Henry Bergh (sculpture)

Last updated
Henry Bergh
Henry Bergh.jpg
Artist James H. Mahoney [1]
Year 1891 (1891)
Dimensions 270 cm(108 in)
Location 4500 W. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee
Coordinates 43°02′20.38″N87°58′10.11″W / 43.0389944°N 87.9694750°W / 43.0389944; -87.9694750

Henry Bergh is a statue by American artist James H. Mahoney located at the Wisconsin Humane Society in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. The bronze statue portrays Henry Bergh, the father of the humane movement in the United States, [2] holding a cane in his proper right hand and petting a dog with a bandaged paw with his proper left hand. It was created in 1891 and stands 9 feet high. [1]

Statue sculpture primarily concerned as a representational figure

A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals or non-representational forms are carved in a durable material like wood, metal, or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture that represents persons or animals in full figure but that is small enough to lift and carry is a statuette or figurine, while one more than twice life-size is a colossal statue.

United States Federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

Bronze metal alloy

Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals and sometimes non-metals or metalloids such as arsenic, phosphorus or silicon. These additions produce a range of alloys that may be harder than copper alone, or have other useful properties, such as stiffness, ductility, or machinability.

Contents

Description of the sculpture

Mahoney's statue is a full-length bronze of Henry Bergh. He wears a frock coat, vest, pants and boots, while holding a cane and petting a wounded dog. The statue's granite base has the raised inscription HENRY BERGH. The right front of the base reads American Bronze Co. Chicago Illinois. There is also a circular plaque on the base that reads The Wisconsin Humane Society, as well as a United States seal with a ribbon and star that included a founder's mark. [1] The circular plaque was added to the base in 1941 in honor of its 50th dedication anniversary. [1]

Frock coat mens formal knee-length coat

A frock coat is a man's coat characterised by a knee-length skirt all around the base, popular during the Victorian and Edwardian periods. The double-breasted styled frock coat is sometimes called a Prince Albert after Prince Albert, consort to Queen Victoria. The frock coat is a fitted, long-sleeved coat with a centre vent at the back, and some features unusual in post-Victorian dress. These include the reverse collar and lapels, where the outer edge of the lapel is cut from a separate piece of cloth from the main body, and also a high degree of waist suppression, where the coat's diameter round the waist is much less than round the chest. This is achieved by a high horizontal waist seam with side bodies, which are extra panels of fabric above the waist used to pull in the naturally cylindrical drape.

Granite A common type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock with granular structure

Granite is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture. Granites can be predominantly white, pink, or gray in color, depending on their mineralogy. The word "granite" comes from the Latin granum, a grain, in reference to the coarse-grained structure of such a holocrystalline rock. Strictly speaking, granite is an igneous rock with between 20% and 60% quartz by volume, and at least 35% of the total feldspar consisting of alkali feldspar, although commonly the term "granite" is used to refer to a wider range of coarse-grained igneous rocks containing quartz and feldspar.

Henry Bergh grew up an aristocrat and graduated from Columbia College in the 1830s. Following college he became a diplomat at the American Delegation in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was during this time that he noticed the drivers' cruel treatment of horses. Once back in America he realized that Americans also mistreated their horses by requiring them to pull very heavy loads. Bergh traveled to England to learn about their humane society and, upon his return to America in 1866, founded the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. This was subsequently expanded in 1877 into the American Humane Association, which included both the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. [3] The Wisconsin Humane Society was founded in 1879 with Richard D. Whitehead serving as its superintendent. Whitehead commissioned the sculpture, raising the $14,000 needed to create it. [1] The statue was placed in the heavily trafficked Market Square on April 29, 1891 and dedicated with an elaborate ceremony that included releasing white pigeons to fly over the statue, and having a pony be the first to drink from the trough.

Saint Petersburg Federal city in Northwestern, Russia

Saint Petersburg is Russia's second-largest city after Moscow, with 5 million inhabitants in 2012, part of the Saint Petersburg agglomeration with a population of 6.2 million (2015). An important Russian port on the Baltic Sea, it has a status of a federal subject.

England Country in north-west Europe, part of the United Kingdom

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north-northwest. The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.

The statue was unveiled on April 29, 1891, [4] shortly after the 25th anniversary of Bergh's founding of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. It was originally placed atop an animal watering trough in downtown Milwaukee's Market Square, near the present City Hall. [3]

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing cruelty to animals. Based in New York City since its inception in 1866, the organization's mission is "to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States."

Short video of sculpture.

Location history

"The Milwaukee City Hall was built on Market Square in 1895, increasing the traffic around the Bergh monument. By 1941 few horses were seen on the streets of Milwaukee and it was decided to convert the watering trough to a flower bed." [3] Since then it has been moved several times. It was first moved to the Wisconsin Humane Society in 1966 when the Marshall and Ilsley Bank planned to build a new structure on its site. Because the statue was too heavy to transport over Milwaukee's bridges, it was taken without the watering trough. The statue has moved with the Wisconsin Humane Society as it has changed locations over the years. It currently stands in front of the Humane Society's building on West Wisconsin Avenue. According to the Wisconsin Humane Society's website, this is the only known statue of Henry Bergh in the United States. [5]

Condition of the statue

"Treatment completed to restore statue in June 2013."/>

The sculptor

James H. Mahoney was the sculptor who produced this bronze statue in 1891. [1] Mahoney is also credited as one of the artists who produced the National Monument to the Forefathers in Plymouth, Massachusetts. [6]

National Monument to the Forefathers

The National Monument to the Forefathers, formerly known as the Pilgrim Monument, commemorates the Mayflower Pilgrims. Dedicated on August 1, 1889, it honors their ideals as later generally embraced by the United States. It is thought to be the world's largest solid granite monument.

Plymouth, Massachusetts Town in Massachusetts, United States

Plymouth is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. The town holds a place of great prominence in American history, folklore, and culture, and is known as "America's Hometown." Plymouth was the site of the colony founded in 1620 by the Mayflower Pilgrims, where New England was first established. It is the oldest municipality in New England and one of the oldest in the United States. The town has served as the location of several prominent events, one of the more notable being the First Thanksgiving feast. Plymouth served as the capital of Plymouth Colony from its founding in 1620 until the colony's merger with the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691. It is named after Plymouth, England where the Mayflower set sail for America.

See also

Related Research Articles

Henry Bergh American animal welfare activist

Henry Bergh founded the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) in April, 1866, three days after the first effective legislation against animal cruelty in the United States was passed into law by the New York State Legislature. Bergh also prompted the formation, in 1874, of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC).

Humane society group that aims to stop human or animal suffering due to cruelty or other reasons

A humane society is a group that aims to stop animal suffering due to cruelty or other reasons. In many countries, the term is used mostly for societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals (SPCA). In the United Kingdom, it may also be a society that provides a waterways rescue, prevention, and recovery service, or that gives awards for the saving of human life.

George Thorndike Angell American lawyer

George Thorndike Angell was an American lawyer, philanthropist, and advocate for the humane treatment of animals.

Richard Henry Park was an American sculptor who worked in marble and bronze. He was commissioned to do work by the wealthy of the nineteenth century. He also created sculptures for the Chicago World's Fair of 1893.

<i>Spirit of Commerce</i> artwork by Gustave Haug

Spirit of Commerce is a public artwork by German artist Gustav Haug located in Jackson Park, which is on the south side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. This zinc sculpture is 15 feet tall and sits on a red granite pedestal near the park's lagoon. It is the oldest public sculpture in Milwaukee.

<i>Goethe–Schiller Monument</i> (Milwaukee) artwork by Ernst Friedrich August Rietschel

The Goethe–Schiller Monument is a public artwork by German artist Ernst Friedrich August Rietschel located in Washington Park, which is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. The bronze sculpture from 1908 depicts two men, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich von Schiller, one holding a laurel wreath and the other a scroll. The 12 foot artwork rests upon a 26 foot long granite base. The bronze sculpture is a recasting of the statue incorporated into the 1857 Goethe-Schiller Monument in Weimar, Germany.

<i>Juneau Monument</i> artwork by Richard Henry Park

The Juneau Monument is a public artwork by American artist Richard Henry Park located on the grounds of Juneau Park, which is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The base of the statue is made of limestone. On top of the base is a bronze statue of Solomon Juneau. On each side of the base are bronze reliefs. The statue is 5 feet (1.5 m) wide by 15 feet (4.6 m) high.

<i>Leif, the Discoverer</i> (Whitney) artwork by Anne Whitney

Leif, the Discoverer is a bronze sculpture of Leif Ericson created by American sculptor Anne Whitney in 1887. It is located at Juneau Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, The United States of America.

<i>George Washington</i> (Houdon) statue by French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon

George Washington is a statue by French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon from the late 18th century. Based on a life mask and other measurements of George Washington taken by Houdon, it is considered one of the most accurate depictions of the subject. The original sculpture is located in the rotunda of the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia, and has been copied extensively.

<i>Washington Monument</i> (Milwaukee) artwork by Richard Henry Park

The Washington Monument is a public artwork by American artist Richard Henry Park located on the Court of Honor in front of the Milwaukee Public Library Central Library, which is near Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The bronze sculpture is a full-length portrait of a 43-year-old George Washington, and stands on a granite pedestal; a bronze woman points up at Washington while a child, also made out of bronze, gazes upward. It was sculpted by Richard Henry Park and was erected in 1885 with philanthropic financial support from Elizabeth Plankinton. The statue was restored 2016-2018.

<i>R. D. Whitehead Monument</i> artwork by Sigvald Asbjørnsen

The R. D. Whitehead Monument is a public artwork by Norwegian born American artist Sigvald Asbjornsen located on the south side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. The artwork consists of a bronze-relief plaque depicting a dog and horse, set on a granite pillar, which is in turn part of a fountain.

Caroline Earle White animal rights advocate

Caroline Earle White (1833–1916) was an American philanthropist and anti-vivisection activist. She co-founded the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PSPCA) in 1867, founded its women's branch (WPSPCA) in 1869, and founded the American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) in 1883.

<i>Lapham Memorial</i> artwork by Albert H. Atkins

The Lapham Memorial is a public artwork by American artist Albert H. Atkins, located near the entrance to Lapham Hall, on the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee campus. It is in memory of Increase A. Lapham, a 19th-century scientist famous for prompting the creation of the National Weather Service and recording the antiquities of Wisconsin, among other accomplishments.

Memorial for Belle Austin Jacobs is a public artwork by American artist Sylvia Shaw Judson (sculptor) and Alexander C. Eschweiler (architect), formerly located in Kosciuszko Park, Lincoln Village, City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. The statue depicted a young woman kneeling to feed a squirrel. It celebrated the life and philanthropy of Belle Austin Jacobs, who was best known for her work, with her husband Herbert Henry Jacobs, as the founders of organized social work in Wisconsin, including the establishment of the University Settlement House.

<i>Robert Burns</i> (Stevenson) artwork by William Grant Stevenson

Robert Burns is a public art statue of the Scottish national poet Robert Burns by the Scottish artist William Grant Stevenson.

<i>Kosciuszko Monument</i> artwork by Gaetano Trentanove

General Thaddeus Kosciuszko is a public art work by Italian and American artist Gaetano Trentanove located on the south side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the United States. The bronze equestrian sculpture depicts Kosciuszko in his military uniform and hat. It is located at South 9th Place and West Lincoln Avenue in Kosciuszko Park. The statue was placed in October 1904 but was not officially unveiled until June 18, 1905 with a speech by Archbishop F. Symon from Rome. The statue was moved to its present location in 1951 and a celebratory unveiling was held on September 15 of that year.

This is a history and list of drinking fountains in the United States. A drinking fountain, also called a water fountain or bubbler, is a fountain designed to provide drinking water. It consists of a basin with either continuously running water or a tap. The drinker bends down to the stream of water and swallows water directly from the stream. Drinking water fountains are most commonly found in heavy usage areas like public amenities, schools, airports, and museums.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Henry Bergh, (sculpture)". Inventory of American Sculpture, Smithsonian Institution Research Information System. Smithsonian AmericanArt Museum. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
  2. ↑ "Henry Bergh - Father of the Humane Movement". Wisconsin Humane Society. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 Buck, Diane M. and Virginia A. Palmer (1995). Outdoor Sculpture in Milwaukee: A Cultural and Historical Guidebook. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison
  4. ↑ "A statue to Henry Bergh" (PDF). New York Times. 30 April 1891. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
  5. ↑ "Wisconsin Humane Society - Our History & Henry Bergh". Wisconsin Humane Society. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
  6. ↑ "Search Results: "Mahoney, James H., sculptor"". Inventory of American Sculpture, Smithsonian Institution Research Information System. Smithsonian AmericanArt Museum. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.