J. Danforth Quayle served as the nation’s forty-fourth Vice President from January 20, 1989, to January 20, 1993. A native of Indiana, he was elected a Representative from that state in 1976 and 1978. In 1980 he was elected to the United States Senate, where he served from January 3, 1981, until January 3, 1989. He resigned to become Vice President under President George Herbert Walker Bush; was inaugurated on January 20, 1989; and served for four years.

Frederick Hart was selected to create the bust, and a contract with him was signed in 1998. Mr. Hart (1943-1999) studied at the University of South Carolina, the Corcoran School of Art, and the American University. In 1967 he began to work with the master stonecutter at the National Cathedral in Washington. Among his notable works are the Creation Sculptures at the entrance to the National Cathedral, Three Soldiers for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, and the James Earl Carter presidential statue at the Georgia State Capitol. Two works by Mr. Hart are already in the U.S. Senate: the marble Richard B. Russell memorial statue and the bronze bust of Senator Strom Thurmond.

The Vice President sat for Hart at the artist’s studio in Hume, Virginia, and a life mask was made as a reference for the modeling. In 1999, while the bust was still in clay, Mr. Hart died. His assistant, Jeffery Hall, made the final adjustments to the clay and cast the plaster model. After the model was approved by the Vice President and the Architect of the Capitol, the bust was carved in white Carrara marble by New York sculptor Daniel Sinclair. The bust was completed in 2002. One of Frederick Hart’s last works, it bears the signatures of all three sculptors who worked on it.