John Quincy Adams Ward

John Quincy Adams Ward
John Quincy Adams Ward, ca. 1900
Born	June 29, 1830 (1830-06-29) Urbana, Ohio
Died	May 1, 1910 (1910-05-02) (aged 79) New York City
Nationality	American
Known for	Sculpture

John Quincy Adams Ward (June 29, 1830 – May 1, 1910) was an American sculptor, who may be most familiar for his larger than lifesize standing statue of George Washington on the steps of Federal Hall National Memorial in New York.

He was born in Urbana, Ohio, a city founded by his grandfather Colonel William Ward. He lived with his sister in Brooklyn, New York, where he trained under the well-established sculptor Henry Kirke Brown, who carved "J.Q.A. Ward, asst." on his equestrian monument of George Washington in Union Square. His younger brother was the artist Edgar Melville Ward. Ward went to Washington in 1857, where he made a name for himself with portrait busts of men in public life. In 1861 he worked for the Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts, providing models for decorative objects including gilt-bronze sword hilts for the Union Army. Ames was one of the largest brass, bronze and iron foundries in the United States.

Ward set up a studio in New York City in 1861 and was elected to the National Academy of Design the following year; he was their president till 1874. In 1882 a new New York studio on 52nd Street was designed for him by his friend Richard Morris Hunt, who was to collaborate with him on many projects over the years.

Ward was married three times.

Nineteenth-century American commissions for sculpture were largely confined to portrait busts and monuments, where Ward was preeminent in his generation. Sculptors also made a living selling bronze reductions of their public works; Ward made use of new galvanoplastic duplicating techniques; many of Ward's reductions and galvanoplastic and die-stamped relief panels survive.