John Patrick Wall
Published: 2016-12-22
Total Pages: 522
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Excerpt from History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-1920, Vol. 2: Historical and Biographical The disease of his eyes had been steadily developing; in 1879-80 he was obliged to abandon his art work; his condition improving, he opened the Rochester Art School, where he taught drawing and model ing. His power of vision was extremely limited and feeble, and most of his work had to be accomplished by the sense of touch. It was in this condition that he performed his two masterpieces, - the Soldiers' Monument in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery at tarrytown-on-hudson, which represents a vidette in the volunteer service, and is adjudged as the most graceful and spirited statue of a soldier in the country; the other heroic statue was that of Washington Irving, the work upon which proved a severe strain upon the artist's nerves, and marked diminution of sight. Materials for the statue were gathered and compared and studied by the aid of magnifying glasses. After eighteen months of arduous labor, in which the actual work was performed by the sense of touch, the statue was completed and received encomiums from all visitors. The statue was intended for a bronze casting to be placed on a granite pedestal in an open air location. The gifted author is represented sitting in an appropriate armchair, in his habitual easy manner while in conversation, the body well settled in an ample cushion, the limbs crossed in a natural and easy manner, the arms rest upon those of the chair, the head is slightly inclined to one side. And the countenance is illumined by a most genial and tender feeling. As a whole, the figure -is marked by a natural and easy posturing, and pre sents that happy combination of qualities so characteristic of Mr. Irving - modesty, dignity, and benevolence. Among Mr. Mundy's other works mention might be made of the statuettes of The Reaper, The Pilgrim and Columbia. His life came to a peaceful close at Geneva. New York, August 16, 1897. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.