Vinnie Ream: The First Woman Sculptor of the Capitol

Vinnie Ream made history as the first woman to receive an art commission from the federal government of the United States. Her marble statue of Abraham Lincoln has adorned the Capitol rotunda since 1871, serving as a testament to the extraordinary determination of a young artist who had to break through a male-dominated world at a time when women were only beginning to secure the right to professional work.

The Girl from the Post Office

Vinnie Ream was born in 1847 in Wisconsin, but her childhood was marked by constant moving. It wasn’t until 1861, with the outbreak of the Civil War, that her family settled permanently in Washington, D.C.

When her father’s health began to deteriorate, teenage Vinnie had to work to help support her family. She became one of the first women hired by the federal government, working as a clerk in the Dead Letter Office of the U.S. Post Office.

Office work, however, did not exhaust her energy or ambitions. The young woman sang at the Baptist church on E Street and visited military hospitals, where she comforted wounded soldiers with songs. She also raised supplies for the United States Sanitary Commission, an organization supporting Union troops. These experiences shaped her social awareness and taught her how to navigate the public sphere.

In 1863, Congressman James S. Rollins introduced Vinnie to the famous sculptor Clark Mills, who was then finishing the monumental bronze Statue of Freedom for the Capitol dome. Mills recognized the seventeen-year-old’s talent and accepted her as an apprentice at his studio. This chance encounter shaped her entire life, opening doors that were firmly closed to most women of her era.

A Controversial Commission

The year 1864 brought Vinnie Ream an opportunity any artist would have dreamed of. President Abraham Lincoln agreed to sit for her while she sculpted his bust for five months, coming to her studio in the morning hours.

These sessions allowed the young sculptor not only to capture the physical features of the nation’s head but also to get to know his personality on the eve of the war’s end and his tragic death. The resulting bust became her ticket to a great career.

Vinnie deeply understood the media mechanisms of her time. She launched an intense self-promotion campaign, selling her photographs and courting press attention. While effective, this marketing strategy also contributed to later controversies. Critics accused her of achieving success not through talent, but through beauty and social skills.

In July 1866, eighteen-year-old Vinnie Ream beat out experienced artists in a public competition and received a congressional commission for a full-size marble statue of Lincoln for the Capitol rotunda. She thus became both the youngest artist and the first woman to ever secure a federal government sculpture contract in U.S. history. Her selection sparked fierce debate: opponents cited her lack of experience and slandered her, calling her a lobbyist of questionable reputation.

European Training and the Price of Success

After completing the plaster model of the statue, Vinnie Ream traveled to Europe in 1869 with her parents. In Paris, she studied under Léon Bonnat and created busts of famed illustrator Gustave Doré and preacher Père Hyacinthe. She then moved to Rome, where she studied with Luigi Majoli and worked on carving the white Carrara marble version of Lincoln.

In the Eternal City, the young American became a favorite among the expatriate artist community. She developed a close friendship with Danish literary critic Georg Brandes and sculpted busts of composer Franz Liszt and Cardinal Antonelli.

These European connections and experiences enriched her artistic craft, though critics later accused her finished Lincoln statue of amateurism and lacking vigor.

In January 1871, the marble figure of the sixteenth President of the United States was unveiled at the Capitol. Despite later reviewers’ reservations, the sculpture was warmly received by contemporaries and remains one of the most recognized works in the American parliament. Where critics saw naive expressiveness, many viewers found authenticity and emotional power in her portrayal.

Between Art and the Conventions of the Era

The success of the Lincoln statue did not shield Vinnie Ream from political attacks. After the failed impeachment attempt against President Andrew Johnson in 1868, radical Republicans made her their scapegoat. They accused her of manipulating Senator Edmund Ross, who lived in her home and voted for Johnson’s acquittal.

These accusations, unsupported by evidence, cast a shadow over her reputation and demonstrated how easily a woman in the public arena could become the target of unfounded attacks.

In 1875, Vinnie Ream once again outcompeted prominent artists, including William Wetmore Story and John Quincy Adams Ward, winning a $20,000 commission to sculpt a bronze statue of Admiral David Farragut. The statue was cast from metal taken from the propeller of the war hero’s flagship and unveiled in April 1881 at Farragut Square in Washington.

In May 1878, while still working on the Farragut statue, Vinnie married Lieutenant Richard L. Hoxie, a future brigadier general. Their house near Farragut Square quickly became a popular gathering place for Washington’s elite.

However, marriage meant a long hiatus from creative work, as her husband expected her to abandon sculpture. Only later in life did she return to art, creating, among others, statues of Iowa Governor Samuel Kirkwood and Sequoyah for the Capitol’s Statuary Hall, which she completed shortly before her death in 1914.