Leonard Wells Volk (November 7, 1828 – August 19, 1895) was an American

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. He is notable for making one of only two life masks of

United States President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...

. In 1867 he helped establish the Chicago Academy of Design and served as its president until 1878. He made several large monumental sculptures, including the tomb of the politician Stephen A. Douglas, and statues of

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

figures.

Biography

Volk was born at Wellstown (now Wells), Hamilton County,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

to Garrett and Elizabeth ( Gesner) Volk. He first followed the trade of a

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

cutter with his father in

Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield� ...

, where the family moved.

Marriage and family

Before 1855, Volk married Emily Clarissa King Barlow, daughter of Honor ( Douglas) and Dr. Jonathan King Barlow of Bethany, New York. Her maternal cousin, Stephen A. Douglas, a nationally known politician who ran against Republican Abraham Lincoln as the Democratic Party presidential nominee in 1860. Their son, Stephen A. Douglas Volk (1856–1935), as an adult became notable as a figure and portrait painter. He studied under

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The ra ...

in Paris. Later he helped establish the Minneapolis School of Design.

Career

In 1848, Volk moved west and opened an artist's studio in

St Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which ...

. From 1855 to 1857, Stephen A. Douglas, his wife's cousin, supported the family's travel to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

so that Volk could pursue additional study. Returning to the United States in 1857, Volk and his family settled in the booming city of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, where he helped to establish the Chicago Academy of Design, precursor to the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

. For eight years, he served as its director and taught numerous students, including

Elbridge Ayer Burbank Elbridge Ayer (E. A.) Burbank (August 10, 1858 – April 21, 1949) was an American artist who sketched and painted more than 1200 portraits of Native Americans from 125 tribes. He studied art in Chicago and in his 30s traveled to Munich, Germany f ...

, who became noted for his more than 1200 portraits of Native Americans. In 1860 Volk made a life mask of Abraham Lincoln. Only one other was made, by Clark Mills in 1865. In the early part of spring 1860, during Lincoln's visit to Chicago, Volk asked him to sit for a bust. The artist decided to start by doing a life mask. Lincoln found the process of letting wet plaster dry on his face, followed by a skin-stretching removal process, "anything but agreeable". Volk later used the life mask and bust of 1860 as the basis for other versions of Lincoln, including a full-size statue. The life mask was also studied by other artists, such as

Daniel Chester French Daniel Chester French (April 20, 1850 – October 7, 1931) was an American sculptor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, best known for his 1874 sculpture '' The Minute Man'' in Concord, Massachusetts, and his 1920 monum ...

. In mid-May 1860, Volk went to

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest ...

to present the Lincolns with the completed cabinet bust. He had just received the nomination as presidential candidate for the Republican Party. The following day, Volk asked Lincoln to allow a casting of both his hands, for use in other sculptural works. He wanted Lincoln to hold something to simulate grasping a document in his right hand. Lincoln came back from his tool shed with a whittled piece of broom handle. The casting for Lincoln's right hand was made as he held the broom handle. Lincoln's left hand was cast slightly closed but empty.

Works

Principal works: * Stephen A. Douglas Tomb in Chicago, Illinois * Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

* statues of Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in the

Illinois State Capitol The Illinois State Capitol, located in Springfield, Illinois, houses the legislative and executive branches of the government of the U.S. state of Illinois. The current building is the sixth to serve as the capitol building since Illinois was a ...

in Springfield, Illinois *

statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...

of General James Shields in Statuary Hall,

United States Capitol The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill ...

* statues of

Elihu B. Washburne Elihu Benjamin Washburne (September 23, 1816 – October 22, 1887) was an American politician and diplomat. A member of the Washburn family, which played a prominent role in the early formation of the United States Republican Party, he served a ...

Zachariah Chandler Zachariah Chandler (December 10, 1813 – November 1, 1879) was an American businessman, politician, one of the founders of the Republican Party, whose radical wing he dominated as a lifelong abolitionist. He was mayor of Detroit, a four-term sen ...

and David Davis
Stephen Douglas's original life mask taken in Chicago
(from the Collections at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

)

Legacy and honors

*1880, Volk was elected to the

Society of American Artists The Society of American Artists was an American artists group. It was formed in 1877 by artists who felt the National Academy of Design did not adequately meet their needs, and was too conservative. The group began meeting in 1874 at the home of ...

. *1899, elected to the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the ...

in 1899.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Volk, Leonard 1828 births 1895 deaths 19th-century American sculptors 19th-century American male artists American male sculptors Burials at Rosehill Cemetery