King Memorial Fountain, (sculpture).

King Memorial Fountain, (sculpture).

Rhind, John Massey, 1860-1936, sculptor.

King Memorial Fountain, (sculpture).

Moses Fountain, (sculpture).

Moses Smiting the Rock, (sculpture).

Rufus H. King Fountain, (sculpture).

Digital Reference:

Figures: bronze; Base: granite rocks.

The fountain features a bronze figure of Moses standing atop a pile of rocks, his arms raised and a stick held in his proper right hand. Below him four allegorical bronze figures are installed amid the rocks. On his front proper right side, Youth is a young female figure holding a water jug. On his front proper left side, Manhood is a bearded young man with a sword. On his back proper left side, Old Age is a bearded elderly man with a staff. On his back proper right side, Childhood is a seated mother feeding her little girl who reclines in her lap while her little boy stands by her proper right side.

Homage -- King, Rufus H.

Religion -- Old Testament -- Moses

Allegory -- Life -- Childhood

Allegory -- Life -- Youth

Allegory -- Life -- Manhood

Allegory -- Life -- Old Age

Outdoor Sculpture -- New York -- Albany

Administered by City of Albany, Department of Parks & Recreation, 7 Hoffman Avenue, Albany, New York 12209

Located Washington Park, Southern end, near Madison Avenue, Albany, New York

A plaque located a few feet west of the fountain (on the door leading the the underground waterworks) reads: THIS FOUNTAIN WAS ERECTED/BY HENRY L. KING/IN MEMORY OF HIS FATHER/RUFUS H. KING/1893/J. MASSEY RHIND/SCULPTOR.

The fountain was erected in memory of Rufus H. King, former president of the Albany Savings Bank, the New York State National Bank, and the Albany Insurance Company, through the will of his son, Col. Henry L. King who left the sum of $10,000 for that purpose when he died in 1878. By the time the fountain was commissioned, the sum had gown to $30,000. The executors of the King's will named Daniel Chester French, Ephraim Keyser, Charles H. Niehaus, and J. Massey Rhind to create models on the theme of Moses Smiting the Rock. The models were placed on display for public approval before the fountain committee settled on Rhind's model. For additional information see "The New Albany: A Record of the City's Progress, Vol. I, May 1891-April 1892," Albany: Brandon Printing Co., 1892, pg. 147-152.

Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985

National Park Service, American Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture Database, NY5073, 1989.

Monumental News, Aug. 1891.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, New York survey, 1994.

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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