Herbert Haseltine (1877–1962) was an equestrian sculptor who is best known for his bronze of  thoroughbred race horse Man o’ War at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky and “George Washington on Horseback”, Gilded bronze statue at the Washington National Cathedral made in 1959.

Herbert Haseltine with Man O’ War and his groom

Herbert Haseltine

1877–1962

Location: Born Rome, Italy
Died in: Paris, France

Herbert was the son of the famed american landscape painter, William Stanley and lived most of his life in Italy, France and the United States. He studied at Harvard University before moving to Germany to attend the Munich Academy in Germany to study drawing and then to the Académie Julian in Paris, France where he studied painting.

After dabbling in painting and sculpture, Herbert decided to move to France and pursue sculpture for the next 35 years of his life until the German occupation of France during World War II. He then moved to the United States where he remained until 1947 at which time he returned to France. He also traveled to India and created a life size statue of  one of the ancestors of  Jam Shri Rawalji (ruler of Nawanagar State, an historical area in India) in 1933. Herbert was also friends with many of France and America’s upper class society and entertained many in his homes in France and the US, which of course led to many commissions of sculptures of horses and other animals.

Equestrian statue of Sir John Dill statue at Arlington National Cemetery

Herbert Haseltine died in Paris, in 1962. He was buried at the Protestant Cemetery Caius Cestius in Rome, where his parents and siblings are buried as well. His work can be seen in various museums and galleries in Europe and America, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, USA.