Moses Jacob Ezekiel (1844-1917) the noted 19th century American-Jewish sculptor, was born in Richmond, Virginia on October 28, 1844 to Jacob Ezekiel (1812-1899) and Catherine de Castro (1818-1891). Ezekiel entered Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in September 1862 and he took part in the Battle of New Market on May 15, 1864, and served in the trenches in defense of Richmond, Virginia in the Spring of 1865.

Ezekiel graduated from VMI in 1866 and  began to seriously pursue his interest in art. He studied anatomy at the Medical College of Virginia and traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio where he studied at the Art School of J. Insco Williams and in the studio of T. D. Jones. In 1867 he sailed for Europe and entered the Royal Academy of Art in Berlin, Germany.

At the age of 29, Ezekiel won the prestigious Michel-Beer Prix de Rome for a bas relief entitled "Israel." The prize money enabled him to travel to Rome, Italy where he established a studio and lived for the remainder of his life. Ezekiel died in Italy on March 27, 1917, but because of World War I, his body was not returned to the United States until 1921. He is buried at the foot of the Confederate Memorial in Section 16 of Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.

Artwork

Ezekiel executed nearly two hundred monuments in bronze and marble, including:

• Busts of many individuals, such as Lizst, Cardinal Hohenlohe, Eve, Homer, David, Judith, and Christ in the Tomb
• “Eve Hearing the Voice,” (1876)
• “Religious Liberty,” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1876)
• “Jefferson Monument,” Louisville, Kentucky (1901)
• “Virginia Mourning Her Dead,” VMI (1903)
• Statue of Anthony J. Drexel, 1905, at Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• “Blind Homer with His Student Guide,” 1907, at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
• The Confederate Soldiers' Memorial, 1914, at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia

Explore photographs of Ezekiel and his artwork below. Additional photos can be found here.