Great Falls tribune., 1922-04-23
The Hdskin Letter BY 111azse asss
THE MOUNTED 1MMoRTALs OF AMERICA.

! statue. Washington is supposed to be
! approaching the enemy lines at the
/ Battle of Princeton. and the horse has
! gone as far as its courage will stand.
/ Frightened by the balls crashing about
| it. the steed has drawn back. Wash
I ington. however. sits calm and dignified
/ as usual. commander of the situation
! Since these two intense looking
| heroes were set up in the city s quiet
/ parks, t. more generals have been de-
/ tailed 10 command other positions
1 about the capital
/ OF them ali, General Thomas, at
| Thomas Circle, is most widely admired,
as work Of art. The horse in this
statue has just paused and the general
| is looking out on some scene. Both
action and repose are in the figures,
/ and the statue is mounted on a Sutfl-
! ciently high pedestal SO that it shows
up to advantage for a considerable dis
/ tance. People who jokingly comment
! that Jackson must be tired of hanging
on his trick horse for more than half
a century look with approval at Thomas
| on his alert, well poised mount, sill
/ houetted III clean outline against the
| sky.
Of the Is equestrian statues in
1 Washington, only one figure is not an
! American general, The exception IS
Joan of Are.
Washington is good place to OBJ
/ serve the trend i'll equestrian sculpture
because it is said to have more Statues
| of this type than any other city IN the
,. country. Tp-to-date figures for cities
and countries are not available. Back
| in 1913. the American Scenic and His
| toric Preservation society attempted
n hpy,- and or
! were honored by equestrian statues.
There had been a popular saying that
, there were only 100 such statues in the
| world A census taken by the society
| located $40. not including statuettes
| Of these the United States had IS
| thereby leading all other countries
! Paris and London, however. had more
| equestrian statues than Washington
| In this country, Philadelphia ranked
| second, with II, and New York third
| with eight.
/ Few Mounted Figures
Several reasons can be given to show
why there are so few equestrian stat
| ues compared with the great number
| of statues iii existence. The first is
| that only certain classes Of heroes and
| herones are suitably immertalized or
| horseback. In Europe kings. queens
and military leaders monopolize this
/ type Of memorial. This country has
| had no equestrian statue of king
since its very first equestrian memoria
erected in ITO to George III and later
melted into 420SS bullets to help the
cause Of the American revolution.
| Our horseback heroes are generals
| with perhaps dozen exceptions Kit
! Carson for instance rides horse or
4 a pedestal in Colorado. St Louis. il
| the town named for him. is represented
on horseback: Paul Revere, in Boston
| is shown riding to warn the country
| side Of the approaching British.
The scarcity of appropriate subjects
for equestrian statues restricts their
use, and they are further limited by
the cost and work involved. A mounted
| hero costs four or five times as much
| as one standing When possible. con.
| gress provides cannon captured in the
| hero's campaigns as material for stat
ues Of generals in Washington Even
so, the cost Of general on horseback
| runs to $4,000 or even $4,000, in
| cluding the pedestal, which sometimes
! A sculptor often spends several years
has cost more than the statue
on commission for an equestrian
| group. The horse cousplcates matters
so that long study is required in plan
ming suitable pose of horse and rider
And as the designing and execution oi
such a piece of work are arduous, the
sculptor must be paid accordingly.
Little Variety Possible
The difficulties Of portrait sculpture
are increased in horseback figures be
/ cause there are so few possibilities fol
! variety. Horses in unusual contortions