Phillips Brooks, (sculpture).

Phillips Brooks, (sculpture).

Pratt, Bela Lyon, 1867-1917, sculptor.

Gorham Manufacturing Company, founder.

Phillips Brooks, (sculpture).

Commissioned 1898. Cast 1916. Relocated Jan. 2, 1920. Relocated 1925.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze; Base: Stony Creek granite.

Sculpture: approx. 9 ft. 5 in. x 4 ft. 6 1/2 in.x 3 ft. 5 in.; Base: approx. 7 ft. 8 in. x 7 ft. 2 in. x 6 ft. 9 1/2 in.

BELA PRATT 1916 / GORHAM CO. FOUNDERS (On front of base, in raised letters:) PHILLIPS BROOKS (On plaque on back of base:) PHILLIPS BROOKS/1835-1893/GREAT PREACHER/CITIZEN PATRIOT/TO COMMEMORATE THE NOBILITY OF THE MAN/THE RICHNESS OF HIS INTELLECTUAL GIFTS/AND THE COMPLETE CONSECRATION OF HIS LIFE/TO THE CAUSE OF JESUS CHRIST/THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED BY MEN AND WOMEN/OF MANY CREEDS. signed Founder's mark appears.

A standing portrait of Reverend Phillips Brooks dressed in his long ecclesiastical robe. His proper right hand grasps the lapel of his robe and his proper left hand is rests on his left hip. The sculpture stands on a square base of polishe granite.

Portrait Male -- Brooks, Phillips -- Full length

Occupation -- Religion -- Clergy

Dress -- Ecclesiastical

Outdoor Sculpture -- Massachusetts -- North Andover

Old North Andover Common, Academy & Great Pond Roads, North Andover, Massachusetts

Formerly located Natural History Building, Lawn, Boston, Massachusetts Jan. 2, 1920-1925.

Museum of Fine Arts, Entrance, Boston, Massachusetts

Boston Society of Natural History, Lawn, Boston, Massachusetts

The sculpture was commissioned to replace the portrait of Phillips Brooks by Augustus St. Gaudens located at Trinity Church in Boston's Copely Square. However, a decision was made to keep the St. Gaudens' portrait at Trinity Church and portrait by Bela Pratt subsequently was installed in a number of locations. First, on the lawn of the Boston Society of Natural History, then on the right side of the entrance to the Museum of Fine Arts, and on Jan. 2, 1920 it was moved to the lawn of the Natural History Building. Finally, in 1925 the Citizens Committee of Boston gave the sculpture to North Andover in memory of the many summers Brooks spent in the home built by his great, great grandfather, Samuel Phillips. Phillips Brooks was a well known Episcopal bishop and orator. Also, he was the librettist of the Christmas carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem." IAS files contain a blurb from a brochure entitled "North Andover's Historic District, A Walking Tour" and an article from the Boston Evening Transcript, July 20, 1925. For additional information see the Boston Evening Transcript, Nov. 19, 1915.

Carlock, Marty, "A Guide to Public Art in Greater Boston," Boston: Harvard Common Press, 1988.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Massachusetts survey, 1994.

Boston Evening Transcript, July 20, 1925.

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

Control Number:

Horizon Information Portal 3.25_9382

Powered by SirsiDynix

About | © 2020 Smithsonian | Terms of Use | Privacy | Contact

SIRIS - Smithsonian Institution Research Information System