Statue of Charles Sumner (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
Statue in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A bronze statue of Charles Sumner, by sculptor Anne Whitney, is installed in General MacArthur Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[1] The plaster model for the statue is on display indoors at the Watertown public library.[2] The sculpture of Sumner, a popular local statesman, was commissioned by the Boston Art Committee shortly after his death in 1874.
_-_Anne_Whitney_sculptor.JPG)
- General MacArthur Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- 42°22′29″N 71°07′08″W
| Statue of Charles Sumner | |
|---|---|
The statue in 2007 | |
 | |
| Artist | Anne Whitney |
| Subject | Charles Sumner |
| Location |
|
History
In 1875, the Boston Art Committee hosted a blind competition[3][4][5] for model sculptures of Sumner.[6] Whitney knew Sumner, a senator and abolitionist,[6] through her brother Alexander, who had been a classmate of Sumner's. She depicted him seated in a chair, in part because of the artistic practice of portraying people seated to "represent dignity and something of state."[7] She won the contest, including some prize money,[8] however when the judges realized they had selected a work made by a woman, they decided it would be inappropriate for a woman to sculpt a man's legs, and rejected it for installation. They selected a different sculpture by Thomas Ball, which was installed in the Boston Public Garden.[3][4][5]
Both the Sumners and the Whitneys were disappointed by this turn of events, but Whitney wrote in a letter, "Bury your grievance; it will take more than the Boston Art committee to quench me."[6] She exhibited the model of Sumner at the Centennial Exposition of 1876 in Philadelphia, and elsewhere around the country.[7] Following an 1879 exhibit of the model, the New York Evening Post wrote of the judge's decision, "Think of a woman bringing her mind to bear on the legs of a man-even if those legs were inside a pair of stone trousers!" The New York Evening Telegram wrote a verse which starts:
"You see, ’tis a fixed law of art, my friend,
That only a man can superintend
The play of muscle and post of limb,
Whenever a statue is made of him. ...
Yet under the dome of the Capitol
Stands Samuel Adams erect and tall,
As free as his namesake before the fall;
And though the image was carved by woman
Rarely is marble so grandly human."[7]
In 1902, an anonymous donor funded the casting of the statue, and friends arranged for its installation in General MacArthur Square, by Harvard Square.
