 Photo: Harlan Ogle, Monticello, Kentucky. |
 Viquesney catalog ad. |
"THE UNVEILING"
(1933 MINIATURE; 1934 LIFE-SIZE)
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 designer 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. A miniature and a second full-size statue was listed among the effects of the artist in a 1947 estate sale notice, but nobody knows what happened to either. The piece was available in life-size and at least two miniature sizes. It strongly resembles an 1895 grave monument in Little Rock, Arkansas, the Terry Memorial, produced by the Monahan and Viquesney Monument Company. It may have been the inspiration for "The Unveiling".
The sculpture is a memorial to Viquesney's first wife Cora Barnes, who died of diphtheria in October, 1933. It has been speculated that the woman who later became Viquesney's second wife, Elizabeth "Betty" Sadler, was the model for the sculpture, but this has never been verified. Another story is that Viquesney created the piece after sketching a figurine sitting atop a neighbor's piano. This, too, cannot be verified.
What is known is that within a month of Cora's death, Viquesney had created a statuette version of the piece, and a life-size version was dedicated on or around November 1, 1934. It was installed at Cora's gravesite on or around May 23, 1935 (source: Owen Leader).
Viquesney himself read the following dedication at her grave site:
The sculpture is a memorial to Viquesney's first wife Cora Barnes, who died of diphtheria in October, 1933. It has been speculated that the woman who later became Viquesney's second wife, Elizabeth "Betty" Sadler, was the model for the sculpture, but this has never been verified. Another story is that Viquesney created the piece after sketching a figurine sitting atop a neighbor's piano. This, too, cannot be verified.
What is known is that within a month of Cora's death, Viquesney had created a statuette version of the piece, and a life-size version was dedicated on or around November 1, 1934. It was installed at Cora's gravesite on or around May 23, 1935 (source: Owen Leader).
Viquesney himself read the following dedication at her grave site:
"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.
After the deaths of both Viquesney and his second wife in 1946, all three, Cora, Betty, and Dick now lie buried at the site.
Update, July, 2015: Reports are that, due to record rains in Indiana, the statue is being attacked by algae or lichen.
Photo: Gary Smith.
