William Wetmore Story (February 12, 1819 – October 7, 1895) was an American sculptor, art critic, poet, and editor.

Life and career

William Wetmore Story was the son of jurist

Joseph Story Joseph Story (September 18, 1779 – September 10, 1845) was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from 1812 to 1845. He is most remembered for his opinions in ''Martin v. Hunter's Lessee'' and '' United States ...

and Sarah Waldo (Wetmore) Story. He graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in 1838 and the Harvard Law School in 1840. After graduation, he continued his law studies under his father, was admitted to the Massachusetts bar, and prepared two legal treatises of value — ''Treatise on the Law of Contracts not under Seal'' (2 vols., 1844) and ''Treatise on the Law of Sales of Personal Property'' (1847). He soon abandoned the law though to devote himself to sculpture, and after 1850 lived in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, where he had first visited in 1848, and where he counted among his friends the Brownings and

Walter Savage Landor Walter Savage Landor (30 January 177517 September 1864) was an English writer, poet, and activist. His best known works were the prose ''Imaginary Conversations,'' and the poem "Rose Aylmer," but the critical acclaim he received from contempora ...

. In 1856, he received a commission for a bust of his late father, now in the Memorial Hall/Lowell Hall,

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. Story's apartment in

Palazzo Barberini The Palazzo Barberini ( en, Barberini Palace) is a 17th-century palace in Rome, facing the Piazza Barberini in Rione Trevi. Today, it houses the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, the main national collection of older paintings in Rome. History ...

became a central location for Americans in Rome. During the American Civil War his letters to the '' Daily News'' in December 1861 (afterwards published as a pamphlet, ''The American Question'', i.e. of neutrality), and his articles in ''

Blackwood's Magazine ''Blackwood's Magazine'' was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by the publisher William Blackwood and was originally called the ''Edinburgh Monthly Magazine''. The first number appeared in April 1817 ...

'', had considerable influence on English opinion. One of his most famous works, '' Cleopatra'', (1858) was described and admired in

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...

's 1860 romance, ''

The Marble Faun ''The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni'', also known by the British title ''Transformation'', was the last of the four major romances by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and was published in 1860. ''The Marble Faun'', written on the eve of the Amer ...

'', and is on display in New York, NY at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Gallery 700. Another work, the '' Angel of Grief'', has been replicated near the Stanford Mausoleum at Stanford University. Among the other life-size statues he completed were those of ''Saul'', ''Sappho'', ''Electra'', ''Semiramide'', ''Delilah'', ''Judith'', ''Medea'', ''Jerusalem Desolate'', ''Sardanapolis'', ''Solomon'', ''Orestes'', ''Canidia'', and ''Shakespeare''. His ''Saul'' was completed in Rome in 1865, and taken to England by Noel Wills who displayed it at

Rendcomb College Rendcomb College is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18), located in the village of Rendcomb five miles north of Cirencester in Gloucestershire, England. Rendcomb College was founded in 19 ...

. It is now in the collection of North Carolina Museum of Art,

Raleigh Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...

. His ''Sibyl'' and ''Cleopatra'' were exhibited at the 1863 Universal Exposition in London. ''Dizionario degli Artisti Italiani Viventi: pittori, scultori, e Architetti.''
by Angelo de Gubernatis. Tipe dei Successori Le Monnier, 1889, page 498. In the 1870s, Story submitted a design for the

Washington Monument The Washington Monument is an obelisk shaped building within the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, once commander-in-chief of the Continental Army (1775–1784) in the American Revolutionary War and th ...

, then under a prolonged and troubled construction. Although the Washington National Monument Society considered his proposals "vastly superior in artistic taste and beauty" to the original 1836 design by Robert Mills, they were not adopted, and the monument was completed to Mills' scheme, only slightly modified. Story also sculpted a bronze statue of Joseph Henry on the Mall in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, the scientist who served as 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 ...

's first Secretary. His works ''Libyan Sibyl'', ''Medea'' and ''Cleopatra'' are on display at the

High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...

in Atlanta, GA. Story died at Vallombrosa Abbey, Italy, a place he was sentimentally attached to and which he chronicled in an informal travel journal
''Vallombrosa''
in 1881. He is buried with his wife, Emelyn Story, in the

Protestant Cemetery, Rome The Cimitero Acattolico (Non-Catholic Cemetery) of Rome, often referred to as the Cimitero dei protestanti (Protestant Cemetery) or Cimitero degli Inglesi (English Cemetery), is a private cemetery in the rione of Testaccio in Rome. It is near ...

, under a statue of his own design, '' Angel of Grief''. A 1903 posthumous biography of Wetmore (and his circle), entitled '' William Wetmore Story and His Friends'', was penned by

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

Family

His children also pursued artistic careers: Thomas Waldo Story (1854–1915) became a sculptor;

Julian Russell Story Julian Russell Story (September 8, 1857 – February 24, 1919) was an American painter. Early life Story was born on September 8, 1857 in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey to American parents. He was the youngest child of sculptor William Wetmore Story ...

(1857–1919) was a successful portrait painter; and Edith Marion (1844–1907), the Marchesa Peruzzi de' Medici, became a writer.

Selected works

*Statue of

George Peabody George Peabody ( ; February 18, 1795 – November 4, 1869) was an American financier and philanthropist. He is widely regarded as the father of modern philanthropy. Born into a poor family in Massachusetts, Peabody went into business in dry g ...

next to the Royal Exchange, London, 1869. A replica, erected in 1890, stands next to the

Peabody Institute The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University is a private conservatory and preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1857 and opened in 1866 by merchant/financier and philanthropist George Peabody (1795–1869) ...

, Mount Vernon Park,

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. * Joseph Henry Memorial, Washington D.C., 1883 *'' Chief Justice John Marshall Memorial'',

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

, 1884 *'' Angel of Grief'', 1894, monument to his dead wife. *Statue of

, his father, in Harvard Law School's Langdell Hall

Selected writings

* ''Life and Letters of Joseph Story'', 1851 * (A collection of contemporary observations of Rome.) * ''Proportions of the Human Figure'', London, 1864 * ''Roba di Roma'' Volume 2. https://archive.org/details/robadiroma02stor * ''Fiammetta'', 1885 (a novel) * ''Conversations in a Studio'', Boston, 1890 * ''Excursions in Art and Letters'', Boston, 1891 * His poems were collected in two volumes in 1885. Among the longer ar
“A Roman Lawyer in Jerusalem”
(a rehabilitation of

Judas Iscariot Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betraye ...

), "A Jewish Rabbi in Rome,
Tragedy of Nero”
(1872) and "Ginevra di Siena." The last named, with "Cleopatra," was included in his ''Graffiti d'Italia'', a collection published in 1868.

Images

File:WWStoryRome.jpg, '' Angel of Grief'', Rome File:Cleopatra by William Wetmore Story 01.jpg, '' Cleopatra'',

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

(New York, New York) File:Dalilah by William Wetmore Story, 1877, marble, view 2 - De Young Museum - DSC00894.JPG,

Delilah Delilah ( ; , meaning "delicate";Gesenius's ''Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon'' ar, دليلة, Dalīlah; grc, label= Greek, Δαλιδά, Dalidá) is a woman mentioned in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible. She is loved ...

De Young Museum The de Young Museum, formally the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, is a fine arts museum located in San Francisco, California. Located in Golden Gate Park, it is a component of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, along with the California Pala ...

(San Francisco, California) File:JosephHenry-SmithsonianCastle-20050517.jpg, Joseph Henry before the Smithsonian Castle, Washington, D.C. File:WWStory-Marshall.jpg, '' Chief Justice John Marshall'', Philadelphia File:P1167GPb.JPG, ''

'', London File:George Peabody statue, Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, MD.jpg, ''

'' (Baltimore, Maryland) File:Statue of william prescott in charlestown massachusetts.jpg, Colonel

William Prescott William Prescott (February 20, 1726 – October 13, 1795) was an American colonel in the Revolutionary War who commanded the patriot forces in the Battle of Bunker Hill. Prescott is known for his order to his soldiers, "Do not fire until ...

, Charlestown, Massachusetts File:The Libyan Sibyl by William Wetmore Story 01.jpg, ''The

Libyan Sibyl The Libyan Sibyl, named Phemonoe, was the prophetic priestess presiding over the Oracle of Zeus-Ammon (Zeus represented with the Horns of Ammon) at Siwa Oasis in the Libyan Desert. The term ''sibyl'' comes (via Latin) from the ancient Greek word ...

'' at the

(New York, New York) File:Smithsonian-story-The Libyan Sibyl-2145.jpg, ''The Libyan Sibyl'' at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, D.C.) File:William Wetmore Story - 'Medea', High Museum of Art.JPG, ''

Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...

'' at the

(Atlanta, Georgia) File:Sapho - Drexel University - IMG 7328.JPG, '' Sappho'', Drexel University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Footnotes

External links

* * *

at sonnets.org *
Finding aid to William Wetmore Story letters at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Story, William Wetmore 19th-century American sculptors 19th-century American male artists American male sculptors American art critics 19th-century American poets American male poets Harvard College alumni Harvard Law School alumni 1819 births 1895 deaths Burials in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome 19th-century American journalists American male journalists 19th-century American male writers Artists of the Boston Public Library