Clark Mills

Clark Mills 1810-83, American sculptor, b. Onondaga co., N.Y. Self-taught in art, he designed and in 1852 cast in an experimental foundry the statue of General Jackson for Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C. Mills had never seen his subject nor an equestrian statue. The daring pose of the horse was a mechanical triumph. Later Mills made a colossal statue of Washington on horseback, and he cast in his foundry Thomas Crawford's Armed Freedom for the Capitol dome.

Mills, Clark (b Onondaga County, NY, 13 Dec. 1810; d Washington, DC, 12 Jan. 1883). American sculptor, a jack-of-all-trades, who was self-taught as an artist. In 1848 he won a competition for the monument to President Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square, Washington, and worked for five years on this, the first equestrian statue in the USA. He built his own foundry to cast the statue, which daringly has the rearing horse supported only by its hind legs, and eventually succeeded at the seventh attempt. The ecstatic response when the statue was unveiled in 1853 brought him great financial rewards and the commission for an equestrian statue to George Washington in Washington Circle (1860). He spent his final years under a cloud, however, suspected of dishonesty in handling the metal assigned to him.

Mills, Clark (1810–83). American sculptor, a jack-of-all-trades, who was self-taught as an artist. In 1848 he won a competition for the monument to President Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square, Washington, and worked for five years on this, the first equestrian statue in the USA. He built his own foundry to cast the statue, which daringly has the rearing horse supported only by its hind legs, and eventually succeeded at the seventh attempt. The ecstatic response when the statue was unveiled in 1853 brought him great financial rewards and the commission for an equestrian statue to George Washington in Washington Circle (1860). He spent his final years under a cloud, however, suspected of dishonesty in handling the metal assigned to him.