10/26/2026
In a square that bears his name, Admiral David Farragut’s bronze statue looms over the park from atop a granite base. The imposing figure echoes many military statues found in our nation’s capital, but this particular work was created by a female artist who would captivate the city.
Lavinia Ellen Ream, known as Vinnie, moved to DC in 1861. As a teenager, she began working for the United States Post Office to help support her family. She was soon introduced to noted sculptor Clark Mills, who took Ream in as an apprentice. In 1864, Ream convinced President Abraham Lincoln to model for her over several months. She knew that a teenage girl sculpting the President was newsworthy and began promoting herself and her work.
After Lincoln’s assassination, Congress sought an arist to create a full size marble statue of Lincoln for the Capitol. Ream would become the youngest artist and the first woman to receive a commission as an artist for Congress, using the previous bust made from life as her entry. Her selection was controversial, given her age and inexperience – and also because she was a beautiful woman with an interest in politics.
It would take Vinnie Ream five years to complete her statue of Lincoln, as she traveled across Europe to study, and the spotlight followed her wherever she went. When the statue was unveiled in the United States Capitol Rotunda on January 25, 1871, the 23-year-old sculptor was praised for her work. That praise did not always translate to other jobs though. Her gender and youth inspired enemies to spread untrue rumors that her prized Lincoln statue had been done by Italian craftsmen.
Ream ceased most of her sculpting once she married in 1878, likely at her husband’s request. She occasionally lobbied for major projects, including appealing personally to General William Sherman and Mrs. Farragut to sculpt the Farragut memorial, dedicated in 1881.
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