Rufus Burleson's Statue at Baylor

Rufus Burleson died in 1901.  The following year, a committee including a 30 year old Pat Neff commissioned a statue of Burleson to be placed in the quadrangle on the Baylor University campus surrounded by the four recently constructed buildings: Old Main, Georgia Burleson Hall, the Carroll Science Building and the Carroll Library and Chapel.  The sculptor chosen was Pompeo Coppini, an Italian-born artist living in San Antonio.  Later works by Coppini include the statue of George Washington on the University of Texas campus, the statue of Sul Ross on the campus of Texas A&M University, the Alamo memorial in San Antonio and the statue of Judge Baylor also on the Baylor campus.

Coppini’s autobiography, From Dawn to Sunset, relates the August 8, 1903 session when the committee and Georgia Burleson were invited to inspect the clay model for the statue.  In attendance were members of the committee, including Pat Neff, Georgia Burleson and a granddaughter of the Burlesons.  Coppini states that all he had to work from was a poor photograph and a small portrait engraving of the subject.  However, with other information that had been provided to him, he felt that he had been able to build an image of Burleson in his mind.
 
The artist also relates that he needed a subject to pose for the work and he had found an old man on the street to serve in this capacity.  In contrast to the well known teetotaler Burleson, the man was “a dissipated whiskey drinker, reduced by the habit to the level of a bum,” but that the man served his purpose.  Coppini continued: “You may think that it was sacrilegious to use such a man to help me make a good likeness of Burleson; on the contrary, it turned out to be a real inspiration to the better conception and idealization to the man who fought and taught against such a state of degeneration.  The old man [the model] seemed to be happy when he was holding the Holy Bible.”

The committee viewed the statue in silence, examining it from every angle while Mrs. Burleson and her granddaughter remained seated at a distance.  The little girl exclaimed, “Grandma, that is Grandpa!” after which Georgia let out a cry and left the room.  Coppini’s wife escorted Georgia to their bedroom and the others followed.  Coppini was concerned that Georgia was disappointed, but was assured by Pat Neff that there was no trouble at all.  Coppini relates that Neff told him that the statue was so lifelike that Georgia could not look at it any longer without breaking down.  Coppini viewed the success of this statue as a solid early step in his Texas career. (1)

 According to Martha Cooper Garrett, the granddaughter who was not named in Coppini’s account was her mother, Emma King Burleson Cooper.



(1) Looking Back at Baylor, Kent Keeth, p. 25