Daniel Chester French and His Concord Associations
Concord Journal, October 15, 1931
Concord friends and relatives are mourning the death last week of Daniel Chester French, who, since the passing of St. Gaudens, has been known as America’s most famous living sculptor. He began his career very young, when only nineteen, and died in his 82nd year.
The residence of Mr. and Mrs. George Keyes on Liberty Street is rich with memories of “Dan” French, who ever since his early life has visited there for months at a time and used to regard it, before his marriage, as a second home. His father, Judge French, lived in Cambridge, but had remarried, so the son Daniel, although fond of his step-mother, was in the habit of staying for long visits with his beloved aunt, Mrs. Simon Brown, the grandmother of the present occupant of the house. Dan was her favorite nephew, and her youthful grandson, George, always looked upon his handsome cousin Dan as an older brother. The close intimacy and friendship has remained firm through the years; till Mr. Keyes was married, he spent every Christmas with Mr. French, and Mr. and Mrs. Keyes were planning soon their annual visit to “Chesterwood” in Stockbridge. The last letter they received from him was dated October 1st, written during the brief but painful illness which caused his death on October seventh.
This is but one of a large number of letters written throughout the last fifty years; we are printing two of them which may prove of interest to Concord readers. And a short quotation from a third is most characteristic. “Your visit was as good as a tonic for me, and a deal pleasanter.” The French family were noted as good correspondents, and certainly the sculptor was not behind the rest of his kin in this respect. And aside from his unusual artistic ability, he possessed such physical charms and rare personality that friends writing home from Italy to his father in Concord said, “The hearts and homes of the entire neighborhood were thrown open to your son before he had been here a week.”
The Keyes home contains many original models of work done by Mr. French, including a bust of Emerson, the group of Dolly Varden and Joe Willett; “Alma Mater,” which was later cast in heroic size for the entrance of Columbia University. “Rip Van Winkle,” “Owls Making Love,” or “The Matchmakers,” which was reproduced in Parian marble and sold in large quantities, with a matchbox at the back. Mr. Keyes saw the Lincoln Memorial grow from a tiny model and was in close touch with the development of many of the sculptor’s finest achievements. Among his treasures are autographed photographs of several pieces of sculpture, and an autographed copy of Memories of a Sculptor’s Wife.
Two great friends of Dan French in his boyhood and all through his life were Richard Henry Dana, son of the author of Two Years Before the Mast and William Brewster, the noted ornithologist, who spent so much time in his Concord cottage, now rebuilt and enlarged and owned by John Buttrick. Mr. Brewster died several years ago so that the only one of the trio now living is Mr. Dana, whose wife was Alice Longfellow; he was captain of his varsity crew while at Harvard, and later wrote a most interesting volume called Hospitable England in the Seventies.
The fireplace in the Keyes living room was designed by Mr. French, and bears one of his decorative friezes, executed in 1886; this has no name, but contains many graceful figures of youths and maidens, surrounding a central altar, and is full of Grecian feeling.
Of course, one of the best-known Concord statues of Mr. French is the one of Emerson in our Public Library, which with its serenely smiling countenance always seems to be welcoming each searcher for knowledge; anyone who looks at the face can understand the feeling of the friend who said that only a glimpse was needed to bring assurance that his face had seen God. Another statue, which Mr. French at the time of its completion considered one of the best things he had ever done, is the lovely Melvin Memorial in our cemetery. This is happily placed against a permanent background of green, and its appearance can never be harmed by any other sculpture being placed near it; unfortunately, in Forest Hills Cemetery, a mausoleum has been erected behind the “Death Stays the Hand of the Sculptor,” which detracts seriously from the beauty of the work.
When the famous “Minute Man” statue was ordered, the sculptor’s only experience in art consisted of some lessons in drawing from Dr. Rimmer, four weeks in Mr. Ward’s New York studio, some advice from May Alcott, and a prize at a cattle show! Unless one includes very early experiments in fashioning lions out of snow, in the family door-yard. And unfortunately, when the “Minute Man” was unveiled, on April 19, 1875, its youthful creator then only twenty-five years old, was far away in Italy, studying at Florence. President Grant and most of his Cabinet came for the great event, with the Marine Band from Washington, and there were five thousand guests at the celebration.
Judge French moved to Concord about 1868, and in 1888 the family home was the house now owned by Mrs. Grafton Abbott, on Sudbury Road; on the premises a small studio was built for the sculptor; and in this are still several of his friezes and bas-reliefs. In the Abbott house was born Margaret French, now Mrs. William Penn Cresson, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. French; he leaves also several relatives in Concord, Mrs. Phillip Davis, Mr. Thomas Hollis, Mrs. Walter Bush and Dr. William Bartlett.
In 1888 Mr. French had married his first cousin and then started housekeeping in New York, where they lived in a house which he had previously bought as a residence for himself and two or three other bachelor artists. In later years they purchased the estate in Stockbridge which was his home until his death.
In the old Concord days Mr. French was an intimate of the Emerson and Alcott families, and added his contribution of wit and humor to the gatherings of that famous group. He was fond of organizing carnivals on the river, with gaily decorated and lighted boats and barges, and also enjoyed arranging tableaux of “Living Pictures;” in this he was often assisted by Mrs. John Chapman (Lucy Barrett); in one of these tableaux George Keyes, then aged twelve, posed as the statue, and his twin brother as the artist’s model; the model sat as still as the proverbial mouse, but unfortunately the statue was suddenly inspired to stick out a saucy tongue!
Judge French wrote a letter once a characteristic expression of his son—“Dan wakes up and goes to bed smiling.” And it is thus that his friends like to think of him now; he has gone to his last sleep but has surely already waked up with a smile.
Two Characteristic Letters from Daniel Chester French
April 19, 1920
George S. Keyes, Esq.
33 Congress Street
Boston, Massachusetts
Dear George,
Forty-five years ago today the statue of the Minute Man was dedicated at Concord, and I was at that moment in the act of climbing Vesuvius. Much water has flowed under the Old North Bridge since that time, and to-morrow I shall have completed my three score years and ten. I have no intention of passing in my checks yet, but it is a sort of a grim thing to realize that one has arrived at the allotted period of man’s life on earth. I wish you and Alice and Marion and all my dear Concord relatives could dine with me tomorrow night, with the very few people who will assemble.
This is not a letter, but just a kind of a note of the event that is perhaps of more importance to me than anybody else.
Yours affectionately,
Dan C. French
May 25, 1927
Dear George,
This from today’s Times so we know that the great event came off yesterday as planned. I shall never cease to regret that I was not there to see. I thought of you many times during the day, recalling your dismay at the ordeal of marching up the aisle with your handsome daughter. I am sure you did not find it as formidable as you expected. Mary and I looked at the sky and hoped that the weather was more propitious in Concord than it was here.
We are expecting Margaret tomorrow or Saturday and we hope to find that she attended the wedding so that we may hear all about it. I was touched by Bessie’s urgent invitation to visit her. I certainly wanted to accept it.
Give my love to Alice. Don’t you think she needs a rest after all the excitement and couldn’t she be induced to bring you over here to recover?
Affectionately,
Dan C. F.