William Rudolf O'Donovan

For other people named William O'Donovan, see William O'Donovan (disambiguation).

William Rudolf O'Donovan and his bust of Walt Whitman (May 1891). Photograph by Thomas Eakins.

'Lincoln and Grant', bronze sculptures by William Rudolf O'Donovan (men) and Thomas Eakins (horses), 1893-1894, Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, New York City

William Rudolf O'Donovan (March 28, 1844 – 1920) was a self-taught American sculptor, born in Preston County, Virginia. After the Civil War, in which he served in the Confederate army, he opened a studio in New York City and became a well-known sculptor, especially of memorial pieces. Among these are statues of George Washington (in Caracas), Lincoln and Grant (Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn), the captors of Major André (Tarrytown, New York) and located in Patriot's Park, and Archbishop Hughes (Fordham University, Fordham, N.Y.), and a memorial tablet to Bayard Taylor (Cornell University). In 1878 he become an associate of the National Academy of Design.

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links

• The William Rudolf O'Donovan Papers are available for research use at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.