Martin Milmore's Masterpiece, the Soldiers & Sailors Monument on Boston Common
The Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Boston Common, unveiled on September 17, 1877, was the masterpiece of sculptor Martin Milmore, who emigrated from County Sligo in 1851 with his widowed mother and four brothers, all of whom became noted artists and sculptors. Milmore was recognized as a gifted artist as a schoolboy when he attended the Brimmer School and Boston Latin School. He apprenticed to noted Boston sculptor Thomas Ball, famous for the George Washington Statue in the Boston Public Garden and the Daniel Webster statue in Central Park, New York. Shortly after Milmore received the commission to build the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial and the cornerstone was laid by city officials in September 1871, Milmore moved to Rome, Italy, where he spent the next five years modeling his designs, inspired by classical Italian sculpture. The contract stipulated that the statues and the body of the monument should be granite, and the bas-reliefs marble white. Milmore wrote to the commission