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  •  
    		• Calder, Alexander Milne,
     
  •  
    		• Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company,
     
  •  
    		• Portrait male -- Meade, George Gordon
     
  •  
    		• Occupation -- Military
     
  •  
    		• Equestrian
     
  •  
    		• Object -- Weapon
     
  •  
    		• Dress -- Uniform
     
  •  
    		• Outdoor Sculpture -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
     
  •  
    		• Sculpture
     
     
    General George G. Meade, (sculpture).
    Artist: 
    Calder, Alexander Milne, 1846-1923, sculptor.
    Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company, founder.
    Title: 
    General George G. Meade, (sculpture).
    Other Titles: 
    Major General George Gordon Meade, (sculpture).
    Dates: 
    1881. Commissioned Dec. 1983. Modeled 1884-1886. Cast Dec. 1886. Dedicated Oct. 18, 1887.
    Medium: 
    Sculpture: bronze; Base: granite.
    Dimensions: 
    Sculpture: approx. 11 ft. 6 in. x 6 ft. x 12 ft.; Base: approx. 12 x 6 x 12 ft. (3 1/2 tons.).
    Inscription: 
    (Base, right side:) CALDER SCULOR (sic) (Base, left side:) HENRY BONNARD BRONZE CO. N.Y. (Base, front center:) MEADE signed founder's mark appears.
    Description: 
    Equestrian portrait of General George Gordon Meade dressed in his military uniform. In his proper right hand he holds his hat down by his saddle. He holds the horse's reins with his proper left hand and a sword hangs by his proper left leg. He is depicted with a full beard and moustache.
    Subject: 
    Portrait male -- Meade, George Gordon -- Full length
    Occupation -- Military -- General
    Equestrian
    Object -- Weapon -- Sword
    Dress -- Uniform -- Military Uniform
    Object Type: 
    Outdoor Sculpture -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
    Sculpture
    Owner: 
    Coadministered by City of Philadelphia, Fairmount Park Commission, Memorial Hall, West Park, P. O. Box 21601, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19131
    Coadministered by Fairmount Park Art Association, 1616 Walnut Street, Suite 2012, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103
    Located Fairmount Park, West side of park, Lansdowne Drive north of Memorial Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    Remarks: 
    General George Gordon Meade (1815-1872) commanded the Union army in the most well known battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1-3, 1863. Within a few day of his death in November 1872, the newly established Fairmount Park Art Association formed a committee to erect a statue to Meade. The Meade Memorial Fund was established and money was raised through donations from many wealthy Philadelphians. Later the project was greatly aided by a group of 119 women who formed the Meade Memorial Women's Auxiliary Committee and who were responsible for raising nearly the full $30,000 needed for the statue.
    A competition for the sculptor was held and on Oct. 19, 1881, Alexander Calder was awarded first prize, but following the competition the project was shelved. While the project awaited a final approval, Calder continued his sculpture studies with Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts where he learned to model both horses and the human figure using live models rather than photographs. This worked to his advantage and by December 1883, the Fairmount Park Art Association was ready to award Calder the contract for a plaster sketch model to be delivered on May 1, 1884. He was paid $25,000. A full-sized working model was ready on June 10, 1886, and by December, Calder was supervising the casting in bronze.
    The cover sheet for the 1993 SOS! survey notes that the current custodian of the piece is the Fairmount Park Commission and that conservation of the piece is the responsibility of the Fairmount Park Art Association.
    References: 
    Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985
    City of Philadelphia, 1973.
    National Park Service, American Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture Database, PA0128, 1989.
    Fairmount Park Art Assoc., "Sculpture of a City: Philadelphia's Treasures in Bronze & Stone," NY: Walker Publ., 1974, pg. 118-122.
    Bach, Penny Balkin, "Public Art in Philadelphia," Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992, pg. 206.
    Monumental News, Nov. 1885; June 1908.
    Save Outdoor Sculpture, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia survey, 1993.
    Illustration: 
    Monumental News, Nov. 1885, pg. 679.
    Fairmount Park Art Assoc., "Sculpture of a City: Philadelphia's Treasures in Bronze & Stone," NY: Walker Publ., 1974, pg. 123.
    Note: 
    The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.
    Repository: 
    Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
    Control Number: 
    IAS 75009300
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    Inventory of American Sculpture75009300Add Copy to MyList

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