The Andrew Jackson Downing Urn, also known as the Downing Urn, is a

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...

and

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

work located in the

Enid A. Haupt Garden The Enid A. Haupt Garden is a 4.2 acre public garden in the Smithsonian complex, adjacent to the Smithsonian Institution Building (the "Castle") on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It was designed to be a modern representation of American V ...

of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

on the

National Mall The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institut ...

in Washington, D.C.(1)
(2)
(3) The outdoor sculpture of a garden vase−urn commemorates

Andrew Jackson Downing Andrew Jackson Downing (October 31, 1815 – July 28, 1852) was an American landscape designer, horticulturist, and writer, a prominent advocate of the Gothic Revival in the United States, and editor of ''The Horticulturist'' magazine (1846–5 ...

(1815–1852), an American

landscape designer Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practiced by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice, landscape design bridges the space between landscape architecture and garde ...

and

horticulturalist Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

, and considered to be one of the founders of American

landscape architecture Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...

. Shortly before dying at the age of 37, Downing developed a landscape plan for the National Mall that the United States government partially implemented until replacing it with the

McMillan Plan The McMillan Plan (formally titled The Report of the Senate Park Commission. The Improvement of the Park System of the District of Columbia) is a comprehensive planning document for the development of the monumental core and the park system of Was ...

of 1902 (see History of the National Mall).(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

History

Architect and landscape designer

Calvert Vaux Calvert Vaux (; December 20, 1824 – November 19, 1895) was an English-American architect and landscape designer, best known as the co-designer, along with his protégé and junior partner Frederick Law Olmsted, of what would become New York Ci ...

designed the memorial urn, which

Robert Eberhard Launitz Robert Eberhard Launitz (4 November 1806 – 13 December 1870) was a Russian-American sculptor. Biography Launitz was born into a Baltic German family in Riga, Governorate of Livonia, then part of the Russian Empire. He received a classical an ...

sculpted. The urn was located and dedicated on the National Mall in September 1856, where it stood near the Smithsonian's

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...

until 1965, when it was moved to the east entrance of the

Smithsonian Institution Building The Smithsonian Institution Building, located near the National Mall in Washington, D.C. behind the National Museum of African Art and the Sackler Gallery, houses the Smithsonian Institution's administrative offices and information center. The ...

(the "Castle"). In 1972, the urn was restored, moved to the west entrance of the Castle and rededicated. In 1987, it was relocated to the Rose Garden at the Castle's east door. The urn was moved to the Enid A. Haupt Garden in 1989.

Inscription

The inscription reads,
(on the south face of the base):

References

External links

*
The Downing Urn
at

Smithsonian Gardens The Smithsonian Gardens, a division of the Smithsonian Institution, is responsible for the "landscapes, interiorscapes, and horticulture-related collections and exhibits", which serve as an outdoor extension of the Smithsonian's museums and learn ...

Andrew Jackson Downing Urn
at ''Histories of the National Mall'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Andrew Jackson Downing (Launitz) Outdoor sculptures in Washington, D.C. Marble sculptures in Washington, D.C. Sculptures of the Smithsonian Institution 1856 sculptures Downing, Andrew Jackson Memorial Public art in Washington, D.C. Southwest Federal Center

History

Inscription

See also

References

External links