Focus on this artwork and analyze the History.
Barnard was awarded the most important commission of his career in 1902, the sculpture groups for the Pennsylvania State Capitol. He left his teaching position at the Art Students League of New York in spring 1903, and moved to Paris. Barnard and his assistants toiled for nearly eight years on the twenty-seven figures in the sculpture groups. One of the first sculptures completed was The Prodigal Son—in 1904, while his assistants were modeling the twice-life-size version of it in clay, Barnard was pointing and carving the reduced-size version in marble.The completed groups in plaster were shipped to New York City in 1909, to be carved in marble by Furio Piccirilli.  The marble groups were completed in early 1910, and shipped back to France to make their debut at the Salon des Artistes Francais, at the end of April. Gustav Stickley's magazine The Craftsman printed nearly two pages of rave reviews, translated from French, that Barnard received for the Pennsylvania State Capitol sculpture groups.
pointing Prodigal Son Pennsylvania State Capitol sculpture groups Gustav Stickley left Art Students League of New York Furio Piccirilli Salon des Artistes Francais Pennsylvania State Capitol