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Show 20 Utah Historical Quarterly studied, not especially learned, not too profound, but effective and enthusiastic; not an inanimate lump like some of our statues, but a work whose faults are those of youth and inexperience. 3 ' The contract to start the final work seemed to be assured, but Dallin's "inexperience" was now to reveal itself in matters of business with politicians. By some oversight of the committee, Mayor Augustus P. Martin, who was to be replaced by incoming Mayor Hugh O'Brien, failed to sign the contract, rendering it invalid until July 4, 1885. 38 Early newspaper accounts and Dallin's writings provide some clues to the specifications of the 1884 contract. The statue was to be of bronze, double life-size, mounted upon a granite pedestal in Copley Square. Dallin would be allowed two years to complete the monument for which he would receive $25,000. "I shall probably go to Paris to do it, although I shall have it cast here," Dallin wrote to a friend. as Boston City had already donated the site for the statue and had appropriated $5,000 to be paid on completion of the monument with the understanding that the Revere committee would raise $20,000 more by public subscription. The committee had previously raised sufficient money to pay for the expenses and the prizes for the preliminary competitions, and it hoped to secure enough funds to defray Dallin's expenses in Europe where he proposed to study for the purpose of perfecting the statue. Subcommittees for advertising and finance were organized to solicit and collect funds from the public. Unfortunately, the expected contributions did not come in.40 On July 4, 1885, a new agreement for the Revere statue was signed by Mayor Hugh O'Brien and Dallin. The tentative 1884 contract was revised and updated. The new restrictive specifications were full of loopholes that would limit the sculptor's artistic freedom: the Revere statue, to be completed by September 1887, was subject to any modifications the committee might suggest; DaHin was to receive $30,000 for the monument, but the cost of the pedestal was not specified in this fee; the money was to be secured by public subscription; and the mayor and the committee members were not to 'be held personally responsible if their ""The Fine Arts: Mr. Dallin's Paul Revere," Boston Advertiser, December 19, 1884. " Dallin Biographical Manuscript, p . 13 . .. Boston Herald, November 20, 1884; Boston Evening Transcript, January 22, 1885; "Mr. Dallin's Plans," Salt Lake Herald, December 18, 1884. Dallin completed five commissions in anticipation of going to Europe in spring 1885. By summer funds were still inadequate, and the Paris plans were postponed. See "Art and Artists," Boston Evening Transcript, April 9, 1885, and Dallin Biographical Manuscript, p. 14. . .. "Cyrus E. Dallin," Territorial Enquirer (Provo), December 2, 1884; Dallin Biographical Manuscript, p. 14. and His Paul ReI to raise the money the statue was to be Although not men tic to the statue to m~ The new contract bn Early accountsmen1 lack of funds. Later sou the 1930s, revealed the; the Revere statue: D troublesome persol art circles of Boste Philpott, a life-long The first intimation yOUJ Paul Revere statue was reserve in some members . . . All he could learn whispered around, doub commission to a compaICl ;, . . . And then the real • to the surface in a sens about two colwnns in Ie a local sculptor who had In this letter Bartlett se equestrian statue of Pall commission to so youthfll It was the sort of letter tioos in the world and fr a grave danger. It was 1 committee. For without tion to Mr. Dallin-that the project was once ~ Dallin, out of defen ~-,...,~ his teacher of injt .. Philpott, "Dallin Has W a .. "Report from New Engl of Famous Blaze." Toward the end of his ' |
