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Mount Vernon Cemetery

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1856, John Notman. Ridge and W. Lehigh aves.
  • Gardel monument (© George E. Thomas)

Within this cemetery is Philadelphia's most remarkable funeral monument, Napoleon LeBrun's Bertram Gardel monument designed c. 1862. Drawing on classical sources, it combines a pyramid as base against which stand marble figures carved by Guillaume Geefs (1805–1883), “statuary to the king of Belgium,” whose source was Benjamin West's Agripinna Landing at Brundisium with the Ashes of Germanicus, which in turn was based on the Augustan Ara Pacis reliefs. Allegorical figures complete the narrative, with Africa, Asia, and Europe joining America in mourning the subject's death.

Writing Credits

Author: 
George E. Thomas
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Data

What's Nearby

Laurel Hill Cemetery
St. James the Less Episcopal Church
Fairmount Park
Schuylkill River Bridges
“Mount Pleasant,” John McPherson House

Citation

George E. Thomas, "Mount Vernon Cemetery", [Philadelphia, Pennsylvania], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/PA-02-PH135.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of PA vol 2

Buildings of Pennsylvania: Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania, George E. Thomas, with Patricia Likos Ricci, Richard J. Webster, Lawrence M. Newman, Robert Janosov, and Bruce Thomas. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2012, 121-121.

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