Hammer and Chisel

Who carved Patience and Fortitude, the marble lions that guard the Fifth Avenue entrance to the New York Public Library? And what about the classical figures on the pediment above the columns of the New York Stock Exchange and the statue at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington? The Piccirilli brothers, six Tuscan immigrants who ran the studio their father founded in the 1890s.

According to The New York Times, "...in their day, the Piccirillis received frequent commissions from prominent sculptors like Daniel Chester French, the creator of the Lincoln statue, to carve marble sculptures from plaster models. But they were also artists in their own right: among their original creations are the gilded Maine Memorial at Columbus Circle and several pieces in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art."

For more on the Piccirilli brothers see For These Carvers of Monuments, a Plaque of Their Own.