Franklin Simmons
Franklin Bachelder Simmons was a prominent American sculptor of the nineteenth century. Three of his statues are in the National Statuary Hall Collection, three of his busts are in the United States Senate Vice Presidential Bust Collection, and his statue of Ulysses S. Grant is in the United States Capitol Rotunda.
Biography
Simmons was born in Webster, Maine, now known as Sabattus, Maine. He spent most of his childhood in Bath, Maine and Lewiston, Maine. He attended Bates College in 1858. Simmons started sculpting and painting during childhood. He studied with John Adams Jackson.During the last two years of the American Civil War, he moved to Washington, D.C., and modeled 24 portrait medallions of President Abraham Lincoln, his Cabinet, and generals and admirals. The Union League of Philadelphia purchased most of the medallions. In 1867 Simmons received an honorary A.M. from Bates College and from Colby.
Simmons went to live in Rome in 1868, but returned several times. Among his portrait busts are those of David D. Porter, James G. Blaine, Francis Wayland, and Ulysses S. Grant. He is said to have made a female statue of The Wanderer, meant to depict a Jewess wandering in the desert. He died in Rome, aged 74, and is buried in the Protestant Cemetery.
Selected works
Bust of Oren Cheney, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine. Simmons sculpted this while a student at Bates College.- Soldiers' Monument, Kennedy Park, Lewiston, Maine.
- Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, Bellingham Square, Chelsea, Massachusetts.Penelope, De Young Museum, San Francisco, California. Copies are at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts; Lake Delaware Farm in Delhi, New York; the Detroit Institute of Arts; and the Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine.Jochebed with the Infant Moses, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts.The Promised Land, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
- Roger Williams Monument, Roger Williams Park, Providence, Rhode Island. A bronze copy of his marble statue at the U.S. Capitol.Edward T. Little, Edward Little High School, Auburn, Maine.Bust of William B. Wood, Lewiston Public Library, Lewiston, MaineBust of Lyman Nichols, Lewiston Public Library, Lewiston, MaineBust of Admiral David Dixon Porter, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland.Miriam Medusa Galatea Senator Oliver P. Morton, Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, Indianapolis, Indiana.The Seraph Abdiel . Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Longfellow Square, Portland, Maine.
- Soldiers' and Sailor's Monument, Monument Square, Portland, Maine; Richard Morris Hunt, architect.Bust of Robert Treat Paine, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts.Equestrian Statue of Major General John A. Logan, cast in Rome by Alessandro Nelli, Logan Circle, Washington, D.C., Richard Morris Hunt, architect.Alexander Hamilton, Great Falls of the Passaic Overlook Park, Paterson, New Jersey.Valley Forge, Washington Memorial Chapel, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
Union League of Philadelphia
- 14 bronze portrait medallions of Civil War generals and politicians.
- *President Abraham Lincoln
- *Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase
- *Secretary of State William H. Seward
- *Major General Nathaniel P. Banks
- *Major General Ambrose Burnside
- *Major General Benjamin F. Butler
- *Major General Darius N. Couch
- *Major General Abner Doubleday
- *General of the Army Ulysses S. Grant
- *Major General Winfield S. Hancock
- *Major General Joseph Hooker
- *Major General Philip Kearny
- *Major General George Gordon Meade
- *Major General John Grubb Parke