Pierre Laclede
By George Julian Zolnay
Category: Statue
About
Pierre Laclede is a memorial depicting the frenchman posed in a classical style with one hand resting on the handle of his sheathed sword. A description on the pedestal reads, “Pierre de Laclede Liguest, born Bedous France, 1724, died on the bank of the Mississippi River, 1778.”
Dimensions: 18′ x 10′ x 10′
Year Completed: 1912
Material: Bronze with granite pedestal
Owner: City of St. Louis
About the artist:
George Julian Zolnay
1863-1949
Zolnay, a native of Hungary, came to New York in 1892 after studying at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and the Royal Academy in Bucharest. He played a prominent role in the design of the sculpture exhibits at the 1904 World’s Fair. In the next few years he received commissions to design the statue of Pierre Laclede on the grounds of St. Louis City Hall and the Confederate Memorial in Forest Park. He remained in St. Louis to teach at Washington University and later at Lewis’s Art Academy. Eventually he settled in Washington, D.C.