Known as a leading Beaux-Art sculptor, Paul Wayland Bartlett began his career specializing in animals and then turned to public portrait and equestrian statues. His most ambitious sculpture was the pediment for the Senate Wing of the United States Capitol in Washington D.C.

He was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and was the son of neoclassical sculptor Truman Bartlett, long time modeling teacher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In 1874, under his mother's supervision, Paul Bartlett went to Paris to study where he became one of the first Americans to turn from the prevalent neoclassical style taught in Italy to the more progressive methods at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Although he continuous...