Martin Milmore (1843-1883), American Catholic Artist

MARTIN MILMORE, The Famous Catholic American Sculptor.
Martin Milmore was born in Sligo, Ireland, September 14, 1844. Coming to America he settled in Boston and studied his art with Thomas Ball, and there established his studio. In 1863 he came into prominence, for it was then that he executed the statuette called “Devotion.” For a time after this he studied in Rome, where he made the busts of Pius IX, Charles Sumner, Wendell Phillips, Emerson, and other men of note. His greatest achievement was the designing and execution of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument now on Boston Common, and which the city is proud of till this day. This monument was dedicated in 1877.

He executed, also, the Soldiers’ Monument at Charlestown, a mediocre composition (America) at Fitchburg, and the Weeping Lion for Colby University, Waterville, Maine. His bust of Charles Sumner is in the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts; Ticknor’s in the Boston Public Library. One of his best know works is the huge granite sphinx in Mount Auburn cemetery, Watertown, Mass. Mr. Milmore was a devout Catholic and died in Roxbury July 21, 1883.

Early in life, Martin Milmore took lessons in wood carving from his brother Joseph, who was also a sculptor, and in this work displayed such talent and zeal that he determined to become a sculptor. His first effort was a bust of himself, modeled with the aid of a looking-glass. After he left Thomas Ball, he produced his famous alto-relief, “Phosphor.” In September 1864 he received a commission to execute statues of Ceres, Flora, and Pomona, for the front of the old Horticultural Hall, which was on Tremont Street, opposite the Old Granary Cemetery. His life-size bust of Charles Sumner is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts, New York. His Soldiers’ Monument in Forest Hills Cemetery is much admired, but his Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument on Boston Common is his most elaborate and greatest work. His brother Joseph was associated with him in executing the monument of “The Sphinx,” in Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Henry Coyle, Theodore Mayhew, and Frank S. Hickey, eds., Our Church, Her Children, and Her Institutions (Three Volumes) (Boston: Angel Guardian Press, 1908), III, 124.