Sam Houston (Ney)


Sam Houston is a statue of Sam Houston originally modeled in 1892 by Elisabet Ney which resides in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the US Capitol, Washington, D.C. as one of the two statues from Texas; the other statue from Texas, the Stephen F. Austin statue, is also by Ney. Another carving of Sam Houston is displayed in the Texas State Capitol.

History

In 1892 Ney was commissioned by the Board of Lady Managers to execute statues of Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin for the Texas Building at the World's Columbian Exposition to be held the following year. Knowing money to be short for the project, she agreed to work without being paid for her efforts. Because she executed the Houston statue first, the Austin statue was never displayed in Chicago. When critics complained that the Houston statue was six feet two inches tall and the Austin statue was only five feet seven, she replied that those were the actual heights of the men, and that anyone with a problem should "take the issue up not with her but with God." Upon completion of her clay model, it was decided to cut two versions of the statue in marble, one for the Texas State Capitol and the other for the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington, D.C. In 1901 the state legislature appropriated the funds necessary for the carving, and the statues were unveiled in the Texas Capitol on January 19, 1903. The versions carved for the National Statuary Hall Collection were unveiled in 1905.