William Rudolf O'Donovan (March 28, 1844April 20, 1920) was an American sculptor.
Biography O'Donovan was born in Preston County, Virginia (now West Virginia), and taught himself to sculpt. After the Civil War, in which O'Donovan served in the Confederate army, he opened a studio in New York City and became well known as a sculptor, especially of memorial pieces.
In 1878, O'Donovan become an associate of the National Academy of Design. George Washington was a favorite subject of his, and he published a series of papers on Washington portraits. During the 1870s and 1880s he collaborated with Maurice J. Power, politician, sculptor and owner of the National Fine Art Foundry producing many works of public art.
Selected works Relief portrait of Bayard Taylor (c. 1870), Beinecke Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.Taylor relief from SIRIS. Portrait of Winslow Homer (c. 1878), bronze. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.Portrait of Winslow Homer from SIRIS. John Paulding (1880), Captors' Monument, Patriot's Park, Tarrytown, New York.Captors' Monument from SIRIS. Cavalry Officer; Sailor (1880–81), Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, Lawrence, Massachusetts.Lawrence, MA monument from SIRIS. Bas-relief panels of Herkimer Directing the Oriskany Battle and Combat (1882–84), Oriskany Battlefield Monument, Oriskany, New York.Oriskany Monument from SIRIS. George Washington (1883), Plaza Washington, El Paraiso, Caracas, Venezuela.Inscription: "El Gobierno y el Pueblo de Venezuela a JORGE WASHINGTON Fundador de la Republica del Norte Erigido en el Centenario del Libertador Simon Bolivar 1883." Source: Frances David Whittemore, George Washington in Sculpture (2005), p. 125.Venezuela Washington from Flickr. Marie Heimlicher (1884), bronze. Smithsonian Institution. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.Marie Heimlicher from SIRIS. Colonel Daniel Morgan (1885–86), Saratoga Battle Monument, Saratoga National Historical Park, Victory Mills, New York.Col. Morgan from SIRIS.Col. Morgan from Historic Marker Database. Tower of Victory, Washington's Headquarters State Historic Site, Newburgh, New York.Newburgh Washington from SIRIS. George Washington (1887).Newburgh Washington from Flickr. Architectural sculptures of Rifleman; Artilleryman; Light Dragoon; and Infantry Line Officer (1888). Irish Brigade Monument (1888), Gettysburg Battlefield, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. A granite Celtic Cross guarded by a life-size bronze statue of an Irish wolfhound.Irish Brigade from SIRIS. Bust of Walt Whitman (1891), unlocated.Whitman bust from SIRIS. Archbishop Hughes (1891), Fordham University, Fordham, New York.Archbishop Hughes from Fordham University Library. Trenton Battle Monument, Trenton, New Jersey.Trenton Battle Monument from SIRIS.Trenton Washington from Destination Trenton. George Washington (1893). Private John Russell and Private Blair McClenachan (1891–93), two statues of 14th Regiment Massachusetts soldiers flanking the monument's entrance.Meredith Bzdak, Public Sculpture in New Jersey: Monuments to Collective Identity (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1999), pp. 36-37. Thomas Eakins modeled two bas-relief panels for the monument's base; Charles Henry Niehaus modeled the third panel. Bust of Thomas Eakins (1892), bronze; unlocated. Exhibited at the Columbian Exposition, 1893, item #154.National Museum of American Art; National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Institution) (1993). Revisiting the white city: American art at the 1893 World's Fair. Washington, D.C. : Hanover: National Museum of American Art and National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Distributed by the University Press of New England. p. 371. .Bust of Thomas Eakins from SIRIS Bas-relief panels of President Lincoln and General Grant (1893–94), Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch, Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, New York.Lincoln relief from SIRIS.Grant relief from SIRIS. O'Donovan modeled the men; Thomas Eakins modeled the horses.
Notes
References Virginia Baird Kelly, William Rudolf O'Donovan and the Business, Politics, and Art of Sculpture (Masters thesis, Syracuse University, 1992).
External links
The William Rudolf O'Donovan Papers are available for research use at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. William Rudolf O'Donovan, on the Smithsonian American Art Museum website