Virginia Military Institute - Bomb Yearbook (Lexington, VA)

Page 10 text:

' W SIR MOSES EZEKIEL.

Page 9 text:

Un appreciation of his noble gift; in arJmina= tion of his genius; and as a mark of the esteem in iiihich he is heM 6t the i ofps of Qadets of the inginia . Lititanif KJnstitute, the members of the Class of 903 e i cate this oolume to C lr yrCoses (bzekiel

Page 11 text:

Sir Moses Czekiel. SIR MOSES EZEKIEL, of Rome, Italy, is also a Virginian. A ncted sculptor, he is a son of the Virginia Military Institute of whom she is justly proud. Visitors to the Eternal City bring back accounts of him as the charm- ing host and the much-sought-after guest of cultivated Roman society. His studio occupies one of the Cyclo- pean halls of the Baths of Diocletian. Art critics are equally warm in praise of his work. That work does net chill the average beholder as does much expressed in stone and bronze but appeals with the force and vividness of portraits in color. Take for instance the presentment of the wife of Ambassador White, at Cornell University. Take also the bust of Liszt who was, by the way, a close friend of the sculptor. From the life one ' s very first glance at it explains why the great pianist preferred this to any other model ever made of him. Upon his preference openly expressed many and various musical institutions have set the seal of their approval by their purchase of this representation of the wizard of tones. Commissioned in 1874 by the Jewish Order, Sons of the Covenant, to produce a representation of Religious Liberty for the Centennial Exposition, he created the impressive group which stands in Fairmount Park. It is, I have understood, the largest group cut in modern times from a single block of marble and is signifi- cant of the legend which it bears : True Liberty Destroys Intolerance. Nearly four hundred years before, the D ' Castros and D ' Israels, from whom Ezekiel ' s maternal and paternal grandparents had sprung, left their native Spain because of the terrors of the inquisition during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella No alien, but he who felt the pathos as well as shared the glory of that magnificent struggle, portrayed Ezekiel ' s Confederate Soldier — Sketch though he calls it. His Christ Entombed ranks among his finest productions. The sculptor, himself of pure Hebrew lineage, has given to the Naz- arene his own inheritance, a distinctive Hebrew type of countenance. This beauti-