Moses Jacob Ezekiel

Moses Jacob Ezekiel
Moses Jacob Ezekiel in 1914
Born	(1844-10-28)October 28, 1844 Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
Died	March 27, 1917(1917-03-27) (aged 72) Rome, Italy
Nationality	American
Education	Virginia Military Institute
Known for	Sculpture, Soldier

Cavaliere Moses Jacob Ezekiel also known as Moses "Ritter von" Ezekiel (October 28, 1844 – March 27, 1917) was a Jewish American soldier and sculptor who lived and worked in Rome for the majority of his career.

Ezekiel was born in Richmond, Virginia, and attended the common schools. He was a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute; he was the first Jewish cadet to attend VMI. He and other cadets from VMI marched 80 miles north from Lexington and fought at the 1864 Battle of New Market, where Ezekiel was wounded in a fight with Union army troops under Franz Sigel. After his recovery, he served with the cadets in Richmond to train new recruits for the army. Shortly before the end of the war, he served in the trenches defending the city.

Following the Civil War, Ezekiel returned to VMI to finish his education, graduating in 1866. He moved to Cincinnati in 1868, then to Berlin in 1869, where he studied at the Royal Academy of Art under Professor Albert Wolf. In Europe he completed the sculptures and paintings for which he is famous, including a memorial at VMI, Virginia Mourning Her Dead, that stands in the small cemetery where the six of the 10 VMI Cadets killed at the Battle of New Market are buried. He was admitted into the Society of Artists, Berlin, and at age 29 was the first foreigner to win the Michel-Beer Prix de Rome for a bas relief entitled "Israel".

In the early 1880s, Ezekiel created eleven larger-than-life sized statues of famous artists that were installed in niches on the facade of the Corcoran Gallery of Art's original building (now the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery). In the early 1960s, they were removed to the Norfolk Botanical Garden in Norfolk, Virginia.