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William Couper, who was born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1853, returned from the studios of Munich and Florence and established himself in New York in 1897 as a portraitist and sculptor of busts in the modern Italian manner. He was the son-in-law of sculptor Thomas Ball (1819-1911) and colleague of Daniel Chester French. Best known for his winged figures, such as the Recording Angel in Elmwood Cemetery, Norfolk, and allegorical figures Pysche, and A Crown for the Victor, in the Montclair Art Museum; he is also represented in Virginia by the large Confederate Monument in downtown Norfolk, a heroic bronze statue of Dr. Hunter Holmes McGuire at the State Capitol, and a statue of Captain John Smith overlooking the James River at Jamestown, Virginia. Couper lived in Montclair, New Jersey until his death in 1942. A complete illustrated biography "An American Sculptor on the Grand Tour" can be found at www.wingedsun.com/books .
