PRESIDING DIVINITIES: IDEAL SCULPTURE IN ... - Indiana University

gift in 1883. 76 If the sculpture had been completed in time to be installed in Elmwood’s
art gallery, it would have taken Excelsior’s place between Bierstadt’s The Domes of the
Yosemite and Van Schendel’s (1806-1870) Annunciation. This second painting was
described in the 1872 sale catalogue of the Lockwoods’ art collection as follows: “The
kneeling virgin is eminently graceful and dignified; her drapery, and that of the pries
Dieux exhibit exquisite technique. The figure of the announcing angel is posed with
infinite grace, and the light effect is brilliant, which suggests the immediate presence of
the Holy Ghost.” 77 Lockwood’s intended message is clear. Like the kneeling Mary in
Van Schendel’s painting, the kneeling Columbus receives his mission from God. The
westward movement of Christian civilization which he began will continue, Bierstadt’s
painting implies, spreading across the American wilderness to California. 78
Seen from Elmwood’s vestibule, Columbus' Last Appeal to Queen Isabella would
have stood framed by the entrance to the art gallery and flanked by Pocahontas on the
left and The Wept of Wish-ton-Wish on the right. Mozier’s pendant sculptures, with their
paired narratives of domestication through Christianity and maternal love, would have
76 See “The Columbus Statue,” Sacramento Daily Record, 22 August 1883: 3; “The
Columbus Group,” Sacramento Daily Union, 24 December 1883: 3; James Dufur, “The
Untold Story of How Columbus Came to California,” California Journal, 4 (March
1973): 107, cited in Bolin, “Art and Domestic Culture,” 123n192.
77 The Entire Collection of Important Modern Paintings, Statuary, Bronze, Articles of
Vertu, Etc. Belonging to the Late Mr. LeGrand Lockwood, 25. When Schendel’s
Annunciation was eventually donated by its buyer, a Mr. D. Barnes, to the Brooklyn Art
Association in 1873, Horace Greeley had a somewhat different reaction to the work.
“That’s no angel,” he exclaimed, “That woman weighs 150 pounds!” “A Reminiscence of
the Association’s Gallery,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle 24 August 1874: 3.
78 Yosemite became protected Federal land in 1864; however, The United States Army
had already expelled the native Ahwaneechee people between 1851 and 1855.
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