Vinnie Ream, eighteen-years-old, was the first woman and the youngest person, to receive a commission from the United States government to sculpt a statue. She won the commission over many talented male sculptors. But why?

As a young girl, Vinnie Ream learned to paint and draw from members of the Winnebago tribe, in Madison, Wisconsin where she lived.  In 1861, her family moved to Washington, D.C.  To help support her family during the Civil War, fourteen-year-old Vinnie worked as a clerk for the U.S. Post Office, the first woman to do so. Vinnie also volunteered in local hospitals helping wounded soldiers to write letters home.

Vinnie Ream

Through a congressman, Vinnie met sculptor Clark Mills, a renowned artist at the time. At his studio, she watched him work and felt that she too could sculpt. Vinnie worked with clay for a few hours and made a medallion of an Indian chief’s head. Impressed by Vinnie’s ability, Mills invited her to be his apprentice.

Soon, she sculpted busts of members of Congress who became her friends. They asked her to produce a marble bust. Vinnie chose President Abraham Lincoln as her subject. The president rejected the idea at first. But after learning that Vinnie was a westerner and was not well-off financially, he agreed. It is said that Vinnie worked on her bust of Lincoln in his office over a five month period.

Vinnie Ream’s Bust of Abraham Lincoln

After Lincoln’s assassination in April 1865, Congress decided to pay tribute to him with a full-size statue to be placed in the U.S. Capitol rotunda. Impressed by the life-like appearance of her bust of Lincoln, Vinnie was awarded the $10,000 commission and was provided a studio in the basement of the Capitol. To make the correct measurements, she was given the clothing that Lincoln wore the night he was assassinated.

Unlike other sculptors, Vinnie opened her to studio to the public. Visitors watched tiny Vinnie stand on scaffolding to sculpt the tall clay model. Once it was completed, it was cast in plaster and shipped to Rome. Vinnie and her parents traveled there to select marble for the statue. She choose white Carrara marble the type that Michelangelo had used. The statue was then sculpted by Italian stonecutters and unveiled at the U.S. Capitol in January 1871. Vinnie was only twenty-three-years-old.

Vinnie Ream’s Statue of Abrahma Lincoln

“The one great, lasting, all-dominating impression that I have always carried of Lincoln has been that of unfathomable sorrow, and it was this that I tried to put into my statue.” — Vinnie Ream

If you like this post, then please consider sharing it and leaving a comment below. Thank you! Barbara Lowell, Children’s Author

A Book For Kids:

Vinnie and Abraham

by Dawn FitzGerald

Illustrated by Catherine Stock

To Learn More About Vinnie Ream Visit: http://www.vinnieream.com

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