Moses Jacob Ezekiel

Life & Legacy

Moses Jacob Ezekiel, also known as Moses "Ritter von" Ezekiel (October 28, 1844 – March 27, 1917), was an American sculptor who lived and worked in Rome for the majority of his career. Ezekiel was "the first American-born Jewish artist to receive international acclaim". Ezekiel was an ardent supporter, in both his writings and in his works, of the Lost Cause view of the American Civil War (which he had fought in), asserting that he had "never fought for slavery, but for states' rights and for free trade." In a eulogy, President Warren Harding described him as "a great Virginian, a great artist, a great American, and a great citizen of world fame."
He was a cadet at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) and served in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, including at the Battle of New Market.
After the war, he completed his degree at VMI, and a few years later went to Berlin, studying at the Prussian Academy of Art. He subsequently moved to Rome, where he lived and worked most of his life, selling his works internationally, including several commissions in the United States.
He has been described as a "Confederate expatriate" and a "proud Southerner", and the Confederate battle flag hung in his Rome studio for 40 years. The most famous of his monuments is the Confederate Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery, which he thought of as the "crowning achievement of his career." The monument was removed on December 20, 2023; on August 5, 2025, it was announced that the monument would be reinstated.