Corning Fountain, (sculpture).

Corning Fountain, (sculpture).

Rhind, John Massey, 1860-1936, sculptor.

Gorham Manufacturing Company, founder.

Corning Fountain, (sculpture).

1898. Installed 1899.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze and marble; Base: marble; Basin: concrete.

Sculpture: approx. H. 28 ft. x Diam. 24 ft.; Base: approx. H. 6 in. x Diam. 40.3 ft.

(At proper right rear of each figure:) Massey Rhind/Sculptor/NY (At proper left rear of each figure:) Gorham/Mfg Co/Founders/1898 signed Founder's mark appears.

A two-tiered marble fountain, with four bronze Saukiog Indian braves around the lower basin, a center pedestal surrounded by four bronze Oneida Indian maidens, and an upper basin topped by a bronze hart (the symbol for the City of Hartford). The Saukiog Indian braves around the lower basin are depicted: (west side:) holding a spear; (south side) wearing a feathered headdress and scanning the horizon, possibly once held a bow); (east side:) raising a tomahawk; (north side) holding a peacepipe and lifting his hand in a gesture of peace. Below the upper basin are four animal heads (a catamount, a bear, a fox, and a beaver), which serve as water spouts. Below the lower basin are four lion heads, which also serve a water spouts. Water flows over the edges of each tier and into a large concrete basin at the base of the fountain.

Ethnic -- Indian -- Saukiog

Ethnic -- Indian -- Oneida

Outdoor Sculpture -- Connecticut -- Hartford

Administered by City of Hartford, Parks and Recreation Department, 550 Main Street, Hartford, Connecticut 06106

Located Bushnell Park, West of Ford Street, Hartford, Connecticut 06103

The fountain honors John Benton Corning (1811-1896), a Hartford business and civic leader. It was a gift of his son, John J. Corning of New York. It was accepted by the Hartford Park Board in November 1899. Text on bronze plaque in front of base reads: THIS FOUNTAIN IS/ERECTED AS A TRIBUTE/TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN B. CORNING BY HIS SON/JOHN J. CORNING 1899. Letters from Rhind to Charles Duley Warner, chairman of the Public Architectural Monuments Committee are housed in Trinity College's Watkinson Library. IAS files contain excerpts from Munsey's Magazine, April 1900, pg. 40-44; and The Hartford-Courant Magazine, Jan. 30, 1944, pg. 4-5.

For further reading see Marion Hepburn Grant, "In and About Hartford-Tours and Tales (Hartford: Connecticut Historical Society, 1978), p. 187; and unpublished exhibition catalog "Hartford's Outdoor Sculpture," April 9-18, 1981 (Trinity College, Hartford), p. 55-56.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Connecticut survey, 1993.

Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985.

SOS Assessment Award, 1998.

SOS Conservation Treatment Award, 1999.

Hartford-Courant Magazine, Jan. 30, 1944, pg. 4-5.

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.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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