Freedom statue capitol9/6/2023 The plaster model of Freedom is on display in the U.S. The government agreed to rent his foundry, pay him $400 a month, and cover costs of material and labor. Mills would be happy he had Reid with him for his next commission - casting Thomas Crawford’s statue of Freedom to sit atop the still-unfinished Capitol dome. He bought him because of his evident talent for the business … aged 42 years, mulatto color, short in stature, in good health, not prepossessing in appearance, but smart in mind, a good workman in a foundry.” many years ago, when he was quite a youth. In 1862 Mills filed government papers that referred to Reid, whom “he purchased in Charleston, S.C. Architect of the Capitolįortunately, Mills had some highly skilled workers, including one enslaved man, named in the records as Philip Reid. Clark Mills standing in front of his foundry, circa 1862. The bronze casting process is difficult and exacting and requires great patience and skill. It too was a success, and was placed in Washington Circle in the West End.Ī hulking octagonal building, the Bladensburg Road foundry could be a hot, dirty place to work. There he produced another equestrian statue, this time of George Washington. Following that success, Mills built a foundry just off Bladensburg Road in the present day Langdon neighborhood. It was also the first equestrian statue to be balanced solely on the horse’s hind legs. Mills unveiled it in 1853 to great acclaim. For that, a temporary foundry was set up near the White House and there Mills and his workers produced one of the first bronze statues ever cast in this country. Mills moved here from South Carolina in the 1840s when he won a competition for an equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson to be placed in Lafayette Park. Highsmith collectionĭid you know that great, monumental art was once produced in our neck of the woods? A little over a mile away from Brookland, just past the site of Queen’s Chapel, sculptor Clark Mills once had his foundry.
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