Volk, Leonard Wells, 1828-1895

Leonard Wells Volk (1828-1895) was an American sculptor. Born November 7, 1828 in Wellstown (now Wells), New York, he was one of twelve children of Garrett and Elizabeth Gesner Volk. At sixteen he began work as a marble cutter in his father's shop in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Four years later, in 1848, he went to St. Louis, Missouri, where he opened a studio and studied drawing and modeling independent of formal instruction. Stephen A. Douglas, a cousin of Volk's wife, became interested in his work, and in 1858 supplied funds for Volk to study art in Rome. Returning to the United States in 1867, Volk settled in Chicago, where he founded the Chicago Academy of Design and served as its president for eight years.

Among Volk's principal works are the Douglas Monument (Chicago), the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument (Rochester, N.Y.), and statues of Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, General James G. Shields, Elihu B. Washburne, Zachariah Chandler, and David Davis. In 1860 he created a life mask of President Lincoln, one of only two ever made, as well as plaster casts of Lincoln's hands.

Volk was married to Emily Clarissa Barlow of Bethany, New York in 1852; they had a son, Douglas, who became a figure and portrait painter, and daughter.

From the guide to the Leonard Volk Collection, 1845-1957, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)