Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln
Under the arch in Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza
These simple profiles of Ulysses S. Grant, top, and Abraham Lincoln are set into the inside of the monumental arch, on the inside of the eastern leg, in Grand Army Plaza.
The figure of Grant is on the inside of the eastern leg of the arch and the companion piece of Lincoln is on the inside of the western leg. The figures are in bronze and were made by William Rudolf O’Donovan — who, by the way, fought on the rebel side in the Civil War. He worked on the pieces in his New York studio. The horses were made by Thomas Eakins, who did most of his work in Philadelphia.
Grant is depicted in unimaginative style, wearing a hat and army uniform, looking straight ahead while riding a horse. Lincoln is as plain, wearing a frock coat and holding his hat in his right hand. Lincoln’s horse is not moving, and he is looking off to his right, in the direction of Grant, as if he is giving the general some instruction. Or perhaps trying to get the reticent general’s attention.
The arch was completed in 1892. The reliefs of Grant and Lincoln were installed sometime in 1894. In 1896, there was a bit of a stink when Brooklyn’s parks commissioner complained that the reliefs were of such poor quality that the city should not pay the money owed the foundry that cast them. A Times reporter was on hand to record the argument that ensued between the parks commissioner, Timothy L. Woodruff, and the owner of the foundry, who probably not coincidentally was also a city commissioner, Maurice J. Power.
Woodruff thought the pieces were junk: “Everyone who has seen the bas reliefs,” Woodruff complained, “have condemned them. I can’t understand how Maurice J. Power secured the contract in the first place, except on the theory that he was a Democratic politician, and the Brooklyn ring was anxious to show its friendship to him.”
Power was not ruffled. He pointed out that it was not true that the bas reliefs were unanimously condemned by critics. Power said that the statues had been praised in a prominent magazine, but did not name it. He further augmented his position by saying that even if it was true that the statues were not up to Brooklyn’s standards, that wasn’t his fault. He merely cast the art into bronze. “In this case,” Power said, “I am not to blame for any lack of merit in the bas reliefs, because I did not select the sculptors.” Touche.
Power asked the parks commissioners why they did not complain about the artistic quality of the pieces when they saw the clay pieces that were approved for casting. Then he fired his coup de grace, “…the question is not whether the bronzes are artistic, but whether I am entitled to my money…”
Power got his money.
