Julius T. Melchers
Described as Detroit's first sculptor, he carved the city's founders in sandstone and fathered Gari Melchers.
This artist's work is shown through the museum and artist links on this page while it remains under copyright or awaits a permission-cleared image.
Melchers was born in Soest, Prussia, began studying carving at 15, and trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He worked as a modeler at London's Crystal Palace and carved ship figureheads before emigrating. He lived in Detroit from 1855.
Bela Hubbard commissioned his sandstone statues of Marquette, Cadillac, La Salle and Gabriel Richard, installed on Detroit's old City Hall in 1874. After the building's demolition in 1961, they moved to Wayne State University.