De Hirsh Margules, Mother Ann Lighthouse, Eastern Point, Gloucester, 1946. Gouache on paper. Gift of Jean M. Horblit, 2002. [Acc. #2002.004.002]
Gloucester Daily Times: Cape Ann Museum reinstalls model of a Walker Hancock war memorial
By Gail McCarthy | April 9, 2026
Video: Walker Hancock model reinstalled
A 13-foot plaster model of a Walker Hancock statue has risen again in the newly renovated lower atrium of the Cape Ann Museum’s downtown campus, as the 150-year-old cultural institution begins to put artworks back into place as it prepares to reopen June 30.
The fragile plaster of Paris prototype for Hancock’s Pennsylvania Railroad War Memorial, also referred to as the Angel of the Resurrection, was gently lifted back into place between two towers of scaffolding as it was reinstalled by several workers under the guidance of sculptor and conservator Robert Shure.
Born in St. Louis, Hancock (1901-1998), one of the celebrated World War II Monuments Men, would later make Gloucester his home.
The actual 39-foot bronze sculpture, commissioned by the Pennsylvania Railroad as a World War II memorial, is located on the main concourse at Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station, one of the country’s busiest railway stations.
Considered one of Hancock’s most important works, the memorial depicts the Archangel Michael lifting a lifeless soldier in his arms, with the base bearing the names of more than 1,300 railroad employees who died in the war.
During the reinstallation Wednesday, first the main body of the angel was raised, followed by re-attaching the angel’s wings and sealing the seams during the delicate operation.
This is the start of the work taking place as the galleries will begin to be filled with displays, artwork, archival materials and much more after the $9 million, 20-month renovation of the museum’s Pleasant Street campus.
Shure had overseen the deinstallation of the Hancock sculpture in October 2024 prior to the construction work.
Hancock, a longtime friend and advisor to Cape Ann Museum, had a notable career, which also included the Stone Mountain Memorial in Georgia.
“His subjects have included presidents George Bush, Abraham Lincoln and James Madison; vice-presidents Hubert Humphrey and Gerald Ford; poet Robert Frost; and General Douglas MacArthur. His works grace the Library of Congress, West Point, the Great Americans Hall of Fame and the National Cathedral,” according to a Cape Ann Museum bio.
Besides repopulating the galleries with its collections, museum staff are preparing the ground-breaking special exhibition, “Avery, Gottlieb & Rothko: By the Sea.” The exhibition also opens June 30, and is the first time in Cape Ann Museum’s 151-year history that one of its exhibitions will travel to Washington, D.C., to the The Phillips Collection, which partnered with Gloucester’s museum to showcase the exhibition more widely to new audiences.
For more information, visit capeannmuseum.org.
To read the full Gloucester Daily Times article, click here.
