Monthly Archives: August 2012

Cherub

Posted on August 31, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

This white marble sculpture of a Cherub is poised to write in the Book of Life, represented here as a scroll attached to a tree stump.  The tree stump, which is not fully matured, symbolizes a life cut short.   The Cherub is … Continue reading →

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Cherubim, part 2

Posted on August 30, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

Cherubim are one of nine orders or choirs of angels which are organized into three spheres, with three choirs in each sphere.  According to Christian tradition, the first sphere, which is made up of the Seraphim, Cherubim, and the Thrones, … Continue reading →

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Cherubim

Posted on August 29, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

Cherubim, an order or choir of angels, are usually portrayed as chubby babies with wings.  In the angel hierarchy cherubim are considered to be in the second highest order of the nine orders of angels.  The Cherubim were sent to Earth to … Continue reading →

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Mother and Daughter

Posted on August 28, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

In the Union Cemetery at St. Clairsville, Ohio, stands a lifesize white marble gravestone of a woman.  She is leaning against a post, holding a scroll in one hand and a wreath in the other.  The gravestone looks like a … Continue reading →

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Baby Shoes and Socks!

Posted on August 26, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

A pair of shoes often memorializes the grave of a child.  In this case, the pair of shoes marks the grave of a one and a half-year girl named Eleanor buried in the Oakland Cemetery at Atlanta, Georgia.  The headstone forms … Continue reading →

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Baby Shoes

Posted on August 25, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

There are many symbols that represent the young in funerary art—the broken bud, the lamb, and shoes.  A pair of shoes, reminiscent of the baby shoes that so many parents have bronzed, represents the loss of a child.  Sometimes one … Continue reading →

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Double scroll

Posted on August 25, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

This monument of cast zinc in the Union Cemetery at Morristown, Ohio, marks the graves of a mother and a father, Jonathan and Mariah Carpenter.  The monument features two scrolls side by side.  The scroll is a symbol that has … Continue reading →

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Same Statue, Different Base

Posted on August 24, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

The Monumental Bronze Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut, produced white bronze cemetery markers and monuments to order—none of the monuments were premade.  The customer put together a marker paging through a catalog, choosing the frame, the panels, the epitaph, and the inscription.  … Continue reading →

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Praying child, A closer look

Posted on August 23, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

KATIE L. McCARTY DAUGHTER OF E.E. & S.F. McCARTY DIED AUG. 26, 1882 AGED 13 YRS 4 MOS 19 DYS A closer look at the zinc monument of Katie McCarty portrays an innocent young child in image and word. The … Continue reading →

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Praying Child

Posted on August 22, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

The Monumental Bronze Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut, produced white bronze cemetery markers and monuments in a wide assortment of sizes and shapes.  The markers they produced often mimicked the gravestones that were being produced in stone.  What traditional stone carvers … Continue reading →

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