* Charles Calverley possessed of a strong work ethic, iron will and artistic ambition, climbed his way up from the lowest rank of a $1-a-week apprentice stone cutter in Albany to fame and fortune as a sculptor with a large studio in New York City. His work is in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan and Albany's Washington Park in the form of the life-sized bronze statue of Scottish poet Robert Burns.
Calverley was born in Albany. His father, a carpenter and machinist, died at age 43. Charles had to drop out of school at 13 and go to work to help his mother support his four younger siblings. He began a seven-year apprentice with local stonecutter John Dixon in what Calverley called "a one-horse marble shop." He worked hard and earned gradual raises and additional responsibility for creating marble mantelpieces, cornices, lintels and cemetery headstones that were Dixon's stock-in-trade. Calverley learned from a master stone carver who worked on the Capitol and City Hall in Albany.
Noted neoclassical Albany sculptor Erastus Dow Palmer noticed Calverley's exceptional skill and recruited him away from Dixon's marble operation at age 20. Calverley worked for Palmer in his Albany studio from 1853 to 1868 and specialized in ornate, artistic stone carving on memorial statues, busts and bas-reliefs.
Calverley left Palmer's employ and opened a studio in New York City in 1869, where he carved a bust of Abraham Lincoln that gained wide attention. He was inducted as a member of the National Academy of Design in 1874 and gained renown for his medallions and bas-reliefs of notable Americans, including George Washington.
Over the course of a productive career, he created dozens of works, including large monuments for Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn and Albany Rural Cemetery. In 1879, he was commissioned to create a bust for Sen. Lafayette Foster, which is on permanent display in the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
* The above was provided by Find a Grave member BKGenie🗽 (#46895980)
Calverley was born in Albany. His father, a carpenter and machinist, died at age 43. Charles had to drop out of school at 13 and go to work to help his mother support his four younger siblings. He began a seven-year apprentice with local stonecutter John Dixon in what Calverley called "a one-horse marble shop." He worked hard and earned gradual raises and additional responsibility for creating marble mantelpieces, cornices, lintels and cemetery headstones that were Dixon's stock-in-trade. Calverley learned from a master stone carver who worked on the Capitol and City Hall in Albany.
Noted neoclassical Albany sculptor Erastus Dow Palmer noticed Calverley's exceptional skill and recruited him away from Dixon's marble operation at age 20. Calverley worked for Palmer in his Albany studio from 1853 to 1868 and specialized in ornate, artistic stone carving on memorial statues, busts and bas-reliefs.
Calverley left Palmer's employ and opened a studio in New York City in 1869, where he carved a bust of Abraham Lincoln that gained wide attention. He was inducted as a member of the National Academy of Design in 1874 and gained renown for his medallions and bas-reliefs of notable Americans, including George Washington.
Over the course of a productive career, he created dozens of works, including large monuments for Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn and Albany Rural Cemetery. In 1879, he was commissioned to create a bust for Sen. Lafayette Foster, which is on permanent display in the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
* The above was provided by Find a Grave member BKGenie🗽 (#46895980)
* Charles Calverley possessed of a strong work ethic, iron will and artistic ambition, climbed his way up from the lowest rank of a $1-a-week apprentice stone cutter in Albany to fame and fortune as a sculptor with a large studio in New York City. His work is in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan and Albany's Washington Park in the form of the life-sized bronze statue of Scottish poet Robert Burns.
Calverley was born in Albany. His father, a carpenter and machinist, died at age 43. Charles had to drop out of school at 13 and go to work to help his mother support his four younger siblings. He began a seven-year apprentice with local stonecutter John Dixon in what Calverley called "a one-horse marble shop." He worked hard and earned gradual raises and additional responsibility for creating marble mantelpieces, cornices, lintels and cemetery headstones that were Dixon's stock-in-trade. Calverley learned from a master stone carver who worked on the Capitol and City Hall in Albany.
Noted neoclassical Albany sculptor Erastus Dow Palmer noticed Calverley's exceptional skill and recruited him away from Dixon's marble operation at age 20. Calverley worked for Palmer in his Albany studio from 1853 to 1868 and specialized in ornate, artistic stone carving on memorial statues, busts and bas-reliefs.
Calverley left Palmer's employ and opened a studio in New York City in 1869, where he carved a bust of Abraham Lincoln that gained wide attention. He was inducted as a member of the National Academy of Design in 1874 and gained renown for his medallions and bas-reliefs of notable Americans, including George Washington.
Over the course of a productive career, he created dozens of works, including large monuments for Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn and Albany Rural Cemetery. In 1879, he was commissioned to create a bust for Sen. Lafayette Foster, which is on permanent display in the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
* The above was provided by Find a Grave member BKGenie🗽 (#46895980)
Calverley was born in Albany. His father, a carpenter and machinist, died at age 43. Charles had to drop out of school at 13 and go to work to help his mother support his four younger siblings. He began a seven-year apprentice with local stonecutter John Dixon in what Calverley called "a one-horse marble shop." He worked hard and earned gradual raises and additional responsibility for creating marble mantelpieces, cornices, lintels and cemetery headstones that were Dixon's stock-in-trade. Calverley learned from a master stone carver who worked on the Capitol and City Hall in Albany.
Noted neoclassical Albany sculptor Erastus Dow Palmer noticed Calverley's exceptional skill and recruited him away from Dixon's marble operation at age 20. Calverley worked for Palmer in his Albany studio from 1853 to 1868 and specialized in ornate, artistic stone carving on memorial statues, busts and bas-reliefs.
Calverley left Palmer's employ and opened a studio in New York City in 1869, where he carved a bust of Abraham Lincoln that gained wide attention. He was inducted as a member of the National Academy of Design in 1874 and gained renown for his medallions and bas-reliefs of notable Americans, including George Washington.
Over the course of a productive career, he created dozens of works, including large monuments for Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn and Albany Rural Cemetery. In 1879, he was commissioned to create a bust for Sen. Lafayette Foster, which is on permanent display in the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
* The above was provided by Find a Grave member BKGenie🗽 (#46895980)
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