Grieving Mothers - Valley Forge, PA - Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculptures on Waymarking.com

This sculpture is located to the left of the Washington Memorial Chapel in the New Hampshire Bay in the Cloister of the Colonies, an open air courtyard. The statue is in the center of the courtyard. There are countless Revolutionary War memorials throughout the cloister; just look to the marble floor, granite and wood carvings.

The statue has a green patina but is on otherwise good shape. The statue is that of a woman kneeling with her proper left hand holding onto a stand. Her proper right hand is resting on the stand, holding a dish with her fingertips, raising it up, as if it were an offering. Her head lies on her proper left arm; her face cannot be seen. I was able to get right underneath her and shoot a photo of her face so it is there. The statue was sculpted by Bela Lyon Pratt (1867-1917), who apparently died a young woman, of 50, only 3 years after her piece of dedicated. The statue is bronze with a marble base and is just a smidgeon larger than life size. The sculpture was commissioned by Stevens Heckscher, husband of Henrietta Armitt (Brown) Hechsher. He died on May 8, 1931 in Strafford, Pennsylvania.

The inscription reads:

To The Mothers Of The Nation

And In Memory Of

Henrietta Heckscher

Died in Child-Birth

June 11, 1912

A dedicated website for the sculptor and in particular, this sculpture, can be found HERE. There are pictures of the original clay model used to make the sculpture.

TITLE: Grieving Mothers ARTIST(S): Pratt, Bela Lyon, 1867-1917, sculptor DATE: 1914 MEDIUM: bronze statue, marble base CONTROL NUMBER: IAS 9D320002 Direct Link to the Individual Listing in the Smithsonian Art Inventory: [Web Link] PHYSICAL LOCATION: Washington Memorial Chapel 108 Forge Hill Lane P.O. Box 98 Valley Forge, Pennsylvania 19481 DIFFERENCES NOTED BETWEEN THE INVENTORY LISTING AND YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND RESEARCH: No Differences Noted

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Date Logged Log   03/27/2022 chrissyml visited it