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A portrait of Dodge, ca. 1898, by American sculptor and painter Frederick MacMonnies, painted in his garden at Giverny, France. Dodge said he was "overjoyed" when he received the Library commission, and took nearly two years to complete the work. |
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View the pages from the New York State Capitol folder. page1 page2 page3 Read much more about William, his thoughts William discussing his mural paintings in the Governor's reception hall of the New York State Capital. The Telfair Art Museum William deLeftwich Dodge was born March 9, 1867 in Bedford, Virginia, and died March 25, 1935. His parents were William Minor Dodge and Mary Lucinda deLeftwich. He has two siblings; Annie L. Dodge and Robert E. Lee Dodge. Mary, his mother, was the 3rd wife of his father, William, who was forty-two at the time of the marriage, while Mary was considerably younger. Mary was an artist in her own right, and moved to Paris with her three children so that she could further her career. William spent most of his life between Paris and Munich. In 1895 he was admitted to the Cole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. At age nineteen he was awarded the gold medal of the American Art Association for a history painting depicting the death of Minnehaha, the subject of Longfellow's popular poem, Hiawatha. This and other of his figurative work was painted from life and based on careful research to ensure its historical accuracy. In 1893, while still very young, he was commissioned to decorate the dome of the central building of the Colombian Exposition, the famous "White City" in Chicago. He emerged as one of the most prominent muralists of the era, at a time when murals were regarded as an essential element of most public architecture, theaters, municipal buildings, and even some private homes. In 1906 he designed and had built for his use the classical Villa Francesca at Setauket, Long Island, a small corner of which is depicted in this painting. |
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