The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Niehaus, Charles Henry

NIEHAUS, nē'hous, Charles Henry, American sculptor: b. Cincinnati, Ohio, 24 Jan. 1855. He was educated at the public schools and the McMicken School of Art; and on the savings of his boyish years proceeded to Munich, Bavaria, where he won high distinction. After his residence in Germany he returned to the United States, proceeding again to Europe and setting up a studio in Rome from 1881 to 1885. His fame as a sculptor was meantime growing. He is equally expressive with the chisel as with the modeling tool. No sculptor has been more associated with memorials of a public character than he. Among monuments may be cited the Hahnemann and Paul Jones monuments at Washington, D. C.; the equestrian monuments to Drake at Titusville, Pa., and to General Forrest, at Memphis, Tenn.; the apotheosis of Saint Louis at Saint Louis, Mo.; the Astor historical doors to Trinity Church, New York; and the pediment to the State House at Kentucky. Among busts may be mentioned those of Disraeli, Dr. Collyer, Robert Blum, Joseph Jefferson, Rabbi Gottheil, Hon. Charles Hackley and Governor Hoadley. His ideal works include the Cæstus in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, the ‘Greek Athelete using a Strygil.’ His statues include those of Garfield at Cincinnati and the Capitol, Washington; Governor Allen of Ohio, Ingalls and Morton in the rotunda of the Capitol, Washington; Moses and Gibbon in the Congressional Library; Farragut and McKinley at Muskegon; and a statue of McKinley and lunette for his tomb at Canton, Ohio. He has executed three statues of President Lincoln, the first a seated figure of heroic size in bronze, the property of the Historical Society of Buffalo, N. Y.; the second, almost a replica of the first, is at Muskegon. His third statue, exhibited in 1916 which is in Crestele marble, is regarded as a most successful presentation and reveals almost perfectly the deeply brooding expression habitual to the countenance of the martyred President. Mr. Niehaus was awarded gold medals at Buffalo in 1901; at Charleston in 1902; and Saint Louis in 1904. He was elected a member of the National Academy in 1906. Consult Armstrong, ‘Charles Niehaus’ (New York 1902).