Existing comment:
This vase was erected by his friends
in memory of
Andrew Jackson Downing
who died July 23, 1852, Aged 37 years
He was born and lived,
and died upon the Hudson River.
His life was devoted to the improvement of the national
taste in rural art,
which he lived had fully endowed him.
His success was as great as his genius and for the death
of few public men
was public grief ever more sincere.
When these grounds were proposed, he was at once
called to design them:
but before they were completed he perished in the wreck
of the steamer Henry Clay.
His mind was singularly just, penetrating and original
his manners were calm, reserved, and courteous.
His personal memory
belongs to the friends who love him:
his fame to the country which honors and laments him. |