Walter Erlebacher’s maquette depicts Bishop John Neumann (1811-1860, canonized 1977) on Philadelphia’s cobbled streets, approached by everyday citizens. Neumann, the city’s fourth Catholic bishop, was “a bishop of the people” despite being underestimated by other clergy for his Bohemian accent and unassuming appearance. His sudden death in 1860 revealed his profound impact through an extraordinary public outpouring of grief. One of the ways in which Neumann transformed Philadelphia’s social fabric was by pioneering education, so the maquette features a nun teaching a young man, honoring this educational legacy.
Erlebacher envisioned Bishop John Neumann Greeting the Citizens of Philadelphia not beside a church but in a public square or along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, emphasizing Neumann’s significance as both citizen and cleric to Philadelphia. Be that as it may, the maquette’s placement in the Connelly Dining Room is “right and just,” because this space served until recently as a chapel for the resident Sisters of St. Joseph.
Born in Germany, Erlebacher left Frankfurt in 1940 for New York. After studying at Pratt Institute, where he created abstract metal sculptures, he moved to Philadelphia in 1966, teaching at Philadelphia College of Art (later University of the Arts).w
