 Photo: Harlan Ogle, Monticello, Kentucky. |
 Viquesney catalog ad. |
"THE UNVEILING" (1934)
Smithsonian Art Inventory Control Number IAS IN000527.
A Memorial to Viquesney's First Wife, Cora
Cora Bell Barnes Viquesney
1880 - 1933
1880 - 1933
Although proud of his reputation as a sculptor of war memorial statuary, Viquesney also branched out into other areas, such as this religious theme, "The Unveiling", which stands over the family burial plot at Riverside Cemetery in Spencer, Indiana.
Although the sculpture is a memorial to Viquesney's first wife Cora Barnes, who died of diphtheria in 1933, it has been speculated that second wife Elizabeth "Betty" Sadler was the model, but this has never been documented. The piece was available both life-size and in at least two miniature sizes.
When the full-size statue was dedicated at the cemetery, Viquesney read the following. Incredibly, even at his own wife's gravesite, Viquesney, ever the salesman, couldn't resist making a blatant pitch for the statuette version:
"The dream statuette --- 'The Unveiling' --- is lovingly and humbly dedicated to its mission of comfort and solace to all who mourn. May it carry the 'golden light' of understanding to your heart and bring in the place of heartaches and tears, a joy that 'passeth understanding', as it has done for me. May its presence be a continued incentive to higher and more beautiful thoughts, that your days may bless others and enable them to also rise above clouds of suffering and despair. May it bring a deeper, sweeter, more holy understanding of the teaching of the Master that 'there is no death, no parting'.
To the loving memory of one, who lived that others might be happier, who in her passing, leaves a memory of such sweetness and spirituality that it has become manifested in the mission of this comfort statuette --- 'The Unveiling'.
To my wife.
E.M. Viquesney
The Sculptor"
Although the sculpture is a memorial to Viquesney's first wife Cora Barnes, who died of diphtheria in 1933, it has been speculated that second wife Elizabeth "Betty" Sadler was the model, but this has never been documented. The piece was available both life-size and in at least two miniature sizes.
When the full-size statue was dedicated at the cemetery, Viquesney read the following. Incredibly, even at his own wife's gravesite, Viquesney, ever the salesman, couldn't resist making a blatant pitch for the statuette version:
"The dream statuette --- 'The Unveiling' --- is lovingly and humbly dedicated to its mission of comfort and solace to all who mourn. May it carry the 'golden light' of understanding to your heart and bring in the place of heartaches and tears, a joy that 'passeth understanding', as it has done for me. May its presence be a continued incentive to higher and more beautiful thoughts, that your days may bless others and enable them to also rise above clouds of suffering and despair. May it bring a deeper, sweeter, more holy understanding of the teaching of the Master that 'there is no death, no parting'.
To the loving memory of one, who lived that others might be happier, who in her passing, leaves a memory of such sweetness and spirituality that it has become manifested in the mission of this comfort statuette --- 'The Unveiling'.
To my wife.
E.M. Viquesney
The Sculptor"
The Viquesney family burial plot, Riverside Cemetery, Spencer, Indiana.
Photo: Harlan Ogle, Monticello, Kentucky.
Photo: Harlan Ogle, Monticello, Kentucky.
