Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1894-08-23
TO THE SOLDIER DEAD
IOWA'S GREAT MONUMENT MI
NUTELY DESCRIBED.
Progress Made by the Danish sculptor,
Carl Rohl- smith Two Years of Steady
Work Planned.

Progress Made by the Danish sculptor,
Carl Rohl- Smith--Two Years of Steady
Work Planned.
Carl Rohl-Smiths studio in the south
gable of the Woman's Temple, high
above the roar of LaSalle street, says
the Chicago correspondent of the Daily
Iowa Capital is the scene to-day of an
activity unusual in sculptor's work
ing quarters. Day before yesterday
the Danish sculptor, who is modelling
the sculpture of the Iowa soldiers and
sailors monument, finished the clay
model of the Iowa sailor boy, one of
the four statues which are to stand at
the corners of the base. This is the
first figure to be made in the clay, and
to-day workmen under the direction of
Rohl-Smith are building up the mould
outside of the clay model, so as to take
the plaster cast which will be used in
the bronze foundry. Week before last
the executive committee and several
members of the board met in Rohl
Smiths studio and after examining the
alert, breezy, bouyant figure of the
sailor boy from every possible point of
view, congratulated the sculptor, shook
hands with each other and told Rohl-
Smith to go ahead. Perhaps the most
pleased of the commissioners with
Rohl-Smith and his work was
Mrs. Cora G. Weed of Muscatine,
but her words of praise were
promptly echoed by c. II. Catch
of Des Moines, d. \. Richardson of
Davenport, III. II. Trimble of Keokuk,
Il. Townsend of Cedar Falls, and l.. l..
Mitchell of Brush Creek, the other
commissioners present. The board
held several sessions and suggested
some slight changes in the details of
the monument. AS it stands now Carl
Rohl-Smith's sketches for all the fig
ures are approved, and Chicago art
critics, who have at last awakened to
the fact that Rohl-Smith is an artist in
the truest sense of the word, are say
ing all sorts of pleasant things about
the wisdom and discretion displayed by
the Iowa monument commissioners in
leaving Rohl-SmiJh untrammeled All
the sketches, as the first miniature
clay models are called, are done: the
sailor boy figure will be in the plaster
by Wednesday, the clay model for the
statue of Victory, which will stand in
the capital of the column. is well along.
the plaster cast of the medallion por-
trait of Colonel William Shaw hangs in
the studio and near it is the plaster
bust, recently made by RohlSmith of
General Dodge, which will be used as
a study for the equestrian statues.
In the stone yards of the Schricler-
Rodler company in Davenport are huge
blocks and slabs of Barre granite from
Vermont, which are being chiseled into
pediments, architraves, plinths, Ell
tablatures, copings, steps and sections
of great column which enter into tho
stone work of the monument. Rohl-
Smith said yesterday that he woul3
complete his work within two years,
SO it will be safe to set aside some day
in the Indian summer of 1896 or Deco
ration day of 1897 on which to unveil
one of the handsomest soldiers and
sailors monuments in the United
States.
In it's general appearance the monu
ment will resemble the famous Sieges-
denkmal, or monument of Victory,
which was placed in the Thiergarten
of Berlin, Germany, in commemoration
of the last Franco-Prussian war. From
the ground to the top of the statue of
Victory, which is 30 feet high, the
monument will measure 1873 feet. The
base proper will be % feet by 80 feet
inches, but the steps which will lead to
the base will flare out 60X60 feet ground
area. On rounded pedestals which will
spring from each corner of the base
will stand bronze statues eight feet
high representing the infantry, caval-
ry, artillery and navy. The face of
the sailor boy is looking up to ''Old
Glory which he is about to haul to
the mast head. The lines of the figure
are simple and the pose is full of grace.
Rohl-Smith is an anatomist of no mean
order, and steadily refuses to lower
his artistic standard by idealizing ma
ture, so that the bronze representation
of the Hawkeye sailor lad will stand
out life-like and natural. full of vigor
and strength, and a triumph of artistic
simplicity. The soldier, also young
man, will look down, smile on his
bright face, the smile of boyish pleas
ure because of the garland of leaves
and flowers which has been hung over
his bayonet. The artillervman will
hold the sponge-rod in his hand and
his arm thrown up as he gaily swings
his cap. The cavalryman, his coat I'M