The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1901-11-30
A GIFTED MANIAC.
Kraus, the Sculptor. Abandons His
Masterpiece For Madhouse.
CPhiladelphia North Americana

philadelphia North Americau)
Struggling to complete the master
work of his life, Sculptor Adolph Rob-
ert kraus was driven mad by the cares
o. poverty. He is now an inmate Of
the state asylum in Danvers.
Fate played strange game with this
man of genius.
She smiled on him at first and his
soul. expanding under the kindly
warmth, produced works Of the high
est art. Many of his fairest dreams
took shape and. bodied forth in the
solid marble, became an inspiration to
his fellows and a lasting ornament to
the city of his adoption.
Until the very day when the curtain
fell upon the tragedy there had opened
before him like a celestial vision the
hope of a complete realization of his
ambition-a place among the immOrtalS
in the House Beautiful of Art.
On the other hand doomed the men
acing specters OF povertv despair,
starvation and death. Ana standing
thus at the parting of the ways. he
saw the cup of success dashed from
his very lips. 1t was then he became
a mailman.
In a city whose public park Soasts
IsIS WOTh III DIOIlEe, whose state MOUSE
has placed one of his marble creations
in a niche TO commemorate a great
man. he had walked the streets for
months, getting poorer and more dis
CouTaged. He was unable to secure
the little money needed to finish the
work that had been for years his fond
est dream, the work tnat he believed
would have made him immortal gi-
gantic figure of "Belshazzar Seeing the
Writing on the Wall"
Kraus was born in Zoulenroda Ger
many, in 1850. At the age of IA he be-
gan work as a stone and wood carver.
He improved rapidly, opened a studio.
and at the age of % had enough money
to go to Rome, where he studied with
Emilio Wolf. After one year in Rome
he took the first prize in the Royal In
stitute of Fine Arts, established a short
time before by the Italian government.
Because of the merit of his work. The
Puritan" shown at that time, he was
awarded small pension by the Prus-
sian government by order of Emperor
William
In 1876 he went to Germany and
opened school of architecture. but
this did not succeed, and he removed
to London. There in 1880 he married
Miss Annie Cullinmore. and in the fol-
lowing year came to America. settling
in Philadelphia. Later he lived in New
York and some years ago came to Bos-
ton.
Among the notable sculptures he has
made since coming to this country is
the Crispus Attacks monument on BOs-
ton Common. erected TO the memory of
the first man that died in the struggle
for American liberty. Attacks was a
negro and was shot in front of the state
house n this n I4-h &c l-r1ny4-r1 n =
the Boston Massacre.
In the state house on Beacon Hill is
a marble bust of Governor Oliver
Ames. which Mr.. Kraus made by direc-
ton of the state. In the Mechanics
building is bust of Paul Revere, pro-
nounced one of the finest sculptures
in the country. Another bust that has
not been seen by the public is that of
eX-Mayor Lincoln. also a notable work.
In Forest Hills cemetery are several
of his best conceptions, among them
being the Jacob Wirth monument. He
has made a head of Christ that is a
marvel of beauty and strength