Justly famous for his Iwo Jima Monument depicting American soldiers working together to raise the flag during World War II (dedicated in 1954 at Arlington Cemetery), Felix de Weldon was born in Austria and spent years studying and creating in Europe before moving to America in 1938. He was commissioned to sculpt countless busts and memorials across the globe, including the likenesses of Presidents Washington and Kennedy, and several crowned heads of Europe. This rare allegorical plaque dates from 1931, just before he moved to London for several years, and shows a nude male aloft in the cosmos, surrounded by the planets.