William Rush (sculptor)

As a teenager, he apprenticed three years with woodcarver Edward Cutbush, and soon surpassed his master in the art of carving of ships' figureheads in wood.

He designed the figurehead for a fifth original frigate, USS Constitution (Hercules, 1796, carved by John Skillin, whereabouts unknown, replaced by a figurehead of Andrew Jackson 1848), and may have designed that for the sixth, USS President (George Washington, 1800, carved by Rush's former apprentice Daniel N. Train, whereabouts unknown).

[4][5] His Water Nymph and Bittern (1809), was created as a fountain statue for the Center Square Waterworks, designed by Benjamin Latrobe, that stood at what is now the site of Philadelphia City Hall.

Architect William Strickland's Philadelphia Custom House featured a figure named Commerce (1819, whereabouts unknown).

Rush's sculptures of Wisdom and Justice (by 1825, Fairmount Park Commission) decorated a triumphal arch erected in front of Independence Hall for the 1824 visit of the Marquis de Lafayette.

During the Frenchman's 8-day stay in Philadelphia, Rush carved a portrait bust of Lafayette (1824, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts).

[19] The largest collection of Rush's work can be found at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, including Comedy, Tragedy, The Schuylkill Chained, The Waterworks, portrait busts, and the 1872 bronze casting of Water Nymph and Bittern[20] (on loan from the Fairmount Park Commission).

As the 1876 Centennial Exposition approached, he painted two versions of a scene showing Rush carving his Allegorical Figure of the Schuylkill River (Water Nymph and Bittern).

Eakins's portrayal of Rush using a nude model may not have been historically accurate, but it was important to the painter, who made many preparatory sketches and even sculpted miniature wax figures of the people and statues in the paintings.