Statues & Statuary

In 1913, a memorial fountain was dedicated at President's Park in memory of two United States officials who drowned on the RMS Titanic. Francis Millet, who served on the Commission of Fine Arts and took part in the design of the National Mall, and Archibald Butt, a Major in the U.S. Army and a presidential military aide, were popular, well-respected men.

This statue memorializes Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben as Inspector General of the Continental Army of the United States. The Prussian born general was skilled in the ways of military tactics and standards. While never explicitly stated, it is assumed that Baron von Steuben was gay. This memorial not only honors von Steuben’s military accomplishments, but also his closest intimate relationships.

The Diana statue marks the entrance to the Chatham gardens. This terracotta artwork was placed in the garden in the 1920s. After being donated to the Virginia Musuem of Fine Arts many years ago, it was restored to its place in the garden in 2019.

Dante Aligheri was an Italian poet best known for his 1320 work, "The Divine Comedy," an allegorical representation of the afterlife according to the Catholic faith. The statue was a gift from Carlo Barsotti of New York on behalf of Italian-born Americans.

Bernardo de Gálvez (1746-1786) was the governor of the Spanish province of Louisiana during the American Revolution and supporting the American colonies' fight for independence.

Benito Juárez (1806-1872) was known as known as the father of modern Mexico and president from 1858 until 1872.

Edmund Burke (1729-1797) was born in Ireland and was a member of the British parliament between 1765 and 1780. He is best remembered as a staunch advocate of conservatism. In the run up to the American Revolution, he was a proponent of preventing violence in the American colonies, sympathizing with the colonists' grievances and opposing the authoritarianism King George III showed.

The large Orpheus statue greets visitors on their way into the park. Learn more about the statue and its meaning.

John Marshall (1755-1835) was one of the most influential Supreme Court justices in the history of the court. Marshall wrote the landmark opinion in Marbury v. Madison which established the Supreme Court as having the power to review the legality of congression actions. Marshall also defined the boundaries of the necessary and proper clause of the Constitution and concluded that business monopolies were unconstitutional.

Nathanael Greene was a revolutionary war general known as "The Fighting Quaker." His army harried British General Charles Cornwallis in his campaign through the Carolinas, weakening the expeditionary force and contributing to Cornwallis's eventual surrender at Yorktown.Sculptor: Henry K. BrownInscriptionsSacred to the Memory of Nathanael Green Esquire a Native of the State of Rhode Island who Died on the 19th of June 1786Late Major General in the Service of the U.S. and Comma