Horatio Grennough and the Form Majestic: The Biography of the Nation's First Washington Monument
Publishing Details
Horatio Grennough and the Form Majestic: The Biography of the Nation's First Washington Monument
By (Author) Harry Rand
Smithsonian Books
Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press
17th March 2020
United States
Classifications
General
Non Fiction
Sculpture
Architecture: public, commercial and industrial buildings
History of the Americas
730.92
Physical Properties
266
Width 216mm, Height 285mm
Description
Art, history, and political drama all meld together in this one dramatic story about one dramatic sculpture. Art, history, and political drama all meld together in this one dramatic story about one dramatic sculpture. The nation's first federally-commissioned monument, Horatio Greenough's huge marble statue of George Washington, sits near the entrance of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Meant to be the symbolic focus of the whole continent--at the very center of the US Capitol--the monument instead seems a sadly curious relic. This book tells the tale of its demotion from stardom to obscurity- the story is stranger than fiction, including an attempted murder; fights in the USA, Britain, and Italy; and political maneuvering. Horatio Greenough and the Form Majestic- The Biography of the Nation's First Washington Monument presents new research into the complicated tale. It translates and explains the monument's Latin inscription and offers the story of how the work was brought to America by a sea captain subsequently immortalized by Herman Melville. The book also untangles and decodes the monument's symbolism for the average spectator and art lovers alike. This is the story of the commissioning, conception, execution, transportation, installation and re-location, the public's bemused and often fond reception, subsequently frequent re-positionings, and so much more of the nation's first monument to George Washington. Horatio Greenough's statue rests at the heart of an amazing tale, never told before this book.
Author Bio
Harry Rand serves as Senior Curator, Cultural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. He was formerly Chairman, Department of 20th Century Painting and Sculpture, National Museum of American Art. He has authored or co-authored more than thirteen books and fifty articles on art, culture, poetry, and theology.
