Daniel Chester French Stamp

On Sept. 16, 1940, the U.S. Post Office Department released a 5¢ commemorative stamp honoring noted sculptor Daniel Chester French. First day of issue ceremonies were held in Stockbridge, Mass. The stamp was part of a 35-stamp "Famous Americans" series of stamps issued in 1940, and French was one of five great American artists honored in the series.

Born April 20, 1850, in Exeter, New Hampshire, French studied sculpture briefly in Italy, though he primarily learned the art form on his own. His first major work was the statue of the Minuteman, created for the centennial observance of the Battle of Concord in 1875. Some credit "Death Staying the Hand of the Sculptor" in Boston as his most accomplished piece. French sculpted two works that have a Georgia tie. The first was his bronze statue of James Edward Oglethorpe located in Savannah's Chippewa Square and unveiled Nov. 23, 1910. A few years later, French completed his most famous work--the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The Lincoln monument's Georgia tie was not the subject but rather the fact that French carved the renowned work from Georgia marble.
 
 

© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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