Sculptor Oscar Lenz

The Rural Cemetery's many beautiful works of art include two sculptures by Oscar Lenz. One is The Angel of The Resurrection on the Parsons family monument. The large cross also includes a dramatic frieze of a procession of figures in classical robes.


The other is the stunning relief on the mausoleum of George Porter Hilton, president of the Hilton Bridge Company. This marvelously detailed bronze depicts the Angel of Death handing poppies to a weary poet-warrior.

Both of the monuments were collaborations with famed Albany architect Marcus T. Reynolds.

Oscar Lenz, a native of Rhode Island, studied sculpture under Auguste Saint-Gaudens and assisted in creating the statue of Diana which stood atop the former Madison Square Gardens. He also worked on some of the sculptures at the original Penn Station. Sadly, Lenz's artistic career was all too brief as he died in 1912 at the age of thirty-eight.