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Title: Freedman's National Monument
Description: Interior view showing the plaster model for the proposed design of the Freedman's Memorial to Lincoln by expatriate sculptor Harriet Hosmer when on display in the Boston Athenaeum, likely statuary gallery, in 1866. Shows, from an oblique angle, the model on top of a draped table and in front of two archways. The model of the Memorial design was composed of mutiple tiers on the top of which lied a figure of Lincoln in a sarcophagus within an open temple. An edited version of the words of the Emancipation Proclamation adorned the temple which stood on a base with a frieze designed with thirty-six female allegories representing the states of the Union during Lincoln's presidency. On the base below the temple was a sculptural cycle of African American history to that period. Four standing Black male figures on pedestals surrounded the base at each corner. The figures portrayed included a seminude, enslaved man, with his head down, and his wrists manacled; a soldier in uniform with a forward gaze and a bayonetted rifle in his hands that was pointed to the ground; an enslaved man who rests on a hoe with his head bowed down; and a soldier, looking ahead, and holding a gun. On the four outside corners were "Mourning Victories" with their trumpets reversed. The angle of the image shows a view of the model that includes the Lincoln figure, three of the African American men figures, and three of the "Mourning Victories.", Hosmer designed the Memorial in response to a monument project sponsored by the Western Sanitary Commission of St. Louis after formerly enslaved Charlotte Scott of Marietta, OH pledged $5 for a monument to Abraham Lincoln following his assassination in 1865. Donations from formerly enslaved persons grew to $20,000 within months of Scott's original donation. Hosmer later altered the design and an engraving of her new proposal appeared in the Art Journal (London), January 1, 1868. Hosmer's model, purported to cost over $100,000 to be executed, was never sculpted. After years of competing projects, designs, and sponsoring agencies, on April 14, 1876, a sculpture by Thomas Ball, "Emancipation," designed without the input of the formerly enslaved donors was erected in Lincoln Square, Washington, D.C. on an eastern edge of Capitol Hill., Title printed on mount., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by Harriet G. Hosmer, in the clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts., Harriet Hosmer (1830-1908) was a lesbian, expatriate neoclassical sculptor, who was one of the most famous artists of her time. Hosmer had her own studio and her work often focused on idealized mythological female figures associated with strength and courage. Hosmer was also a women's rights activist and an inventor., Purchased with the Louise Marshall Kelly fund., See Kirk Savage, Standing soldiers, kneeling slaves: Race, war, and monument in nineteenth-century America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), p.89-128., John B. Heywood (d. 1870) operated a photographic studio in Boston circa 1858-circa 1870, when he then appears to have relocated to Chicago per 1870 census records. He may also be the J.B. Heywood who advertised a photographic studio in New Bern, N.C. in 1866. Between 1869 and 1870, he is listed in Boston at 25 Winter, the address of photographer and publisher Frank Rowell, who established a branch of his photographic studio in Chicago in 1867.
Creator: Heywood, John B., -1870, photographer
Date: 1866
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv - Heywood - Monuments & statues [P.2022.28.1]

Title: [Early model for Freedmen's Memorial by Thomas Ball]
Description: Front and oblique views with a dark background, likely photographed in Thomas Ball's studio, showing his model for a design later proposed and adapted for the Freedman's Memorial to Lincoln (erected 1876, Washington, D.C.) that was first discussed as a Lincoln monument in the later 1860s. Shows the model composed of a figure of Abraham Lincoln (left) and a kneeling, emancipated, enslaved Black man figure (right). The Black man figure, is portrayed in left profile, looking out toward the vista, and with his left knee to the ground and his right knee bent. His left foot is arched up from the ground. He holds his left hand with his knuckles to the ground and his right hand across his waist and resting on the inner elbow of his left arm. The figure has curly hair and wears a Liberty cap and a loin cloth. Broken shackles adorn his wrists. The Lincoln figure, attired in a suit with a long coat, stands, looks down on the Black man figure, and holds out his left hand above the kneeling man, while his right hand holds the Emancipation Proclamation (semi-rolled) on a plinth decorated with patriotic symbols. Symbols include a profile portrait of George Washington, the fasces of the U.S. Republic, and a shield adorned with the stars and stripes. The base of the plinth is inscribed "T. Ball 1865." The figures rest on a base marked "And upon this act-I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favour of Almighty God.", A national monument project sponsored by the Western Sanitary Commission of St. Louis was initiated after formerly enslaved Charlotte Scott of Marietta, OH pledged $5 for a monument to Abraham Lincoln following his assassination in 1865. Donations from formerly enslaved persons grew to $20,000 within months of Scott's original donation. After years of competing projects, designs, and sponsoring agencies, on April 14, 1876, Ball's sculpture adapted from the model depicted, the "Emancipation Memorial," and designed without the input of the formerly enslaved donors was erected in Lincoln Square, Washington, D.C. on an eastern edge of Capitol Hill., Title supplied by cataloger., Photographer's imprint stamped on mount., Manuscript note on verso of verso of P.2023.32.1: Florence March 15th 1872. Emancipation Proclamation. T. Ball of Boston., Manuscript note on verso of verso of P.2023.32.1: Florence March 15th 1872. Emancipation Proclamation. T. Ball of Boston. Sculptor in Florence., Date from manuscript note on verso., Thomas Ball (1819-1911), sculptor, focused his career on the portrayal of statesmen and historical figures. He located to Florence to study sculpture in 1854. Between 1857 and 1865, he worked in Boston before returning to Florence until 1897. Ball was part of an expatriate community of artists and sculptors, including Hiram Powers, father of Longsworth Powers., See Kirk Savage, Standing soldiers, kneeling slaves: Race, war, and monument in nineteenth-century America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), p.77-83 and 114-123., RVCDC, Longsworth Powers (1835-1904), son of sculptor Hiram Powers, lived in Florence with his family in the 1830s and returned in 1860 and began a career as a sculptor and photographer. Powers photographed prominent men and women in the city.
Creator: Powers, Longsworth, 1835-1904, photographer
Date: [1872]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - Powers [P.2023.32.1-2]

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