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The Moses J. Ezekiel papers digital collection
Moses J. Ezekiel papers, 1867-1917. MS 0010. VMI Archives, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia.
Moses Jacob Ezekiel, the noted 19th century American Jewish sculptor, was born in Richmond, Virginia on October 28, 1844. One of 14 children of Jacob Ezekiel and Catherine de Castro, he had already started a mercantile career when he decided to attend college. Ezekiel entered VMI in September 1862, and during his VMI cadetship, took part in the Battle of New Market (May 15, 1864) and served in the trenches in defense of Richmond in the Spring of 1865.
Ezekiel graduated from VMI in 1866, and in 1867 began seriously to pursue his interest in art. He studied anatomy at the Medical College of Virginia and traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio where he studied at the Art School of J. Insco Williams and in the studio of T.D. Jones. In 1867 he sailed for Europe and entered the Royal Academy of Art in Berlin, Germany.
At the age of 29, Ezekiel won the prestigious Michel-Beer Prix de Rome for a bas relief entitled Israel. The prize money enabled him to travel to Rome, Italy where he established a studio and lived for the remainder of his life. Ezekiel executed nearly two hundred monuments in bronze and marble. Among his productions were the following: Busts of Lizst, Cardinal Hohenlohe, Eve, Homer, David, Judith, and Christ in the Tomb A statue of Mrs. Andrew W. White for Cornell University Madonna for the Church La Tivoli Faith for the Cemetery of Rome Apollo and Mercury in Berlin Robert E. Lee Stonewall Jackson Pan and Amor The Fountain of Neptune for the city of Netturno, Italy A bust of Lord Sherbrooke for St. Margaret, Westminister, London The Jefferson Monument for Louisville, Kentucky The Homer Group for the University of Virginia Virginia Mourning Her Dead for VMI Napoleon I at St. Helena A monument to Senator Daniel, Lynchburg, Virginia The Confederate Soldiers' Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia Scores of other busts and reliefs Ezekiel died in Italy on March 27, 1917, but because of World War I, his body was not returned to the United States until 1921. He is buried at the foot of the Confederate Memorial in Section 16 of Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia).
The Moses J. Ezekiel papers consist of the papers of noted 19th century sculptor Moses J. Ezekiel, including: Correspondence to VMI superintendent Edward W. Nichols and others (dated 1867-1917), some relating to the design of the Battle of New Market memorial sculpture Virginia Mourning Her Dead Pen and ink sketches by Ezekiel (approximately 67 items) A typescript version of Ezekiel's autobiography Memoirs from the Baths of Diocletian Print material
The VMI Archives also holds a collection of photographs related to Ezekiel. Included are images of Ezekiel, his studio in Rome, Italy, and various examples of his sculptures.
Includes letters to General Edward W. Nichols and Greenlee Letcher concerning Virginia Mourning Her Dead (New Market Monument) and the Stonewall Jackson statue at VMI. Also includes postcards sent primarily to family members, including Henry C. Ezekiel and Rebecca Ezekiel.
Chronological
Autobiographical letter from Moses J. Ezekiel to VMI historian Joseph R. Anderson, Jr. In the letter, Ezekiel recounts his experience as a VMI cadet at the Battle of New Market on May 15, 1864 and his post-VMI career through July 1904. He discusses caring for his classmate Thomas G. Jefferson, who was mortally wounded in the Battle and expresses regret for missing VMI reunion at which New Market Medals were issued to veterans.
Rome July 23, 1904 My dear Comrade and Friend. In auld lang syne. I have again been prevented (by the retarded coming to Rome, of those who were to see my colossal statue of Mr. Drexel in clay before casting it in Bronze) from joining my old Cadet comrades in answering the last roll call and receiving the medal; which if still given to me, I should value above any earthly possession. After the Battle of New Market was over and we who survived answered the roll call on the field, I was in search of the wounded and found my room mate and comrade Thomas Jefferson lying on the floor of a hut quite exhausted and wounded in the breast. It was night and I was without shoes, as I had been all day and I went to the town of New Market and got a wagon and carried him to the house of Mrs. Clinedinst who gave me a bed for him on the ground floor- She had two daughters Anne and Lydie. It was Sunday night late when I got him into bed and from that time up to Tuesday night at about 11 o'clock I never left many cadets found both food and shelter was extremely kind to us all, and gave me every possible help for my friend. I always hoped to save Jefferson and that last evening when he asked me to read from St. John "In my Father's house are many mansions" & then began to wander in mind and thought I was his mother & then his sister & finally asked me to make a light, it was only then it dawned upon me that all hope was past and in his agony- as our gallant color bearer Evans was there with me I went up to call the family of Clinedinst (who had been as kind as it was possible for people to be all through those sad days) and they came down with candles in their hands whilst I had Jefferson in my arms, and he died. I washed and prepared him for burial and carried his mother a lock of his hair after we returned to Richmond.
As you want me to give you a kind of record of myself and according to the prospectus you sent I take pleasure in doing so. My parents were Jacob Ezekiel and Catherine de Castro My grandparents Jacob de Castro & Hannah Pepper- Maternal and Michael Ezekiel and Rebekah Israel - Paternal grandparents
My Parents were living in Richmond Va. when I was matriculated.
My Grandparents and great grandparents, are on my father's side buried in Philadelphia & on my mother's side in Richmond Va.
I was born in Richmond Va. Oct. 28, 1844.
Entered the V.M.I. the second year of the War and when back to reform the Corps, and graduated in the first class after the War. I gathered up in Lexington all the books and paintings I could find that had been dispersed by Hunter's Raid and reorganized the debating society, and gave the pictures later to the Letcher family and others, to whom they belonged. I was orderly sergeant of Company on the Intermediate lines below Richmond.
I was never a student at any institution before going to the V.M.I. But matriculated later and studied anatomy at the Richmond Medical College at night and from my 12th year on, kept books for my grandparents, and spent any spare hours in drawing & painting & modelling, never having a teacher of any kind, and it was then I modelled my Father's Bust which is still considered a good likeness.
I have I see given my War record first. But must add that I was slightly wounded in the Battle of New Market. But as the ball passed through my jacket and only grazed my breast, I took no notice of it. I was arrested and put in Castle Thunder in Richmond after the surrender, because I refused to take the oath of allegiance. About this time I wrote a letter which was published in all of the leading American papers, in which I denounced General Grant, comparing him to the worst Czars of Russia- for his famous or rather infamous Order No. 11, in which he prohibited any Jew in the U.S. Army having any concern in the Quarter Master's department. I do not now remember any more of it, than that I gathered the statistics & published them proving that the abuses in that department had not been done by Jews at all- and called upon all men in the United States of that persuasion or religion to vote for any man for the next President rather than for General Grant.
The General replied to my letter in the papers by deploring that he had ever published that Order No. 11 which he said he had given out upon information which be found out later was false. Meanwhile a secret carpet bag or political Yankee Committee in Richmond, sent me a letter saying that my life would be in danger if I stayed in Richmond after writing and publishing such a letter about General Grant their Hero: & this letter was forwarded to me, to Amelia County, at the Home of Mr. Garland Jefferson, the father of my dead comrade, where I had gone to carry the lock of hair of the dead boy to his mother. So I immediately on the receipt of that letter of intimidation jumped on to the first freight train that passed Amelia Courthouse & returned to Richmond. I went about my own affairs during the days, but coming home at night and passing 17th Street the concealed Ruffians fired at me from their concealment in the old market & let loose a shower of stones which smashed a number of windows, but left me unharmed. I reported at once to the Police Station in the bell house. But none of the gang were found & a second letter advising me to leave town came. But I took no notice of it, and so it all ended. As my Parents house had been rifled by the mob at the evacuation, and my Fathers store rooms of cotton and tobacco burned up, with the loss of an entire fortune of at least ¼ of million dollars, I staid at home, & with my youngest brother helped as well as we could to begin a little business and earn enough to live upon in a slender way, & when my father had again been able to start into a new business, I went West, and staid in Cincinnati a year, working for the first time in the studio of Mr. Jones (in 1868), a sculptor of some merit and well known there.
I then modelled my first statuette of "Industry", which was exhibited there, and the favorable criticism in the papers encouraged me penniless as I was to go abroad. I sold a breast pin I owned- which enabled me to travel second class to Berlin (in 1869) where I matriculated at the Royal Academy and passed the examination. In order to continue my studies I gave lessons in English in the mornings early- and drawing lessons at night, and spent the rest of the time at the academy, where I was elected by my Colleagues president of the Art Students league at the Academy. I also worked in the studio of Prof. [Siemernig] & then of Prof. Wolff and often worked In the open air or buildings in Berlin then in construction modelling heads and carytids and ornaments in order to earn an extra dollar. No one ever knew that I needed anything and I led a happy life all the same, and the Bohemian life of the student was mine also, to the fullest extent. I modelled then the ¾ life sized figure of Virginia Mourning her Dead and sent Mrs. General Lee a photo of it, as I was always in correspondence with that estimable wife of our Great Hero.
That statue I have always kept and it is now in my studio here, and is the model of the statue my brother cadets were good enough to unveil at the parade ground of our Alma Mater last year.
My finally gaining the Prix de Rome at the academy- and my being honored for my art works by the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and the German Emperor and the Medal from the Art Society in Rome, my various works in America, England, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Russia are not subjects for my writing about: I have with all this the sincere regret that I have never been called upon in my own home Virginia, nor in the South, to execute a single work of art- excepting the one for my own comrades which links me forever with the Alma Mater, the V.M.I., where every stone, and every blade of grass is dear to me- and the name of Cadet of the V.M.I. the proudest and most honored title I can ever possess.
Of course my comrade I am writing this as a letter to you & not one for publication. You can glean from it any particulars you may choose for your Biography, of which I shall want several copies, besides I do want to contribute my mite to the picture of General Scott Shipp, and am surprised that I was not asked to do so as an Alumnus.
There never was any one I admired more than I did our then Col. Shipp, and when in the battle of New Market, his horse was wounded and he was down, I could not help running to him, to ask if he was hurt & when he said "no, go ahead" I left him. Randolph too was shot when we were shoulder to shoulder. He had just said smiling, there's no use dodging boys, if a ball's going to hit you, it'll hit you anyway! When he fell, I thought he was dead. But I found him at night in the hospital.
And now let me tell you that it has been a real grief to me not to have been able to join either last year or this year in the Corps Ceremonies which were of such deep interest to me. But I am under contract to finish a monument this fall & place it in Fairmount Park Philadelphia & I have several other works to finish and deliver and I could not come home until I could bring the monument and place it in position. These are hard facts, and have interfered with what would have been nearest to my own heart. But you will now understand it all.
Your kind letter has been waiting a long time to be answered, and it only seems a few weeks to me, as my life here is so full and every day brings me visitors from home or elsewhere, and so many duties, that for a couple of months I have absolutely had to neglect pen and ink nolens volens so I throw myself upon your kind indulgence, and with the most sincere and affectionate greetings
I am always your comrade and friend Moses J. Ezekiel
18 Piazza Termini Baths of Diocletian Rome
Drawing of the bronze statue of Anthony J. Drexel, the Philadelphia financier and the founder of Drexel University. The monument was commissioned by Drexel's partner, John H. Harjes of Paris, France and donated to the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Drawing of Anton Alexander von Werner (1843-1915), a German historical painter known for painting scenes from the Franco Prussian War.
Drawing of Benjamin B. Hotchkiss (1826-1885), a leading American gunmaker and ordnance engineer. Moses J. Ezekiel molded a bust of Hotchkiss in clay and cast it in bronze in 1879.
A drawing of Bacchante, a classical figure from Greek and Roman mythology that is priestess or female votary of Bacchus.
A drawing of Jesus Christ, based on the bronze torso.
Detail from marble sculpture, 1896, located in the Chapelle de Notre Dame de Consolation, Paris.
Drawing of the marble sculpture, 1896, located in the Chapelle de Notre Dame de Consolation, Paris.
Drawing of the Confederate Memorial monument in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.
Drawing shows the frieze that comprises part of the Confederate Memorial monument in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.
Drawing of the main figure of the Confederate Memorial monument in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.
Drawing of Eva Cattermole (1849-1896), known as "Contessa Lara" who was an Italian poet, writer, and friend of Moses J. Ezekiel.
A drawing of Daniel Collin, a German publisher whom Moses J. Ezekiel became friends with in Berlin, Germany.
A sketch of a clay model of proposed David G. Farragut monument. Moses J. Ezekiel created a model to enter in a competition in 1873, but his work was not chosen.
Drawing of Edith Lack, from Plymouth, England. She was the youngest daughter of a family that Moses J. Ezekiel met while traveling to Rome, Italy in 1874.
Drawing of Fanny Lewald, a German novelist and champion of women's rights.
Drawing of Fedor Encke, one of Moses J. Ezekiel's classmates at the Berlin Academy.
Drawing of Francis H. Smith who was VMI superintendent from 1839 to 1889. Moses J. Ezekiel knew him during his own cadetship.
Drawing of George Washington Custis Lee. Lee taught at VMI immediately after the Civil War and after the death in 1870 of his father, Robert E. Lee, who was President of Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia.
A drawing of Gustav Adolf, Cardinal Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (1823-1896).
Drawing of guests inside Moses J. Ezekiel's studio.
Drawing of Israel, a bas relief, which was Moses J. Ezekiel's first significant work.
This drawing is of the bust of Jacob Ezekiel, Moses J. Ezekiel's father.
Jennie McGraw Fiske was a member of a prominent family who provided significant philanthropic support to Cornell University, New York. In 1904 the University commissioned Moses J. Ezekiel to produce this recumbent statue and it was completed in June 1907.
Drawing of John H. Harjes, a German born financier. Moses J. Ezekiel, a friend of the family, cast this bronze bust in 1881.
Drawing of Judas Maccabees, a Jewish military leader who was victorious in 165 B.C.
The Robert Gamble Cabell family of Richmond, Virginia were childhood friends of Moses J. Ezekiel. Two Cabell brothers attended VMI and both fought in the Battle of New Market with Ezekiel. William Cabell was one of the cadets killed in the battle.
Drawing of Lola Montez, a British born dancer and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. She settled in New York and appeared on stage in the United States. Moses J. Ezekiel saw a performance in Richmond, Virginia sometime before 1861.
Drawing of Nadine Helbig, a Russian born author who married Wofgang Helbig.
Drawing of Mammy Keziah, an Ezekiel family slave.
Drawing of Mammy Keziah, an Ezekiel family slave.
Drawing of Mammy Mary, a slave owned by the Ezekiel family during Moses J. Ezekiel's childhood. He refers to her in his memoirs as "my mammy Mary."
Drawing of Mary Custis Lee (1806-1873) who was the great granddaughter of Martha Washington and the wife of Robert E. Lee.
Drawing of Mary Custis Lee (1806-1873) who was the great granddaughter of Martha Washington and the wife of Robert E. Lee.
Drawing of a crypt monument at Sage Chapel, Cornell University, New York.
Drawing of Mary Triplett of Richmond, Virginia. She was one of the "belles" of the city, along with Lizzy Cabell. She was the sister of Moses J. Ezekiel's fellow VMI cadet, John R. Triplett.
A drawing of a member of a German family with whom Moses J. Ezekiel was acquainted.
Drawing of Adolfo de Bosis and his wife. He was an Italian poet and lawyer who translated Shelley into Italian and edited the Review Il Convito.
Drawing of the wife of German publisher Daniel Collin.
Drawing of Nannie Whitmell Tunstall, the sister of John L. Tunstall, who attended VMI with Moses J. Ezekiel. In 1886, Ezekiel created a 16 by 21 inch marble intaglio bas-relief of Tunstall, made during her visit to Rome, Italy. The piece is owned by VMI.
Drawing of the Neptune statue Moses J. Ezekiel created for a fountain in Nettuno, Italy. The statue was destroyed during World War II.
Drawing of Otto von Bismarck, a Prussian statesman.
Drawing is likely of a slave in the Ezekiel household in Richmond, Virginia. No further information is known at this time.
Drawing of Pan and Amor bas relief.
Drawing of Moses J. Ezekiel's proposed Robert E. Lee monument for a competition in 1886. Another sculptor's work was chosen and Ezekiel's concept was never executed.
Drawing of Robert Hausmann, a German cellist.
Drawing of Scott Shipp, VMI Class of 1859, who served as commandant and later as VMI's second superintendent. He was commandant during Moses J. Ezekiel's cadetship and was in command at the Battle of New Market.
Drawing of the Southern monument, which was one of the first monuments in the north dedicated to the Confederate soldier. It was commissioned by the Cincinnati, Ohio chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
This drawing is based on the photo of Stonewall Jackson known as the Chancellorsville photograph.
A drawing of the entrance to Moses J. Ezekiel's studio, Baths of Diocletian, Rome.
Drawing of cadet Thomas G. Jefferson who was mortally wounded at the Battle of New Market on May 15, 1864.
Drawing of "White Lucy," who was a slave in Richmond, Virginia during Moses J. Ezekiel's childhood. When her owner threatened sale, Jacob Ezekiel intervened and she was given the job of seamstress in the Ezekiel home. The family later rented a house for her, and she made a living as a washerwoman and seamstress. She died circa 1866. Her surname does not appear in Ezekiel's memoirs.
This memorial publication was sent from Moses J. Ezekiel to VMI Superintendent Scott Shipp. The publication is annotated by Shipp.
Photograph of Robert E. Lee and of Lee's Farewell Address. This photograph was given to Moses J. Ezekiel by Mrs. Robert E. Lee.
Ezekiel family scrapbook possibly compiled by H. C. Ezekiel. The scrapbook contains documents, most pertaining to various members of the Ezekiel family. Many documents are from the Civil War era, 1863-1865.