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The Puritan (statue)

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The Puritan is a bronze statue by sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens in Springfield, Massachusetts, which became so popular that it was reproduced for over 20 other cities, museums, universities, and private collectors around the world, and later became an official symbol of the city, emblazoned on its municipal flag.[1] Originally designed to be part of Stearns Square, since 1899 the statue has stood at the corner of Chestnut and State Street next to The Quadrangle.

The Puritan

History

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A perspective sketch of Stearns Square by Stanford White, showing the statue's original placement along with the bench, trails, and Turtle Fountain. A tree now stands in its place at the original location.
 
Flag of the City of Springfield, Massachisetts

In 1881, Chester W. Chapin, a railroad tycoon and congressman from Springfield, Massachusetts, commissioned[2] the renowned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens to create a bronze likeness of his ancestor, Deacon Samuel Chapin (1595–1675), one of the early settlers of the City of Springfield.[3] By 1881, Springfield had become one of America's most innovative industrial and manufacturing centers, and was one of the wealthiest cities in the United States.

The sculpture, which was cast at Bureau Brothers Foundry in Philadelphia,[4] was unveiled on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1887 in Stearns Square, between Bridge and Worthington streets, was a collaboration between Stanford White of the leading architecture firm McKim, Mead, and White, and the sculptor Saint-Gaudens.

The statue featured numerous landscape details to enhance the sculpture. In 1899, the statue was moved to Merrick Park, on the corner of Chestnut and State Streets next to the old city library, which would later become part of Springfield's Quadrangle cultural center, where it has remained.[2] The move was contrary to creators' preference, but one writer for The Republican opined in 1886 that "a position on the city library grounds, on the contrary would exhibit the artist's intent to the best advantage."[5]

In 1983, City Councilor Mary Hurley sought to restore the statue to its original location in Stearns Square. This move was initiated in part due to the restoration of the Turtle Fountain and other fixtures at that location, but the proposal lacked support. Then-mayoral candidate Richard Neal opposed the move, as did the descendants of Deacon Chapin, arguing that the statue had become a fixture of the Quadrangle's museums and that the original move had rescued it from vandalism during its short stay in Stearns Square.[6][7]

The sculpture now stands next to the Springfield City Library built in 1912. The base is inscribed:

1595 Anno Domini 1675

Deacon Samuel Chapin

One Of The Founders Of Springfield

Likeness

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From left to right: portraits of Chester W. Chapin, The Puritan, and John Brown

No authentic portraits of Deacon Samuel Chapin were available for the statue's design. The Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site says it was modeled after Deacon Chapin's descendant Chester W. Chapin,[8] as asserted by the artist himself.[9] However, contemporary accounts also describe the face as "no portrait of any Chapin, but a composite in the sculptor's mind of the family type".[10][11]

In 2014, Chicopee city historian Stephen Jendrysik submitted the theory that the figure was a surreptitious portrait of the militant abolitionist John Brown, who was also a direct descendant of Deacon Chapin and a devout Calvinist.[12][13] Brown was a leading militant figure in the escalating tensions between North and South which lead to the American Civil War, and it was in Springfield that Brown first organized the militant Underground Railroad movement, the Subterranean Pass Way with Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman.[14][15] Chester Chapin's business associate Ethan S. Chapin[16] owned the Massasoit Hotel, which acted as a safe house for escaped slaves to hide beneath its staircase, and Brown's lodging prior to his move to the city in the 1840s.[17] Chester Chapin had been a War Democrat himself, paying for the uniforms of 10th Regiment at the start of the Civil War.[18] In John Brown, Abolitionist (2005), historian David S. Reynolds refers to Brown as "The Puritan", as Brown often cited the inspiration of figures such as Jonathan Edwards and Oliver Cromwell.[19][20] Puritan beliefs strongly influenced the abolitionist movement, and were condemned by divines of the South for their antinomian individualism and rebeliousness.[19] The anti-war congressman Samuel S. Cox considered that "[a]bolition is the offspring of Puritanism [which] introduced the moral elements involved in slavery into politics."[21]

Saint-Gaudens remains best known for his Civil War memorial works, including the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial on Boston Common honoring the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the first African-American Union regiment. At the monument's unveiling, the singing of the war ballad John Brown's Body reminded the sculptor of an emotional moment 30 years prior, when a corps of New England infantry had sung it while marching to war past his office .[22][12][20]

 
The plaster bust of Chester W. Chapin, reportedly used as the model for the face of the statue.[8]

Popularity

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Clockwise from top to bottom, the likeness of the statue used to advertise a Boston hotel, rail service of the New York Central Railroad, a line of fine writing paper, and a stained glass rendition of the statue in The Student Prince and Fort Restaurant, in downtown Springfield.

The statue was so popular that Saint-Gaudens, seeing a business opportunity, decided to produce smaller versions under the title The Puritan. Today more than 25 slightly altered copies can be found in museums, art galleries, universities, and private collections around the world.[23] Prominent examples appear in Boston's Museum of Fine Arts,[24] New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art,[25] and the Smithsonian Museum of American Art.[26] The statue has become a popular motif in advertising, as well as a symbol for the New England Society of New York.[27]

The New England Society of Pennsylvanians commissioned a replicas, with some changes in the figure's dress and face: "For the head in the original statue, I used as a model the head of Mr. Chapin himself, assuming that there would be some family resemblance with the Deacon, who was his direct ancestor. But Mr. Chapin's face is round and Gaelic in character, so in the Philadelphia work, I changed the features completely, giving them the long, New England type, besides altering the folds of the cloak in many respects, the legs, the left hand, and the Bible." The copy, dubbed The Pilgrim, was placed on the South Plaza of City Hall, then relocated to its present site in Fairmount Park in 1920.[9]

Numismatist and art historian Cornelius Vermeule, in his volume on U.S. coins and medals, suggested The Puritan was one of American sculptor Cyrus E. Dallin's influences in designing the portrait of Governor William Bradford on the 1920-1921 Pilgrim Tercentenary half dollar.[28] Like the statue, the obverse of the coin portrays a typified Puritan holding a bible under his left arm.[29]

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    Photograph of the statue in Springfield, by the Detroit Publishing Company (1905).
  •  
    Part of The Puritan by Augustus Saint-Gaudens
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    A copy of the larger sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in the Smithsonian, with differences from the Springfield original.
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    A copy of the statue in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
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    The Pilgrim, the Philadelphia replica of The Puritan.
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    An illustration of one of Saint-Gaudens' copies, used to promote a so-named Chapin National Bank in 1923
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    The statue on the reverse side of the city's 275th anniversary medallion
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  • The statue plays a pivotal role in the plot of the 1975 mystery-drama The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, directed by J. Lee Thompson. In the film, protagonist Dr. Peter Proud, a professor in California, is haunted by visions of a town in Massachusetts from a past life, with particular focus on The Puritan statue and Springfield's South Congregational Church.
  • A rendition of The Puritan is emblazoned in the center of Springfield's flag, adopted by the city in 1923.[1]
  • The statue appears in "The Book Of Bill" in the chapter titled "Witchcraft".[30]

See also

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References

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  • Bach, Penny Balkin. Public Art in Philadelphia Temple University Press, 1992. Philadelphia PA.
  • Burt, Henry M. The First Century of the History of Springfield: the Official Records from 1636 to 1736, with an Historical Review and a Biographical Mention of the Founders, Volume I Henry M. Burt, 1898. Springfield MA. full text online
  • Dryfhout, John H. The Work of Augustus Saint-Gaudens University Press of New England, 1982. Lebanon NH.
  • Metropolitan Museum of Art, The. "Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History". Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. New York NY.
  • Tolles, Thayer. "Augustus Saint-Gaudens in The Metropolitan Museum of Art". The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 66, no. 4 (Spring, 2009). New York NY.

Notes

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  1. ^ a b "City of Springfield, MA Seal and Flag". eCode 360. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  2. ^ a b Dryfhout, p. 162.
  3. ^ Burt.
  4. ^ The Puritan, (sculpture). Siris-artinventories.si.edu. Retrieved on 2013-08-21.
  5. ^ "The Statue of Dea Samual Chapin". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Mass. July 28, 1886. p. 5. Augustus St Gaudens, the sculptor of the Chapin statue, has been in town looking at possible sites for his work. He disapproves wholly of Court square, but is favorably inclined toward the city library grounds...A position on the city library grounds, on the contrary, would exhibit the artist's intent to the best advantage
  6. ^ "Opinion -- Don't disturb The Puritan". Springfield Union. Springfield, Mass. October 1, 1983. p. 14.
  7. ^ Nelson, Nancy L. (November 23, 1987). "Deacon Chapin ignores 100th birthday party". Springfield Union-News. Springfield, Mass. p. 13.
  8. ^ a b Dryfhout, John H. (1982). "91 Chester W. Chapin (study for The Puritan), 1881". The Work of Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Trustees of the Saint-Gaudens Memorial. p. 116. ISBN 9781584657095.
  9. ^ a b Bach
  10. ^ Gardner, Eugene Clarence (1905). Springfield Present and Prospective: The City of Homes. Pond & Campbell. p. 54. The statue is no portrait of any Chapin, but a composite in the sculptor's mind of the family type, and fitly given the ideal name, 'The Puritan'
  11. ^ "The Puritan; The Deacon Chapin Statue at Springfield, Mass". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Milwaukee. November 15, 1887. p. 2. The face is a sort of composite–made up by a study of the family features of the Chapins
  12. ^ a b Jendrysik, Stephen (January 22, 2014). "Stephen Jendrysik: Is Augustus Saint-Gaudens' 'The Puritan' statue really John Brown in disguise?". The Republican. Springfield, Mass. Archived from the original on July 8, 2018. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  13. ^ "Eighth Generation". The Chapin Book of Genealogical Data. Vol. II. Hartford, Conn.: Chapin Family Association. 1924. p. 1655.
  14. ^ Cowan, Wes (December 6, 2007). "Cowan's Auctions". Archived from the original on June 24, 2010. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
  15. ^ Taylor, Marian (2004). Harriet Tubman: Antislavery Activist (New ed.). Chelsea House Publishers. pp. 68–69. ISBN 978-0-7910-8340-6.
  16. ^ "[Advertisement for] Massasoit Insurance Company". Newcomb's Springfield Directory, to 1858-1859. Springfield, Mass.: J. M. Newcomb. 1858. p. LVI. Directors:...Chester W. Chapin...Ethan S. Chapin
  17. ^ Phaneuf, Wayne (May 23, 2011). "Springfield's Massasoit House housed the famous". The Republican. Springfield, Mass. Archived from the original on April 19, 2019. The years before the Civil War were profitable ones for the hotel and its proprietors, who were ardent anti-slavery men. They may have been swayed by John Brown, the famous abolitionist, who roomed at the Massasoit House before moving his family to Springfield in the late 1840s
  18. ^ "Chester W. Chapin". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Mass. June 11, 1883. p. 5. He was a working member of the constitutional convention of 1853, held sundry town and city offices, and good-naturedly consented to run for Congress several times when there was no possible chance for one of his part to be elected. He was a war democrat, and largely paid for the uniforms of the City guard when that organization joined the 10th regiment.
  19. ^ a b Reynolds, David S. (29 July 2009). "The Puritan". John Brown, Abolitionist. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing. p. 19. ISBN 9780307486660.
  20. ^ a b Bezzant, Rhys S., ed. (20 October 2017). "The Abolitionism of Samuel Hopkins". The Global Edwards. Australian College of Theology. pp. 311–12. ISBN 9781532635960.
  21. ^ Cox, Samuel Sullivan (1865). Eight Years in Congress, from 1857-1865. New York: D. Appleton and Company. p. 287.
  22. ^ Stauffer, John; Soskis, Benjamin (2013). The Battle Hymn of the Republic: A Biography of the Song That Marches On. Oxford University Press. p. 317. In his reminiscences, Saint-Gaudens recalls a moment 30 years before, when the same song had moved him nearly as much as it had during the monument's unveiling. While apprenticing for a cameo cutter with an office on Broadway, he had watched New England volunteers marching by, singing "John Brown's Body".
  23. ^ Tolles
  24. ^ "The Puritan". Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Archived from the original on December 4, 2018.
  25. ^ "The Puritan". The Met. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Archived from the original on September 8, 2017.
  26. ^ "The Puritan". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Archived from the original on December 4, 2018.
  27. ^ 99th Anniversary Celebration of the New England Society in the City of New York (Report). New England Society of New York. 1904.
  28. ^ Vermeule, Cornelius (1971). Numismatic Art in America. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 161. ISBN 978-0-674-62840-3.
  29. ^ Bowers, Q. David (1992). Commemorative Coins of the United States: A Complete Encyclopedia. Wolfeboro, NH: Bowers and Merena Galleries, Inc. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-943161-35-8.
  30. ^ Hirsch, Alexander (23 July 2024). The Book Of Bill. Hyperion Avenue. ISBN 9781368092203. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
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