William McKinley (1901) by Emma Marie Cadwalader Guild

Emma Cadwalader Guild was born in Zanesville, Ohio, in 1843.  Largely self-taught, she spent much of her artistic career in Europe, establishing studios in London, Berlin, and Italy. Early works include a bronze figure of a standing African American man entitled Free, a marble bust of British statesman William Gladstone, a bronze of English artist George F. Watts, and a relief of Cardinal Henry Edward Manning. While initially Guild was relatively unknown in the United States, her bust of the late President McKinley, as well as a bust of Abraham Lincoln, brought the artist new recognition in her native country. In 1904 she exhibited at the Louisiana Exposition in St. Louis and was awarded a bronze medal. Other important U.S. projects, including a bust of Andrew Carnegie, were to follow.