Lot Flannery

Lot Flannery was born in Ireland and moved to the United States when he was a child. He had already shown a natural gift for art, and began studying in earnest in Washington. He later traveled to Europe to concentrate on sculpture. In 1868, Flannery’s Abraham Lincoln, a monumental statue of the president placed atop a tall, slender pillar, was dedicated in front of the old city hall in Washington. This statue was extremely popular, but at one point it was removed and placed in storage because the pedestal was thought to be unsafe. The public outcry was so great that President Harding lobbied Congress to have it restored. Flannery’s other works were also figures and portrait busts. He lived alone and unmarried in Washington until his death in 1922.