Carl Conrads (1839-1920) was born in Breisig on the Rhine, Germany. He studied modeling in Munich until his departure for the United States in the year 1860. Conrads returned to Munich for a short time in 1871 to study sculpture.
When he first arrived in the United States, Conrads settled in New York City. He worked there until his enlistment in the Union Army in 1862. He fought in the Civil War until 1864. Following this service to his adopted country, Conrads returned to life as a sculptor. This marked the real beginning of his career.
Having begun as a carver in wood, Conrads later shifted to sculpting stone. Under the employ of the Hartford Granite Company, he executed public monuments and funerary sculpture. Among his works, in addition to those for the Connecticut State Capitol, are the statues of Alexander Hamilton, for Central Park, New York; General Thayer, for West Point, and John Stark and Daniel Webster, both of which are on display in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Conrads executed the full-length marble figures of Horace Bushnell (1895) and of Noah Webster (1895) that stand in niches at the second floor level of the East Facade of the Connecticut State Capitol.
Capitol Sculpture, East Facade: Portrait Roundel of Noah Webster, by Carl Conrads, 1895
Map of Carl H. Conrads Works
Sources
- Art and Artists of the Capitol of the United States of America : Written by Charles Fairman, Washington, DC, 1927 (p. 398-400)
- Art and Artists in Connecticut : Written by H.W. French, New York, 1897 (p.162)