Background
Thomas was born on March 22, 1813 in New York City. The son of Aaron and Mary (Gibson) Crawford.
Thomas was born on March 22, 1813 in New York City. The son of Aaron and Mary (Gibson) Crawford.
Thomas was an apprentice in the studios of the stonecutters Frazee and Launitz. In 1835 he went to Rome and studied under the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen.
In 1835, Thomas went to Rome, where he received some instruction from the Danish Neoclassical sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. He established a studio there and remained in Rome for the rest of his life. He did, however, maintain ties to the United States and even enjoyed success with a solo exhibition of his work at the Boston Atheneum in 1844. While abroad he was commissioned in 1854 to design a statue for the U.S. Capitol dome and major components for the Senate building, including the 80-foot- (24.4-metre-) long pediment sculpture Progress of Civilization and the pediment sculpture Justice and History located above the Senate building’s bronze doors, which he also designed. Crawford had completed his plaster model for the 19.5-foot- (5.9-metre-) tall Statue of Freedom sculpture when he died suddenly at age 43. The model, which was shipped by boat in five pieces from Rome to Washington, D.C., was finally cast in bronze in 1862, and, weighing 15,000 pounds (6,800 kg), was installed in pieces atop the Capitol dome in 1863.
Thomas was married to Louisa Ward. They had a son, Francis Crawford.