National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-07-18
ART MATTERS.
INTERESTING HISTORY OF THE BENTON
STUDIO AND MODELS,

INTERESTING HISTORY OF THE BENTON !
STUDIO AND MODELS.
Memorandum in relation to the statue Of
Senator Benton, for the execution Of which, by |
Horat!o Stone, a fund of $4,000 was raised in
st. Louis and jefferson City in 1860.
Mem. No. IL
! JEFFERSON CITY, March Il, 1850.
r. J. Lasksy, Esq:
DEAR SIR: have received your letter. The
bill has passed giving 81, 500 to the object named
by you. offered an amendment to the bill
providing that Mr.. Stone should do the work,
whereupon Mr.. Drake, OF St. Louis, stated on
the floor that such an amendment was unne-
cesssry, as It was well understood among the
/ friends of Mr. Benton in st. Louis that Mr..
Stone should do the work. Mr.. Drake seemed
to have the same information IN reference TO
Mr. Stone: which is impaired in your letter.
doubt not he viii be the artist selected.
| Very truly, yours, WALTER KING.
Mem. No. 81
The information referred to in this letter was
that Mr.. Stone had been employed by the
friends of Benton, in 1857, to make q bust of
the Senator, with the view Of having the mate
| rihl from which to execute q statue, and that
after the Senator's death g committee was
raised in St. Louis lat the instance of Mr..
Stone and the gentlemen who In 1857 had pro-
cured the bustJ for the purpose of raising the
funds and giving the order to Mr.. Stone for
the execution of the statue, to be placed in
Lafayette park in st. Louis. The funds hay
ing been raised-S7 800 by subscription, and
81, 500 appropriated by the state-ft was d.
verted, and handed over to Harriet Hosmer,
who executed the statue.
Mem. No. 81
| NEW YORK, Il WEST NINETEENTH sTREET,l
| January &c, E6L.
Ny DEAR Mr.. STONE. Captain Howard was
kind enough to undertake the finding for me,
/ and If possible, getting for me the bust of my
father which was made by you. Now that you
are found, l can write to you directly. =
| | want the bust not only because It Is q most !
beautiful and truthful likeness of my father, |
and delightful object looked at only as q work |
Of art, but because 1t is part Of time forever
| passed away. know how my father relied on
you to give him in his best aspect, and how
sure he and his true friends were that you
were to be the artist to perpetuate his form |
and face. It gave me pain and annoyance to |
find the trust surrendered to Miss Hosmer. |
have seen photograph of her statue of my
father. It Is a hashing of Henry Clay, |
/ Christopher Columbus, map in hand, and |
Browning the poet, as am informed, and such |
| a hashing as cannot swallow. Your |
head of my father is grand, and not more 50 |
| than is true. = y. hope 10 have the true
statue Of my father l. % : TO- E.. .. .-... D. |
| 1OuTS truly, i
JESSIE BENTON FREMONT.
Mem. No. 4.
In 1865 the Lieutenant Governor Of Missouri |
opened correspondence with Mr.. Stone and |
desired him to communicate officially with him !
as President of the Senate, proposing to exc
cute the statue Of Benton either for the State |
| or national capital. Joint action was taken on
the proposition December IL, 1865. Hon. Z. |
Il. E. Jameson, House of Representative Mis- |
souri, Legislature, transmitted to Mr.. Stone an |
| engrossed manuscript COPY of the Joint resolu- |
ton, conveying the fact Of unanimous vote |
of both Houses appointing committee to pro-
cure the proposed statue and to select the
| sculptor to Execute the same for the national
statue gallery at Washington. Hon. Mr.. Jane
son, in his letter accompanying the resolution,
writes Mr.. Stone:
"You will without doubt be selected as the
artist to do the work. Our people hold in
grateful remembrance the name of Thomas
H. Benton. He Is already enshrined
in our hearts, and We hope to be able ere long
to prove this by placing his statue, executed
| by 50 great anl celebrated an artist as your
self, in niche Of the national gallery.
"Wi;h great respect, am very truly yours,
''E. II. E. JAMESON"
Mem. No. 81 II
| The Governor Of Missouri informed Mr.. Stone
| in 1SGS that action would be taken I'm the ses-
sion OF 1869 by the Legislature, and during that
year conveyed Information TO Mr.. Stone that
Miss Hosmer WAS again an applicant for the
order for the statue of Benton, and also per-
| son by the name Of Roam.
Mem. No. 6.1
| In 1S71-'72 information came to Mr. Stone
that final action had been postponed.
Mem. No.7.1 !
The model of colossal size Of Benton, by
/ Mr. Stone toUnLheF with elaborate cfuIlv
model of its pedestal, representing the United
| States Senate in session, and Benton address
/ ing the same in one of the panels. In another,
| Benton is represented writing in his library,
In the third panel, the arms of the State Of
| Missouri are represented, and In the fourth
panel the arms Of the United States. The
| model of the statue of Benton is eight feet in
height. The pedestal is designed to be eleven
| feet in height. The above described models are
| stored for preservation in an old committee
room-or rather a committee room Of the old
or central portion of the Capitol; the room is
directly opposite to the office of the Commis-
s:oner of Public Buildings and Grounds, and
opens on the first corridor to the right after
passing the fountain at the lower west entrance
to the Capitol.
Mem. No. 81
| More than two years of continuous labor
was given to those models, and as they were
the only models taken from life, as Col. Ben
| ton assured Mr.. Stone, and as they were ap-
proved by him and all his family and friends,
| Mr.. Stone, as a friend Of the deceased Senator
and In view of the uncertainty of life, has re-
1 garded It as q duty to make statement as to
where they may be found, so that when the
time comes when true statue of the Senator
is wanted his friends may know where the
models may be found.
AB6GTON PARK