Statues and Sculpture Items (22 total)
Statue of Freedom
In 1855, Congress commissioned Thomas Crawford to build a statue to top the cast-iron Capitol dome. Two years later, Crawford created the plaster model in Rome and sent it to the US for casting. The bronze was cast at a foundry in Washington DC under…
Infinity
Louisiana-born sculptor, Jose de Rivera designed and built the abstract sculpture "Infinity" that currently welcomes visitors to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. The sculpture slowly rotates on its base, completing 1 revolution…
Gwenfritz
Sculptor Alexander Calder designed "Gwenfritz" in 1965 after Washington philanthropist Gwendolyn Cafritz commissioned him to create a piece for the new Museum of History and Technology. Calder built the 40-foot tall metal stabile in France and…
Japanese Lantern
The lantern was given to the people of the United States by the Governor of Tokyo in 1954 to mark the 100th anniversary of Commodore Matthew Perry's arrival in Japan and the opening of trade between the two countries. It was installed amid the first…
Discovery of America
In 1837, the President and Congress commissioned Italian-born artist Luigi Persico to create a sculpture depicting Christopher Columbus to be one of a pair of artworks flanking the staircase on the eastern entrance to the Capitol. When it was…
Clark Mills's Design for a Lincoln Monument
In 1867, Congress formed the Lincoln Monument Association to commission a memorial for the late president. They chose this design by sculptor Clark Mills. Mills was known in Washington for designing a statue of Andrew Jackson that stands near the…
Jose Artigas Statue
General Jose Gervasio Artigas was a military and political leader in Uruguay in the 1800s. Influenced by the Enlightenment ideas which also sparked the American Revolution, Artigas' revolutionary movement was part of the Spanish American wars for…
Simon Bolivar Statue
This statue of Simon Bolivar was donated to the United States by the Venezuelan government and installed in 1955. Bolivar was a revolutionary Latin American military and political leader from the 1810s to the 1830s. He led the nations of Venezuela,…
Daguerre Memorial
This memorial commemorates photography pioneer, Louis Daguerre, inventor of the daguerreotype. The Photographer's Association of America presented the memorial to the people of the United States in a ceremony at the Smithsonian Arts and Industries…
Dr. Samuel Gross Statue
This statue of Dr. Samuel D. Gross was unveiled in May 1897 outside the National Army Medical Museum and Library on the National Mall. Gross, who died in 1884, was a celebrated surgeon and professor at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. He…