Administered by State of Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection 79 Elm Street Hartford Connecticut 06106
Located 25 Canterbury Street Brooklyn Connecticut
Date:
1887. Copyrighted 1888. Dedicated June 14, 1888
Notes:
Save Outdoor Sculpture, Connecticut survey, 1993.
Image on file.
(Northwest side of base:) KARL GERHARDT/1887 (South side of sculpture's bronze base:) The Henry-Bonnard Bronze Co./N.Y. (Front and rear of base, on polished plaques:) If a Patriot,/remember the distinguished / and / gallant services/rendered thy country/by the Patriot who sleeps/beneath this marble;/if thou art honest, generous and worthy,/render a cheerful tribute of respect/to a man/whose generosity was singular,/whose honesty was proverbial;/who raised himself/to universal esteem and offices of/eminent distinction/by personal worth and a useful life. signed Founder's mark appears.
The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.
Summary:
The monument consists of an equestrian portrait of General Israel Putnam holding his horse's reins with his proper left hand and pointing forward with his proper right index finger. He is dressed in his Revolutionary War uniform consisting of a tri-cornered hat, boots, knee breeches, and a jacket with fringed epaulets. A sword hangs from his proper left side. His horse walks with it proper left front leg raised. The sculpture rests on an oval base decorated around the top with a garland of oak leaves. On the north and south sides of the base are large plaques with inscriptions. Identical bronze wolf heads (the mascot of the Putnam family) were once located on the east and west sides of the base, but they were stolen in the early or mid 1980s.
