George Washington Monument, 1904
Daniel Chester French and
Edward C. Potter
South Martin Luther King
Drive, north of Washington Park, north of East 51st Street
The original version of this monument was commissioned by
the Daughters of the American Revolution as a gift to the French for their
assistance in the American fight for independence. It was unveiled at the Place
d’Iéna in Paris, near the Trocadero, on July 3, 1900, and was the first
monument by an American sculptor to be erected in that city. Two years later a
group of Chicagoans, including Benjamin F. Ferguson and Clarence F. Buckingham,
asked permission to install a replica of the bronze equestrian figure and
granite base at the northern entrance to Washington Park.
Washington is depicted with sword upraised as he took
command of the Revolutionary forces at Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 3,
1775. Potter created the horse while French was responsible for the figure and
he modeled the face after a bust created from life by Jean Antoine Houdon. Potter
collaborated with French on several works that included human and animal
figures, including groups that flanked the Grand Basin at the 1893 World’s
Columbian Exposition. Potter remains best known, however, for his lions at the
New York Public Library.
Other works:
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