Statue of Peter Muhlenberg (U.S. Capitol)

Peter Muhlenberg, or John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, is an 1889 marble sculpture depicting the American clergyman, soldier, and politician of the same name by Blanche Nevin, installed in the United States Capitol's crypt, in Washington, D.C., as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection.[1] It is one of two statues donated by the state of Pennsylvania.[2] The statue was accepted into the collection on February 28, 1889, by Pennsylvania Congressman Daniel Ermentrout.[3]

Peter Muhlenberg
ArtistBlanche Nevin
Year1889 (1889)
MediumMarble sculpture
SubjectPeter Muhlenberg
LocationWashington, D.C., United States

Nevin produced the statue in Carrara, Italy, likely utilizing the skilled marble carvers there. Rubenstein in her work American Women Sculptors calls the statue a “rather effeminate figure in colonial garb,”[4] while Taft in his History of American Sculpture is less kind, calling the statue “insignificant”.[5]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg". Architect of the Capitol. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  2. ^ Architect of the Capitol Under the Direction of the Joint Committee on the Library, Compilation of Works of Art and Other Objects in the United States Capitol, United States Government Printing Office, Washington 1965 p. 211
  3. ^ Murdock, Myrtle Chaney, National Statuary Hall in the Nation’s Capitol, Monumental Press, Inc., Washington, D.C., 1955, pp. 32–33
  4. ^ Rubenstein, Charlotte Streifer, American Women Sculptors, G.K. Hall & Co., Boston 1990 p. 88
  5. ^ Taft, Lorado, History of American Sculpture, The MacMillan Company, New York, 1903, revised with new matter, 1925, p. 213
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