Among the more notable of the later productions of this artist are The Puritan, " the Chapin statue," for Springfield, Massachusetts, and the colossal bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln (fl. 48, fig. unveiled October 22, 1887—in Lincoln Park, Chicago. The consummate skill of Mr. St. Gaudens in overcoming difficulties is conspicuous in the last-named composition; he had to contend not only with the peculiarity of dress, but also with the rugged features and ungainly figure, of Lincoln. He has, however, succeeded admirably hi producing an imposing and life like statue full of originality and power.—His brother, Louis St. Gaudens, is also a sculptor distinguished for his superior creative ability.
Thomas R. Gould (i818-188i) was an artist of glowing fancy and facile execution; by accepting the sensational style of recent Italian sculpture he rapidly acquired popularity, but at the same time did his art an irrepar able injury. His celebrated statue of the West Wind, although the most popular of his works, is one of the most meretricious as a work of art. But there is evidence of original power in the noble relief called The Ghost in Hamlet, even if it be treated somewhat pictorially.
Ben jamill Paul Akers of Portland, Maine (1825-1861), was, so far as can be told by the few works he accomplished before his premature death, an artist who certainly suggested a possibility of genius. His is a beautiful creation—somewhat in the modern Italian style, it is true, but still exhibiting signs of original imagination. So many of our sculp tors have come under Italian influences that it is difficult to decide as to what would have been their actual merits if they had studied their art under influences more beneficial.
John born at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1829, is a self-taught sculptor whose art, so far as it goes, is wholly native in style and subject. Ile has never wrought in marble, but wholly in clay, his sub jects being genre without exception. He began prior to the Civil War, but many of the scenes which lie has represented were suggested by that contest, and lie has expanded his scope until he has included almost every phase of daily life. These casts have been reproduced by the thousand, and have been bought by every class throughout the land. The species of art with which they may be ranked is the recent Italian; but when one has said this he has said all, for there is but little conception of the real domain of plastic art in Mr. Rogers's prolific talents.
11 711thm R. 0' Donovan, born in began a career which at one time promised much by very vigorous portrait-busts full of realistic expression of character, as in his remarkable portrait of William Page.
J. S. Hartley, born at Albany in 1845, a pupil of Palmer, in his later studies in Paris and Munich broke away from the conventional insipidity of Italian sculpture, and so far aided in our liberation from the influences that had crippled our plastic art; but his frank adherence to the sensa tional, dramatic realism of recent French sculpture, as in his striking composition entitled The lihirlwind, is open to criticism.
Ephraim Kiser was born at Baltimore, Maryland, in 185o. His genius was slowly developed through the meagre knowledge he acquired by attending local schools of art. In 1872 he studied under Professor Max Wichmann (born in 1812) at Munich, where lie was admitted to the Royal Academy through a small waxen Fouts he had modelled at Baltimore. In 1876 he was awarded a silver medal for his statuette The Toying Page. The same year he removed to Berlin, where he entered the studio of Albert Wolff (q. v.), under whose tuition lie modelled a figure of Psyche, for which lie obtained the Michael-Beer firtly de Rome that enabled him to spend a year in travel and study in Italy. He reached Rome in 1878, and while there produced in marble his Psyche (p1.47, fig. 3), and also completed his statue of The Pei Falcon. In his treatment of Psyche lie has avoided minute details the better to retain the repose indispensable to a classical subject, while by continued study of the nude and clear observation of his models lie has evaded the conventionalities and mannerisms of earlier American sculptors. Returning to Baltimore, Mr. Keyser modelled a number of busts of distinguished citizens, including a beautiful portrait of Sidney Lanier. In 1887 there was erected at Annapolis, Maryland, his statue of General de Kalb, a mon ument for which provision had been made by au appropriation of Congress in 1788. From the beginning of his career the evolution of this artist's talent has been consistent, and he has steadily advanced to the front rank of American sculptors.