Joseph A. Bailly

Joseph Alexis Bailly (January 21, 1823 or 1825, Paris, France – June 15, 1883, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was a French-born American sculptor who spent most of his career in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He taught briefly at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, which has a collection of his sculpture. His most famous work is the statue of George Washington in front of Independence Hall.

The son of a Parisian cabinetmaker, Bailly attended the École des Beaux-Arts before being drafted into the Army during the Revolution of 1848. He assaulted an officer, deserted, and fled to England where he studied briefly under the sculptor Edward Hodges Baily (a relation?). After traveling to the United States and Argentina, he settled in Philadelphia in 1850.

Bailly worked as a furniture carver before establishing a sculpture studio with Charles Buschor in 1854. Their first major commission was for the interior ornament and furniture of the New Masonic Hall at 713-21 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia (1855, burned 1886). This included 5 life-sized wood statues illustrating the female Masonic virtues. (The statues and furniture were moved to the current Philadelphia Masonic Temple at Broad & Filbert Streets, when it opened in 1873.) That was followed by the commission for the interior ornament of Philadelphia's opera house, the Academy of Music (1855–57).

At the U.S. Capitol, Bailly designed the Monumental Clock for the United States House of Representatives Chamber (1858) and carved its wooden case. Sculptor William Henry Rinehart designed the flanking bronze figures of the Backwoodsman and the Indian. Furniture makers Bembe & Kimbel manufactured the clock, and gilded the whole piece. It was removed from the House Chamber in 1950, and is now on display in the Capitol's Crypt.

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