{"id":6583,"date":"2014-02-26T00:00:51","date_gmt":"2014-02-26T05:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phillyhistory.wpengine.com\/?p=6583"},"modified":"2020-12-22T16:06:42","modified_gmt":"2020-12-22T21:06:42","slug":"williampennwednesday-how-philadelphia-got-its-quaker-zeus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/2014\/02\/williampennwednesday-how-philadelphia-got-its-quaker-zeus\/","title":{"rendered":"#WilliamPennWednesday: How Philadelphia Got Its Quaker Zeus"},"content":{"rendered":"
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William Penn on City Hall Tower. (PhillyHistory,org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Edward Hicks, Penn’s Treaty with the Indians, ca 1830-40. (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even though the statue of William Penn would be bolted in place more than 500 feet above the sidewalk and seen much<\/em> farther away by most Philadelphians, it really mattered<\/em> that the statue on City Hall make a good first and lasting impression. After all, at 36 feet 8 inches, here would stand the tallest figure on a building anywhere in the nation, nearly 17 feet taller than the statue of Freedom<\/a> on the U.S. Capitol.<\/p>\n

\u201cNotwithstanding its great height,\u201d explained sculptor Alexander Milne Calder in 1886 as he worked on the figure, Penn \u201cwill be quite plainly visible from the street, therefore every care has to be taken with regard to the features and every other detail.\u201d What Calder had in mind was a statue facing South Broad Street, its bronzed expression bathed in sunlight. When the sculptor\u2019s plans were scrapped by a new architect who turned Penn\u2019s face away<\/em> from the sun to gaze to the Northeast, and Penn Treaty Park, the scorned sculptor quipped that his greatest work had been \u201ccondemned to eternal silhouette.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, Calder had a number of reasons to turn his Penn\u2019s back on the past, especially the place where he and the Native Americans may have signed a treaty. In his modernized redo of Penn, Calder wanted to pull away from the old image (and the myths they rode in on) to create something entirely new. \u201cWhat we want is William Penn as he is known to Philadelphians, not a theoretical one or a fine English gentleman.\u201d And as he worked, Calder admitted he felt conflicted. \u201cI have not absolutely settled upon the final figure,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Calder also felt the heat. Ever since 1872, when John McArthur, City Hall’s original architect, proposed to replace the first idea an allegorical figure of Justice with a statue a real<\/em> person, there had been no shortage of opinions as to how this giant Penn might be made to look. This<\/em> image would dominate the city\u2019s skyline immediately and, presumably, forever. \u00a0What it might suggest about Philadelphia, Philadelphians (and Philadelphia history) mattered then, and Calder knew it would matter now.<\/p>\n

He hadn\u2019t gotten any real pushback on the hundreds of statues he created for City Hall closer to the ground\u2014figures people could actually see, but didn\u2019t care all that much about. After working 13 years on the massive project, when he finally got to the tower groupings and to the largest sculpture of all, Calder planned on going for a \u201cmanly beauty,\u201d something different than the Rotund, Bejowled Founder<\/a> painted by Benjamin West in the 18th<\/sup> century or the\u00a0Jolly Penn<\/a> reinforced ad nauseum<\/em> by Edward Hicks\u2019 paintings in the 19th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

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City Hall Tower-Statue Penn’s Head ca. 1892 (PhillyHistory.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Historians really had nothing to go on, there were no portraits of Penn at that time to serve as a guide, but that didn\u2019t stop them from insisting on accuracy and authenticity. They argued at length about Penn\u2019s clothing and the style of his hat. City Fathers, who had seen the project take far longer and become far more expensive and controversial than they had ever dreamed, just wanted building and sculpture done\u2014with no further embarrassments.<\/p>\n

What could possibly be embarrassing in 1886? A roly-poly Founder-figure defining the skyline, perhaps. Or a statue reminiscent of the corrupt, Gilded Age politician (see Thomas Nast\u2019s caricature of Boss Tweed<\/a>). This was the year Philadelphia politician Boies Penrose, aka \u201cBig Grizzly<\/a>,\u201d a man of massive appetite (he was known to have a dozen eggs for breakfast and a turkey for lunch) and great girth (he\u2019d reach 350 pounds) took his seat to the State Senate.<\/p>\n

What could be embarrassing atop the white-marble frosting of City Hall? A figure recalling President Grover Cleveland\u2019s White House wedding from the previous June. Cleveland stood firm in his wedding picture<\/a> as the heaviest American president to date. (In time, only Taft would outweigh him.)<\/p>\n

So it did<\/em> matter\u2014a lot\u2014what this new Penn looked like. And as he worked through a series of maquettes, Calder would come to give his Penn a complete makeover, figure and face. He’d lose the gut and<\/em> the double chin, acquiring a dimple. He’d get fancy ruffles<\/a>, buckles<\/a> and curls<\/a>. Most of all, Calder made a figure that could stand almost<\/em> joke-free. He gave the city a Quaker Zeus\u2014if such a thing was possible.<\/p>\n

Something to celebrate this #WilliamPennWednesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Even though the statue of William Penn would be bolted in place more than 500 feet above the sidewalk and seen much farther away by most Philadelphians, it really mattered that the statue on City Hall make a good first and lasting impression. After all, at 36 feet 8 inches, here would stand the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6583\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}