Charles H. Niehaus

Charles H. Niehaus learned to engrave wood and carve stone at a young age. He studied at the McMicken School of Design in Cincinnati, where he won first prize for his drawing and modeling. Although he had little money, he moved to Munich in 1877 to study at the Royal Academy, winning the highest honors ever awarded to an American. His return to America in 1881 coincided with the assassination of President Garfield, and the State of Ohio selected him to create two statues of the president, one of which stands in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. The sculptures were very popular and brought Niehaus many significant commissions, including the bronze doors of Trinity Church in New York and a monument to the physician Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), founder of an alternative form of medicine called homeopathy that treats diseases with herbs.