BRONZE LACK DELAYS STATUE

Lee And Jackson Memorial For Museum Due In Fall

Adolf Hitler held up two horses and their riders on their way from Connecticut to Baltimore.

At least, that is the way Mrs. Laura Gardin Fraser, sculptress, explains the ride that began in June, 1936, and is expected to end in front of the Baltimore Museum of Art early in the fall.

The exact time of their arrival in Baltimore will be announced when the horses and riders terminate a visit they have been making for the past year at a bronze foundry.

Shortages Cause Delay

Then, and then only, will the equestrian statues of Gen. Robert E. Lee and Gen. Stonewall Jackson reach the city. Shortage of materials, including bronze, necessitated the delay.

The commission for the statue was given Mrs. Fraser in 1936. The foundation pedestal was completed in 1939. Even the inscription is there: “They were great generals and Christian soldiers and waged war like gentlemen.”

J. Henry Ferguson, who died in 1928, bequeathed $100,000 including the pedestal which cost $50,000, to the Municipal Art Society to be used for a statue of Lee and Jack-son. The money was made available by terms of the will in October, 1934, upon the death of Mr. Ferguson’s sister.

Wins In Competition

In a competition, Mrs. Fraser was selected as the sculptress by a committee appointed by Mr. Ferguson.

Then began the impatience of Baltimore residents for the appearance of the horses and riders. But “art is long” though “time is fleet-ing.” Persons who continually are inquiring about the arrival of the generals on horseback were told by Roland J. McKenney, former director of the Baltimore Museum of Art, to remember Saint Gaudens was twelve years completing the Sherman monument for New York and seventeen years finishing the Robert Gould Shaw memorial in Boston.

Small Quantities Allotted

Then came participation of the United States in World War II, with its scarcity of so many articles, including clay for modeling and a dearth of bronze.

When bronze, after a time, was allotted for art, it was in such small quantities that the casting of a statue measuring 11 feet from the plinths to the top of Lee’s hat, was out of the question.

The generals will be shown parting on the eve of Chancellorsville.

General Jackson is about to pull away on his mount. General Lee is depicted astride his charger.