How does Statue of David Farragut (New York City) elucidate its Description and history?
The statue, cast in 1880 and dedicated on May 25, 1881, is set on a Coopersburg, Pennsylvania black granite pedestal. The work depicts Farragut, the noted United States Navy admiral of the Civil War, standing in naval uniform with binoculars and sword; the statue rests upon a plinth and then a pedestal, surrounded by a semicircular, winged exedra, which features a bas-relief figure of a seated female on either side.The Farragut statue was Saint-Gaudens's first major work and as a result certain rumors and allegations arose. Sculptor Truman Bartlett found the work "better than anyone who knew him expected" and so began a "campaign to slur and slang him," suggesting that the statue had in fact been made by sculptors in Paris.  The statue was cast in Paris by Adolphe Gruet.The inscription on the base was composed by Stanford White's father, Richard Grant White.  John Dryfhout wrote of the inscriptions and the base that the "intermingling of natural forms of sinuous linearity with ideal reliefs and symbols, is notable as the first expression of a form of American art nouveau."  The original bluestone base, likely carved by Saint-Gaudens or his brother Louis, weathered badly and was replaced by the current granite base as a Works Project Administration project during the 1930s. The earlier base was moved to Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park  in Cornish, New Hampshire.
Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park Coopersburg, Pennsylvania admiral black granite Cornish, New Hampshire binoculars Louis Truman Bartlett bluestone Stanford White pedestal art nouveau Civil War United States Navy Richard Grant White exedra bas-relief plinth Works Project Administration