Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-05-01
CAST FOR LIBBY HILL, RICHMOND
Colossal bronze Soldier to Stand on u
Copy of Pompey's Pillar.

Under these headlines the New York
TiNos Of Sunday contained the following:
on Thursday and Friday committee
OF Virginans examined the statue of the
Confederate soldier just cast at the Henry
Bonnard Bronze Company, in west Six
teenth street. They were accompanied
iry the designer of the statue Mr.. Will
liam l.. Sheppard, whose work as an H.
illustrator for the press has been seen in
New York for the past thirty years. but
who now lives in Richmond. At the
foundry they met Mr.. Caspar Buberl the
sculptor. who has put Mr.. Sheppard's de-
sign into clay. In accordance with the
commttee's desires. n bayonet has been
a0dcd to the musket in the soldier 5
hand. He is a Confederate sentry stand
ing erect and looking straight forward.
is of colossal size, fully 16 feet from base
to chapeau, and looks at least 4 feet
taller when seen in the foundry. reaching
far up through the wall to the upper
floor.
COPY OF POMPEY'S PILLAR.
This Confederate will stand on "A column
| on Libby Till, overlooking the James
| river and large part of the city OF
| Richmond. The total monument Will be
| So feet in height, and the column itself a
| counterpart on smaller scale Of the IA
| nous pillar at Alexandria. Egypt. named
after Pompey. The erection Of single or
, namental columns in honor of distin>
| gushed men is a popularity of the Ro-
man emperors and their epoch, but there
seems to have never been time when
something in the nature of a pillar of
| stone has not been used for the purpose.
| There Is no reason why columns should
| not &c employed for general monuments
| like those to soldiers and sailors, as we
| find them used on West Rock. at New
| Haven. or at Yorktown. in Virginia. Mr..
| Sheppard has followed the old pictures OF
| Pompey's pillar. merely adding below the
| base of the statue a plinth to raise II
and make the transition between that
| base and the top of the capital more
| gradual.
THE POSITION.
The sculptor has given some life to an
| otherwise quiet and restful statue by the
| action of the arms. The right hand grasps
| the barrel of the musket whose butt
rests on tree stump. The left mana
| grasps the strap of his haversack an
| forces the elbow slightly out from the
| side Trousers tucked in coarse stockings
| heavy hobnaied boots. close-iittins
| Jacket, without skirts. blanket sluns
| across back and chest, and the soft iei'
hat coiopletc the REQUIREMENT of the
| Boy in ,,utternut. He has a handsome
| face and looks a manly fellow. Perhaps
| he Is not so pleasing a person as the
| Confederate soldier Mr.. Buberl made for
| Charlottesville. but he has many OF the
same characteristics notably the position
| of the left arm.
How the figure will look on top OF a
| pillar about 20 feet high Is question
| for time to solve. One advantage Is the
| fact that the face and figure are In largist
| masses instead of being carried down &c
| a high finish in the modelling. Only wher
| the bronze Is on the pillar can II be told
! whether the sculptor has or has not gone
| far enough in such a direction TO allow
| for distance and for the angle at which
| Ii Is to be seen. To hoist 1t there viii
| need good tackle. since the bronze weighs
about three tons. The entire monument
| costs about 10000, and 1t Is to be unveiled
| on the 30th of May next.
To Get Here To-Day.
| II is expected that the statue will arrive
| here to-day or tomorrow.
| Mr.. Carlton Mccarthy. secretary Of the
| Monument Association. received the fol
| lowing telegram yesterday from the
Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company. OF New
| York:
'"rhe statue was put In the Pennsylva.
MIA railroad depot to-day. IL will go to.
night addressed TO w. n Sheppard"