley Forge, Pa., by H. K. Bush-Brown, and H. K. Brown's equestrian of Gen. Nathaniel Greene at Wash ington, while to this and the period imme diately succeeding belong Miss Helen Farns worth Mears' portrait bust in Milwaukee of the soldier and pioneer, Gen. George Rogers Clark, a notable example of historical sculp ture by an American woman and a gift of the Society of Children of the Revolution.