{"id":7958,"date":"2021-07-01T00:11:39","date_gmt":"2021-07-01T00:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/?post_type=project&#038;p=7958"},"modified":"2021-09-05T15:34:49","modified_gmt":"2021-09-05T15:34:49","slug":"the-benton-monument","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/project\/the-benton-monument\/","title":{"rendered":"The Thomas Hart Benton Monument"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>SENATOR THOMAS HART BENTON<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:31% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"480\" height=\"594\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/thb-natl-portrait-gallery.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7972 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/thb-natl-portrait-gallery.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/thb-natl-portrait-gallery-242x300.jpg 242w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">Benton, a lawyer, soldier, statesman and duelist was considered the most famous Missourian at the time of his death in 1858.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">He practiced law in Tennessee, and served in the War of 1812 as a colonel of volunteers under General Andrew Jackson. Moving to St. Louis in 1815, he started a prosperous law practice and was editor of the <em>Missouri Enquirer<\/em> newspaper. Benton was one of Missouri&#8217;s original two US Senators, first elected in 1821.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">Benton remained a Senator for 30 years, championing hard currency, westward exploration and national expansion. He wanted a cross-continent trade route that extended from San Francisco to New York, passing through St. Louis, the most important western city at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">In 1850, he lost his congressional seat, as his antislavery stand during the Compromise of 1850 displeased southern interests in the Missouri Legislature. He died April 10,1858. Two years later, the Missouri State Legislature commissioned a monument to the late <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thomas_Hart_Benton_(politician)\"><strong>Senator<\/strong><\/a>. $2,500 was appropriated for a monument to be erected in Bellefontaine Cemetery where Benton was buried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">Two prominent St. Louisans oversaw the project; Colonel Joshua B. Brant and Colonel Robert Campbell. Brant was married to Benton\u2019s niece. Since the act appropriating money for the monument did not specify the type of monument to be erected, Brant and Campbell appointed a committee to decide. The committee included Brant, Moses L. Linton and Wayman T. Crow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">The commissioners determined that the monument should be a bronze statue of Benton in a public space instead of a monument at his grave site. Their decision to erect the statue in a public park exceeded the intent of the legislature both in scope and cost. The eventual cost was $36,000. The commissioners for the statue and the Board of Improvement for Lafayette Park raised the additional $33,500. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">The commission for the statue was awarded to<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/project\/harriet-goodhue-hosmer-biography\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Harriet Goodhue Hosmer<\/a><\/strong>, a friend of Commissioner Crow and of his daughter Cornelia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">Cornelia Crow and Hosmer were classmates at school and Hosmer had visited the Crow family in St. Louis. Impressed with Harriet&#8217;s ambition and personality, Wayman Crow became a lifelong patron of the young artist. Several examples of her work were in St. Louis and the commissioners endorsed her for the new project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:39% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"327\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/harriett-and-thb-rome-1865.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7970 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/harriett-and-thb-rome-1865.jpg 327w, https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/harriett-and-thb-rome-1865-196x300.jpg 196w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 327px) 100vw, 327px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">Harriet Hosmer was about 30 years old and living in Rome when she received the commission. She sculpted the statue in Rome in 1861. It was then cast by the Royal Bronze Foundry in Munich in 1864.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">The resulting statue is a colossal standing figure of Senator Benton. It stands ten feet tall and is two feet, ten inches wide and deep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">Benton wears a classical toga over a contemporary jacket and neck scarf. He is wearing sandals, faces west and holds a partially unrolled scroll of a map with the word \u201cAmerica\u201d on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">The 10 foot tall pedestal is of Quincy granite.  A Benton quote from a 1849 railroad meeting in St. Louis is on the front: \u201c<em>There is the East, there is India<\/em>.\u201d That is, the United States could only dominate trade in the Far East by creating a path west to the Pacific Ocean. On the back is the name \u201cBenton\u201d. A square platform of Quincy limestone blocks surrounds the pedestal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">The public dedication ceremony for the statue on May 27, 1868 attracted a crowd of some 30,000 people. Benton\u2019s statue was the first public sculpture erected in Missouri and the first large-scale outdoor bronze to reside west of the Mississippi River. An article about the dedication appeared in <em>Harper\u2019s Weekly<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">There are two inscriptions on the base of the sculpture: \u201cHarriet Hosmer Sculpt Rome MDCCCLXI\u201d and \u201cFerd. v. Miller Fnd Munchen 1864\u201d. Miller was in charge of the Munich foundry where the bronze colossus was cast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">The monument is on an elevated area approximately in the center of the park, northwest of the lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>CONDITION OF THE MONUMENT TODAY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:28% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"460\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_5084.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7976 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_5084.jpg 460w, https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_5084-216x300.jpg 216w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">Several problems with the Benton statue led to a Lafayette Park Conservancy (LPC) restoration project:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">(At left: composite after\/before image by Phoebe Dent Weil)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">(1) The surface was worn and pitted. Ms. Phoebe Weil and the Center for Archeometry at Washington University cleaned the statue in 1979 and applied a coating. There had been no maintenance on the statue since that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">(2) Corrosion developed in the metal of folds at the bottom of Benton\u2019s greatcoat. This appeared to be caused by recent blockage of the vent holes left from the casting process. The blockage trapped moisture in this area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">(3) The top section of granite on which the statue stands experienced some deterioration. Small parts of the granite crumbled away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">(4) Outer blocks of the limestone platform surrounding the pedestal began to move. Attempts to seal gaps between the blocks with flexible caulk were not successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">The LPC selected the firm of Russell-Marti to conserve the bronze. Careful cleaning, removal of corrosion and unclogging of the vents revealed that the bronze was in good condition. Happily, the appearance was worse than the diagnosis. The original gold patina applied at the foundry in Munich had worn away. Ms. Weil\u2019s group had carefully reapplied the gilt to the statue, but it too eventually wore away. Russell-Marti restored the gold patina once again. &nbsp;It also received a protective coating and, when the statue was unveiled after the Russell-Mari conservation, Benton appeared as he did at the time of its dedication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">A fund has been established for the regular maintenance of the &nbsp;Benton and the nearby Washington statue . A regular maintenance schedule exists for both statues.&nbsp;We appreciate your kind consideration of a donation to the Conservancy, specifically toward statue maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">As funds become available, the limestone blocks will be reset to close gaps between the blocks. The stone urns shown in early photographs of the monument will also be recreated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SENATOR THOMAS HART BENTON Benton, a lawyer, soldier, statesman and duelist was considered the most famous Missourian at the time of his death in 1858.. He practiced law in Tennessee, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In 1860, the Missouri State Legislature commissioned a monument to the late <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thomas_Hart_Benton_(politician)\">Senator Thomas Hart Benton (1782-1858)<\/a>. Benton served Missouri in the United States Senate from 1821, when the state was admitted to the Union, until 1850.  $2,500 was appropriated for a monument to be erected in Bellefontaine Cemetery where Benton was buried.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Two prominent St. Louisans oversaw the project; Colonel Joshua B. Brant and Colonel Robert Campbell. Brant was married to Benton\u2019s niece. Since the act appropriating money for the monument did not specify the type of monument to be erected, Brant and Campbell appointed a committee to decide. The committee included Brant, Moses L. Linton and Wayman T. Crow.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The commissioners determined that the monument should be a statue of Benton in a public space instead of  a monument at his grave site. They awarded a commission for the statue to Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, a friend of Commissioner Crow and of his daughter Cornelia. Cornelia Crow and Hosmer were classmates at school and Hosmer had visited the Crow family in St. Louis. Several examples of her work were in St. Louis and the commissioners must have been familiar with them.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:media-text {\"mediaId\":7970,\"mediaLink\":\"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/harriett-and-thb-rome-1865\/\",\"mediaType\":\"image\",\"mediaWidth\":30} -->\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:30% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/harriett-and-thb-rome-1865.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7970 size-full\"\/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\"><!-- wp:paragraph {\"placeholder\":\"Content\u2026\"} -->\n<p>Harriet Hosmer was about 30 years old and living in Rome when she received the commission. She sculpted the statue in Rome in 1861. It was then cast by the Royal Bronze Foundry in Munich in 1864.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/div><\/div>\n<!-- \/wp:media-text -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The dedication in a public ceremony on May 27, 1868 attracted a crowd of some 30,000 people. An article about the dedication appeared in Harper\u2019s Weekly.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The decision of the commissioners to erect a bronze statue in a public park exceeded the intent of the legislature both in scope and cost. The eventual cost was $36,000. The commissioners for the statue and the Board of Improvement for Lafayette Park raised the additional $33.500.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Benton\u2019s statue was the first public sculpture erected in Missouri and the first large-scale outdoor bronze to reside west of the Mississippi River.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The statue is a colossal standing figure of Senator Benton. It stands ten feet tall and is two feet, ten inches wide and deep.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Benton wears a classical toga over a contemporary jacket and neck scarf. He is wearing sandals, faces west and holds a partially unrolled scroll of a map with the word \u201cAmerica\u201d on it.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The 10 foot tall pedestal is of Quincy granite.  A Benton quote from a 1849 railroad meeting in St. Louis is on the front: \u201cThere is the East, there is India.\u201d That is, the United States could only dominate trade in the Far East by creating a path west to the Pacific Ocean. On the back is the name \u201cBenton\u201d. A square platform of Quincy limestone blocks surrounds the pedestal.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>There are two inscriptions on the base of the sculpture: \u201cHarriet Hosmer Sculpt Rome MDCCCLXI\u201d and \u201cFerd .v. Miller Fnd Munchen 1864\u201d.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The monument is on an elevated area approximately in the center of the park, northwest of the lake.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>SENATOR THOMAS HART BENTON<\/strong><\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:media-text {\"mediaId\":7972,\"mediaLink\":\"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/thb-natl-portrait-gallery\/\",\"mediaType\":\"image\",\"mediaWidth\":31} -->\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:31% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/thb-natl-portrait-gallery.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7972 size-full\"\/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\"><!-- wp:paragraph {\"placeholder\":\"Content\u2026\"} -->\n<p>In 1850, Benton was considered the most famous Missourian to that time. He was a lawyer, soldier, statesman and duelist.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>He practiced law in Tennessee, and served in the War of 1812 as a colonel of volunteers under General Andrew Jackson. Moving to St. Louis in 1815, he started a prosperous law practice and was editor of the Missouri Enquirer newspaper. Benton was one of Missouri's original two US Senators, first elected in 1821.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/div><\/div>\n<!-- \/wp:media-text -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Benton remained a Senator for 30 years. He championed westward expansion, hard currency and exploration of the West. He wanted a cross-continent trade route that extended from San Francisco to New York, passing through St. Louis, the most important western city at the time.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In 1850, he lost his congressional seat, as his antislavery stand during the Compromise of 1850 displeased southern interests in the Missouri Legislature. He died April 10,1858.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>HARRIET GOODHUE HOSMER<\/strong><\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:media-text {\"mediaId\":7969,\"mediaLink\":\"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/harriet-hosmer-engraving-rodin\/\",\"mediaType\":\"image\",\"mediaWidth\":32} -->\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:32% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Harriet-Hosmer-engraving-rodin.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7969 size-full\"\/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\"><!-- wp:paragraph {\"placeholder\":\"Content\u2026\"} -->\n<p>Hosmer (1830-1908) was a famed neoclassical sculptor in the last half of the nineteenth century.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>She was born in Watertown, Mass in 1830 and raised by her physician father. He encouraged her physical fitness after her mother and three siblings died of tuberculosis. He also encouraged intellectual independence and supported her determination to succeed in sculpture; an exclusively male profession.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/div><\/div>\n<!-- \/wp:media-text -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Harriet enrolled at Mrs. Sedgwick\u2019s School in Lenox, Massachusetts, and developed clay modeling skills. Sculpture was a narrow field for Americans of the first half of the nineteenth century. Commissions were hard to come by.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>A study of anatomy was essential for a sculptor of the human form. Human anatomy, however, which necessitated the study of naked bodies and dissection, was off limits to women.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Harriet applied to medical schools in the East but was denied entry. Through the intervention of Wayman Crow, father of her close friend from Mrs. Sedgwick\u2019s, she was allowed to study anatomy at Dr. Joseph Nash McDowell's medical college, recently established in St. Louis. There she received a degree in anatomy.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>McDowell\u2019s school later became part of Washington University in St. Louis, co-founded by Wayman Crow and William Greenleaf Eliot.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Study abroad was also considered essential for a sculptor. Students headed to Italy where there were countless examples of classical sculpture. Harriet moved to Rome in 1852, and studied under English neoclassical sculptor John Gibson. She joined an international circle of artists and writers, including actress Charlotte Cushman, poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, writers Henry James and Nathaniel Hawthorne. She lived in Rome and England for most of the second half of the nineteenth century. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Back in St. Louis, Wayman Crow commissioned a marble bust, her first life-sized figure, \u2018Oenone\u201d, in the early 1850s. \u2018Oenone\u2019 is one of several works by Hosmer in the collection of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Crow also helped secure the commission for a full size figure of Harriett\u2019s choosing for St. Louis's Mercantile Library. That marble figure, \u2018Beatrice Cenci\u201d is on display at the library.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:media-text {\"mediaId\":7971,\"mediaLink\":\"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/puck-by-hosmer\/\",\"mediaType\":\"image\",\"mediaWidth\":29} -->\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:29% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/puck-by-hosmer.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7971 size-full\"\/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\"><!-- wp:paragraph {\"placeholder\":\"Content\u2026\"} -->\n<p>Harriett Hosmer enjoyed a successful career. A figure of Puck she created was a great success and eventually sold fifty copies including one to the Prince of Wales<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/div><\/div>\n<!-- \/wp:media-text -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Other works can be found at the Art Institute of Chicago (Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra), Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y. (Clasped Hands of Robert and Elizabeth Browning and Daphne), Detroit Institute of Art (Medusa)  Smithsonian Institution, Cleveland Museum of Art, and Courtauld Institute of Art in London..<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>CONDITION OF THE MONUMENT TODAY<\/strong><\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:media-text {\"mediaId\":7976,\"mediaLink\":\"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/img_5084\/\",\"mediaType\":\"image\",\"mediaWidth\":28} -->\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:28% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_5084.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7976 size-full\"\/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\"><!-- wp:paragraph {\"placeholder\":\"Content\u2026\"} -->\n<p>Several problems with the Benton statue led to a Conservancy restoration project:<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>(At left: composite after\/before image by Phoebe Dent Weil)<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/div><\/div>\n<!-- \/wp:media-text -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>(1) The surface was worn and pitted. Ms. Phoebe Weil and the Center for Archeometry at Washington University cleaned the statue in 1979 and applied a coating. There had been no maintenance on the statue since that time.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>(2) Corrosion developed in the metal of folds at the bottom of Benton\u2019s greatcoat. This appeared to be caused by recent blockage of the vent holes left from the casting process. The blockage trapped moisture in this area.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>(3) The top section of granite on which the statue stands experienced some deterioration. Small parts of the granite crumbled away. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>(4) Outer blocks of the limestone platform surrounding the pedestal began to move. Attempts to seal gaps between the blocks with flexible caulk were not successful.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The Lafayette Park Conservancy (LPC) selected the firm of Russell-Marti to conserve the bronze. Careful cleaning and removal of the corrosion and unclogging of the vents revealed that the bronze itself was in good condition. Happily, the appearance was worse than the diagnosis. The original gold patina applied at the foundry in Munich had worn away. Ms. Weil\u2019s group had carefully reapplied gilt patina to the statue, but it too eventually wore away. Russell-Marti gave the bronze its gold patina once again. &nbsp;It also received a protective coating and, when the statue was unveiled after the Russell-Mari conservation, Benton appeared as he did at the time of its dedication.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>A fund has been established for the regular maintenance of the &nbsp;Benton and the nearby Washington statue . A regular maintenance schedule exists for both statues.&nbsp;We appreciate your kind consideration of a donation to the Conservancy, specifically toward statue maintenance.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As funds become available, the limestone blocks will be reset to close gaps between the blocks. The stone urns shown in early photographs of the monument will be recreated.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->","_et_gb_content_width":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":0,"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","footnotes":""},"project_category":[315],"project_tag":[313,312,314],"class_list":["post-7958","project","type-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","project_category-park-features","project_tag-monuments","project_tag-statues","project_tag-things-to-see"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.0 - 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