Jacquelyn Delin McDonald, a PhD candidate of Humanities-Aesthetic Studies, was recently awarded a prestigious two-month fellowship in Washington D.C. funded by the United States Capitol Historical Society to aide her dissertation research on the German-American sculptor, Elisabet Ney.
The United States Capitol Historical Society (USCHS) began its fellowship program in 1986, and since has hosted more than fifty scholars whose research involves works housed in the United States Capitol. Through the support of USCHS fellows gain access to documents in the office of the Architect of the Capitol, the Library of Congress, the National Archives, as well as the numerous museums and galleries in the D.C. Metro area. Jacquelyn also holds a Graduate Research Fellowship with the Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History at UT Dallas for the 2019-2020 academic year.
Jacquelyn’s dissertation project involves the lesser-known Elisabet Ney, who would establish herself in Germany, sculpting illustrious members of society such as Schopenhauer, Garibaldi, Bismarck and Ludwig II, and later in the United States, sculpting Texan legends Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin. Marble statues of Ney’s Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin are prominently housed at the Texas State Capitol, as well as the United States Capitol. While the works are seen on various news programs as flanking devices, few realize that these works were made by a female sculptor at a time when women could not yet even vote. Another work by Ney also housed in D.C. at the Smithsonian includes her Lady Macbeth, which is often considered a self-portrait of the artist. Jacquelyn’s dissertation, chaired by Dr. Richard Brettell, works to divest Ney’s transnational career in a more holistic sense, considering various analyses to situate the artist and her work.
As a Capitol Fellow, Jacquelyn has the opportunity to give a lecture to the D.C. community, and she is scheduled to present “Elisabet Ney’s Sam Houston:
the wildest of men” at the U.S. Capitol in early November. She will also submit an article for the USCHS publication, The Dome, on Elisabet Ney and “the sculptress phenomenon” of the 19th century this upcoming spring.
View more about Jacquelyn in the EODIAH Scholar Updates and Jacquelyn’s lecture in November 2019.