Hermon MacNeil ~ “The Most Happy Young Man I Know!”
By~ Christmas Day 1895 ~
In 1895, Amy Aldis Bradley wrote of Hermon MacNeil:
“…The young sculptor was married on Christmas Day, and sailed for Rome on Wednesday, and is, on the whole, the most happy young man I know.” (http://marquette.macfound.org/slide/herman-macneil/ )
One hundred and seventeen years ago today, Hermon Atkins MacNeil and Carol Louise Brooks were united in marriage in Chicago, Illinois by Rev. Edward F. Williams, a Congregational Minister. They purchased their Marriage License on Christmas Eve Day 1895. [CLICK HERE to See their License]
Both Hermon and Carol were sculptors who worked on the 1983 Chicago World’s Fair (World’s Columbian Exposition). Just days earlier MacNeil received word that he had won the Rinehart Roman Scholarship. (Carol had also studied sculpture with both Lorado Taft and Frederick William MacMonnies). Within the week, the pair left for Rome, passing three years there (1896-1899). It was a romantic time of study together under the same masters. With frugality, the income of Hermon’s Rinehart scholarship supported them both. They travelled through Italy occasionally bartering a room for sculpture. They spend a fourth year in Paris.”
According to information from the MacArthur Foundation (current owner and curator of the Marquette Building), Amy Aldis Bradley’s complete words in 1895 to Peter Brooks:
After commissioning MacNeil for the exterior bronzes, Aldis wrote to Peter Brooks, “McNeil’s [sic] panels are being placed in position. It is greatly to their and his credit that these bas-reliefs have won for him the Roman [Reinhart] Fellowship. The Commission, choosing him as the best of the very young men…The young sculptor was married on Christmas Day, and sailed for Rome on Wednesday, and is, on the whole, the most happy young man I know. He is very grateful to the owners of the Marquette Building.” (http://marquette.macfound.org/slide/herman-macneil/ )
