Franklin Simmons 1839 - 1913

Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above, 1978

Born in Maine and trained in Boston, Franklin Simmons rose to fame during the Civil War era primarily through his monumental commemorative public works, including his marble William Tecumseh Sherman (de Young Museum, San Francisco) and the life-size Roger Williams currently in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.. In 1870 Simmons moved permanently to Rome and became interested in neoclassical sculpture concerned with religious and literary imagery. One of Simmons’ most well-known and revered subjects was Penelope, the wife of Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey. Other versions of Penelope are found in the collections of the de Young Museum, San Francisco and the Portland Museum of Art, Maine.