''Seventh Regiment Memorial'' is an outdoor

bronze sculpture Bronze is the most popular metal for Casting (metalworking), cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as w ...

atop a granite base honoring those members of the regiment whose lives were lost during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. The sculptor

John Quincy Adams Ward John Quincy Adams Ward (June 29, 1830 – May 1, 1910) was an American sculptor, whose most familiar work is his larger than life-size standing statue of George Washington on the steps of Federal Hall National Memorial in New York City. Early ye ...

created the statue and the architect Richard Morris Hunt designed the base. Although the statue is dated 1869 the monument was not unveiled until June 22, 1874.

Description and history

Ward likely received the commission in 1867, with funds to be provided by the Seventh Regiment Monument Association. He finished a model by the spring of 1868. Initially, Hunt designed a much larger monument, one with at least five figures, part of his elaborate scheme for the "Warrior Gate" entrance to

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

. However the park's architects,

Olmsted Olmsted may refer to: People * Olmsted (name) Places * Olmsted Air Force Base, inactive since 1969 * Olmsted, Illinois * Olmsted County, Minnesota * Olmsted Falls, Ohio * Olmsted Point, a viewing area in Yosemite National Park * Olmsted Town ...

to and Vaux, had already clashed with Hunt over matters of aesthetics with the result that Hunt's grand scheme of a series of showy Beaux-Arts entrances to the park was reduced to the Seventh Regiment Memorial. The art historian E. Wayne Craven considers the work "a failure", even though it is a work of art, stating,"neither the 'Shakespeare' nor the 'Seventh Regiment Soldier' were portrait statues in the usual sense, and therein lies the explanation for their failures. Ward often lacked the vision to create a successful imaginary portrait, and his images of men who could actually stand before him were, as a rule, much stronger as works of art." The soldier in the monument was modeled by actor, and veteran of the Regiment Steele MacKaye, who wore his own uniform to pose in.Sharp, Lewis I., John Quincy Adams Ward: Dean of American Sculpture, with Catalogue Raisonné, University of Delaware Press, Newark, 1985 p. 177.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seventh Regiment Memorial 1869 establishments in New York (state) 1869 sculptures 1874 sculptures Beaux-Arts architecture in New York City Bronze sculptures in Central Park Monuments and memorials in Manhattan Outdoor sculptures in Manhattan Sculptures in Central Park Sculptures of men in New York City Statues in New York City Union (American Civil War) monuments and memorials in New York (state)