Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/O'Donovan, William Rudolf

O'DONOVAN, William Rudolf, sculptor, b. in Preston county, Va., 28 March, 1844. He is self-taught in his profession. After fighting in the Confederate army during the civil war, he went to New York, where he opened a studio, and was elected an associate of the National academy in 1878. He has been very successful in portraiture, and among others has executed portrait-busts and bas-reliefs of John A. Kennedy (1876); William Page (1877); R. Swain Gifford (1879); Arthur Quartley, Bayard Taylor (for the memorial tablet in Cornell university), Winslow Homer, Erminnie A. Smith, and Edmund C. Stedman. His larger works include the Tarrytown monument to the captors of Maj. André, a statue of Washington for the government of Venezuela, two figures for the soldier's monument at Lawrence, Mass., two bas-reliefs for the monument in Herkimer county, N. Y., commemorating the battle of Oriskany (see Herkimer, Nicholas) (1883), and a statue of Washington for the monument at Newburg (1886-'7). Gen. Washington is a favorite subject with this sculptor, and he has published a series of papers on his portraits.