16 Facts About Horatio Greenough

Horatio Greenough was an American sculptor best known for his United States government commissions The Rescue and George Washington.

Horatio Greenough showed an early interest in artistic and mechanical hobbies.

Horatio Greenough experimented with clay, which medium he learned from Solomon Willard.

Horatio Greenough learned how to carve with marble under instruction from Alpheus Cary.

Horatio Greenough seemed to have a natural talent for art, yet his father wasn't fond of the idea of this as a career for Horatio Greenough.

In 1814 Horatio Greenough enrolled at Phillips Academy, Andover, and in 1821 he entered Harvard University.

Horatio Greenough returned to Boston in May 1827 with Weir, after recovering an attack of malaria.

Horatio Greenough modeled busts such as Josiah Quincy, president of Harvard, Samuel Appleton and John Jacob Astor.

Horatio Greenough's plan worked as he displayed a style of naturalism in this piece as he did in many other works.

Horatio Greenough was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1843.

Horatio Greenough's sketchbook is held in the Archives of American Art.

Horatio Greenough's sculptures reflected truth and reality, but ancient classical aesthetic ideals learned from Washington Allston.

Many of Horatio Greenough's works were done in Florence, Italy where he spent most of his professional life.

Horatio Greenough's works are in the Art Institute of Chicago, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Probably Horatio Greenough's most enduring achievements are his essays on art.

The origin of the phrase form follows function is often, but wrongly, ascribed to Horatio Greenough, although the theory of inherent forms, of which the phrase is a fitting summary, informs all of Horatio Greenough's writing on art, design, and architecture.