Since its official dedication on May 30, 1922, the monumental seated statue of Abraham Lincoln has become one of our country’s most iconic images—a symbol of America. For many, this is the image we associate with the beloved president: the eminent figure whose heroism impressed itself upon American history in a critical time of national crisis. Yet few of us today are familiar with the humble sculptor who took on the challenging task of commemorating the great leader.
Daniel Chester French was at the height of his artistic career when he designed the Lincoln statue. Born in New Hampshire and raised in Massachusetts, he spent his childhood between Cambridge and Concord. These two intellectual capitals of New England were cultivated by such literary giants as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau.
‘The Minute Man’
Coming of age during the wake of the Reconstruction era in America was a fortunate thing for a sculptor. Monuments celebrating local and national war heroes were in high demand across the country. In 1873, at the age of 23, French received his first major commission from the town of Concord, Massachusetts. “The Minute Man,” was a centennial commemoration of “the shot heard round the world” that took place in the town and sparked the Revolutionary War.
Erected on a high pedestal near the original site of that famous gunshot, the statue represents a heroic but unassuming militia soldier. He wears farmer’s garb with his sleeves casually rolled up. Leaving his plow, he adamantly clasps a musket and steps forward with a determined will. His head and face exude an idealized solemnity derived from classical statuary, but the natural simplicity of his clothing and pose give the figure an even stronger air of republican dignity and honor.
The statue was unveiled on April 19, 1875, in front of a dignified audience, including President Ulysses Grant and the poets James Russell Lowell, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson, who was on the monument committee, helped French secure the prestigious commission. It was critically acclaimed and helped launch his fame as a capable artist. Yet on that day, French was absent from the dedication ceremony, having already left for Florence, Italy, to hone his skills in the studio of the American sculptor Thomas Ball.
The Lincoln Memorial
At the tail end of a long and successful career came his most important commission. In 1914, the Lincoln Memorial Committee selected the 64-year-old artist to create a statue as the centerpiece of a Beaux-Arts temple dedicated to the Civil War president. For six years, he worked with the architect Henry Bacon, his longtime friend and collaborator, to devise the design. They seated the colossal, 19-foot-high figure on a regal chair of state, under the soaring roofs of the classical architecture. The statue’s towering presence has continued to awe the millions of visitors who come to stand in front of the monument each year.
Reaching success during the Reconstruction era, the life and career of Daniel Chester French paralleled a period of intensified building of national memory in the United States. And by commemorating the achievement of others, he carved out a permanent space for himself among the great figures who made America.
