Thomas Ridgeway Gould

Thomas Ridgeway Gould, (1818-1881) was an American sculptor but was first a merchant with his brother in the dry-goods business.

In 1851, he started studying sculpture and then in 1863, he exhibited two large heads of Christ and Satan at the Boston Athenæum.

Due to the American Civil War, he lost all funds that he had created for himself and had to move back in with his parents to Florence, Italy in 1868.

In doing so gave him extra time and head space making it easy to dedicate himself to studying and work.

For this reason, West Wind was created in 1870 but in spite of that, West Wind, created problems for Gould.

Yet in 1874, West Wind caused problems due to the fact that that it was said that the sculptor looked like a copy of Canova’s Hebe, with the only difference being the drapery, but was later on proved groundless.

West Wind was later shown in the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876, and all told Gould subsequently made seven copies in two sizes.

He also created statues of Kamehameha the Great, Cleopatra, Timon of Athens, Ariel, and John Hancock (now in the town hall of Lexington, Massachusetts).