Talk:Daniel Chester French

Misc
He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, not The American Academy of Arts and Letters. In the past, either group has been called the "National Academy." This practice has led to some erroneous statements being installed into Wikipedia. Bela Pratt was a sculptor who was a member of the "National Academy". GhostofSuperslum 13:50, 4 October 2006 (UTC)
 * New International Encyclopedia erroneously lists him as being a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Boo!  Even an encyclopedia may contain some misinformation.  GhostofSuperslum 14:59, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

New evidence
Sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens was a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (founded, 1780) and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Daniel Chester French appears to have been a member of both groups, too. GhostofSuperslum 14:54, 5 November 2006 (UTC) GhostofSuperslum 05:09, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

French drain
Henry Flagg French's book is in the New York Public Library, Research Division. Go to http://catnyp.nypl.org and search French, Henry Flagg. I used the word "described" because of claims that the French drain actually dates back to the Romans; but still French's work seems to have brought it to the attention of American civil engineers. The connection to Daniel Chester is a nice piece of trivia so I thought it worth mentioning briefly. —Preceding unsigned comment added by JoeBrennan (talk • contribs) 02:33, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Deaf
Wasn't French deaf? How come there is no mention of this if he was? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.193.8.247 (talk) 02:33, 17 November 2008 (UTC)


 * One of his famous statues is "Gallaudet Teaching Alice Cogswell" (also found as "Galludet Teaching a Deaf-Mute" etc.).  Did not find any sign of him being deaf, although Gallin was a French deaf scuptor of the same period.  Collect (talk) 13:55, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

Admiral Thomas E. Dewey Sculpture
Is it really the Admiral Thomas E. Dewey Sculpture? Thomas E. Dewey was not an admiral and was not notable in 1900; this is probably Admiral George Dewey. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wjhonson (talk • contribs) 15:28, 16 July 2012‎ (UTC)
 * You are correct, it was George Dewey. I've corrected the article. Beyond My Ken (talk) 02:38, 18 July 2012 (UTC)

Useful (if not reliable) source
A blog, but a handy compilation nonetheless -- cites its own sources in most cases, which should be usable as RS. EEng (talk) 19:42, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

I am inclined
to remove the Piccirilli Brothers from the lede in this article. They did carve much or even most of French's stone work, but I don't think that they are needed in the opening paragraph. Einar aka Carptrash (talk) 17:26, 25 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Since the design was French's, I agree. BMK (talk) 19:35, 25 March 2015 (UTC)
 * I moved their credit down to the statue's entry in the list. BMK (talk) 19:42, 25 March 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Daniel Chester French. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090628090109/http://www.berkshireweb.com/culture/index.html to http://www.berkshireweb.com/culture/index.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20081226091834/http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Landmarks/S/StatueRepublic.html to http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Landmarks/S/StatueRepublic.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 03:54, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

Mr. French hired the Piccirilli brothers to carve all but two of his stone sculptures
How They Shaped New York By JOHN FREE­MAN GILL

The New York Times Oct 15, 2023

Mr. French hired the Piccirilli brothers to carve all but two of his stone sculptures, as the Piccirilli studio helped establish New York as a major center of art production, according to an essay by Mary Shelley and Bill Carroll in the Bronx County Historical Society Journal. The family’s studio operations were directed by Giuseppe, the patriarch, until his death in 1910, when Attilio assumed leadership.

“I think French would be the first to say that the Piccirillis were better stone carvers than he was,” said Daniel Preston, a co-editor of Mr. French’s papers. He added that Mr. French tried and failed twice to persuade the officials in charge of the Lincoln Memorial to add the Piccirilli name to the monument.

Attilio and Furio Piccirilli were academically trained in Rome, and Mr. French esteemed the two men so highly as artists that he acquired original works by both for the Met while serving as the head of the museum’s board of trustees sculpture committee in the early 20th century…… 74.105.210.220 (talk) 13:52, 15 October 2023 (UTC)