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More Smithsonian Searches     Who else has...     Rumsey, Charles Cary,     Jaboeuf & Rouard Fondeurs,     Animal -- Cattle     Sculpture

Smithtown Bull, (sculpture). Artist:  Rumsey, Charles Cary, 1879-1922, sculptor. Jaboeuf & Rouard Fondeurs, founder. Title:  Smithtown Bull, (sculpture). Dates:  1917. Relocated 1941. Dedicated May 10, 1941. Digital Reference:  Medium:  Sculpture: bronze; Base: painted concrete. Dimensions:  Sculpture: approx. 8 ft. x 163 in. x 45.5 in.; Base: approx. 75 x 50 x 141 in. Inscription:  (On bronze base, behind bull's proper left leg:) C. C. Rumsey (On bronze base, proper right side of bull:) H Rouard . Fondeur (On front of concrete base:) TO COMMEMORATE/THE FOUNDING OF/SMITHTOWN BY/RICHARD SMITH/THE "BULL RIDER"/A.D. 1665 signed Founder's mark appears. Description:  A bull its head lowered stands atop a rectangular base. Subject:  Animal -- Cattle Object Type:  Sculpture Owner:  Administered by Town of Smithtown, Department of Parks, 100 25A Kings Park, Smithtown, New York 11754 Located Junction of routes 25 and 25A, Smithtown, New York Provenance:  Formerly located Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Front, Brooklyn, New York 11238 until 1941. Remarks:  The sculpture commemorates the founding of Smithtown by Richard Smith (also known as Smythe), and is a product Smith descendant Lawrence Smith Butler, who was a student with sculptor Charles Cary Rumsey in Paris before World War I. It was in Paris that the two apparently collaborated to create this sculpture that refers to the legend surrounding the founding of Smithtown. Richard Smith supposedly formed the town's boundaries in an agreement with local Native Americans that stipulated Smith could buy as much land as he could ride around during single day. Richard Smith supposed rode his bull, Whisper, around what are today's Smithtown boundaries, and even had time to stop for a lunch of bread and cheese --hence the area known a Bread and Cheese Hollow. The legend persists despite the fact that the town's land was actually purchased by Richard Smith from Lion Gardiner, and subsequently titled through land grants from royal governors and litigation. On May 7, 1917, the town board of Smithtown agreed to a site for the sculpture on a plot of land at the intersection of the Nissequogue and North Country Road, but the sculpture was not immediately installed although the town had paid $2,000 for a concrete base. Instead, the sculpture was placed in front of the Brooklyn Museum where it remained until 1941 when it was relocated, and finally dedicated on May 10, 1941. IAS files contain a newspaper article from the Smithtown Newsday, June 21, 1987. References:  Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985 Save Outdoor Sculpture, New York survey, 1994. Illustration:  Image on file. 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 77006086   Copy/Holding information Smithsonian AmericanArt Museum Control Number   Inventory of American Sculpture 77006086 Add Copy to MyList Format: HTMLPlain textDelimited Subject:   Email to:

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