Paul Wayland Bartlett was the son of noted sculptor, art critic, and historian Truman Bartlett. Ironically, while the elder Bartlett taught modeling for many years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he was famously quoted as saying, “I would never have a son of mine get his art education in this country!” He proved his point by moving his wife and son to France when Paul was only nine. At fifteen, Bartlett entered the École des Beaux-Arts and studied under Frémiet, the gifted and successful animalier. Although Bartlett lived most of his life in France, he completed a number of popular public monuments for the United States. His most famous work is an equestrian statue of Lafayette that was commissioned by the government as a gift to France, and paid for by pennies and nickels collected from American schoolchildren
