Bishop George Berkeley - Hartford, CT - Relief Art Sculptures on Waymarking.com

A 6' diameter relief sculpture featuring the head and upper chest of Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley was created by Charles Henry Niehaus and installed on the east façade of the State Capitol building in 1895. The second from the left of six marble, roundel, sculptures depicts Bishop George Berkeley wearing a clerical robe and a clerical collar, in bas relief. His head shows him with long shoulder-length hair, in high relief, inside a recessed circle. The sculpture has been repaired around the chin. The inscription GEORGE BERKELEY frames his head.

George Berkeley was born on March 12, 1685 County Kilkenny, Ireland. He attended Trinity College in Dublin, earning a bachelor's degree in 1704 and a master's degree in 1707. In 1709 he published An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision in which he accurately describes the optics of vision. He then published The next publication, in 1710, the Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge expounding on his theory that nothing exists outside the mind. In 1713 his Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous proposed that the world we sense depends for its existence on being perceived.

George Berkeley wished to build a seminary in America. In 1728 he traveled to Rhode Island and bought a plantation in Newport. He gave the land and his and library of theological books to Yale College in 1733. These books formed a core of Yale’s early collection and Yale became one of the earliest places to study for the Anglican ministry in America. The Berkeley Divinity School in Middletown, CT was founded by Bishop John Williams in 1854 and named after George Berkeley. In 1928, Dean William Palmer Ladd moved Berkeley Divinity School to New Haven, near the campus of Yale University. The City of Berkeley, CA was named after George Berkeley.