Emancipation Group, (sculpture).

Emancipation Group, (sculpture).

Ball, Thomas, 1819-1911, sculptor.

Royal Foundry, founder.

Emancipation Group, (sculpture).

Modeled 1874. Cast 1877 or 1879.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze; Base: granite.

Sculpture: approx. 12 x 8 x 8 ft.; Base: approx. 12 x 10 x 10 ft.

THOMAS BALL SC 1874 FERD V. MILLER & SOEHUE, GEGOSSEN, MUSCHEN 1879 (Base of figure group:) EMANCIPATION (Front of base:) A RACE SET FREE/AND THE COUNTRY AT PEACE/LINCOLN/ RESTS FROM HIS LABORS (On back of base:) Given to the City of Boston/by Moses Kimball/1879 signed Founder's mark appears.

A portrait of Abraham Lincoln standing by a kneeling male enslaved individual, his proper left hand raised as he is about to emancipate the him. In his proper right hand, which rests on a bronze podium, Lincoln holds an unrolled copy of the Emancipation Proclamation. To the rear of the figures is a whipping post, chains, shackles, and a frayed whip. On each corner of the podium are fasces and around the base of the podium are thirteen stars. A bas-relief of George Washington decorates the angled face of the podium and a Union shield decorates the inner face of the podium.

Portrait male -- Lincoln, Abraham -- Full length

Occupation -- Political -- President

Occupation -- Law -- Lawyer

Figure male -- Full length

Ethnic -- African American

State of Being -- Other -- Enslaved

Portrait male -- Washington, George

History -- United States -- Civil War

History -- United States -- Black History

Outdoor Sculpture -- Massachusetts -- Boston

Administered by City of Boston, Boston Art Commission, Office of Cultural Affairs, Boston City Hall, Room 716, Boston, Massachusetts 02201

Located Park Square, Boston, Massachusetts

This sculpture is a copy after the original sculpture commissioned by the Freedman's Memorial Society and erected in Washington, D.C. in 1874 (IAS record 76004862). IAS files contain related clipping from Boston Daily Globe, Dec. 6, 1879, pg. 2. The 1877 casting was a gift to the city of Boston from Moses Kimball, the proprietor of the Boston Museum theater. The monument was restored and cleaned in 1987 with funds provided by the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. For related reading see Walter Muir Whitehill's "Boston Statues," Barre, Massachusetts: Barre Publishers, 1970.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Massachusetts survey, 1993.

Zoukee, Sophye M., "Adopt-A-Statue Casebook," Boston: City of Boston, 1990.

"Public Art in Boston," Boston: Institute of Contemporary Art, 1975.

Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985.

National Park Service, American Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture Database, MA0157, 1989.

Monumental News, Dec. 1894, pg. 594.

Zoukee, Sophye M., "Adopt-A-Statue Casebook," Boston: City of Boston, 1990, pg. 24.

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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