Below from "Tampa, Florida Photo blogspot".

"Margaret Plant, wife of Henry Bradley Plant, commissioned this statue and fountain to honor the memory of her husband who died June 23, 1899. Titled Transportation, its design perfectly reflects Henry Plant’s life spent building a transportation network of ships and railroads. She chose the sculptor George Grey Barnard (1863-1938)."  Mrs. Plant had the sculpture installed in front of the hotel. The fountain* itself is thought to have been designed and constructed by hotel staff at her direction.**"

*The above source may be referring to the fountain pool only. The fountain and fountain pool are two different parts.  The sculpture itself IS a fountain.

**Doubtful it was designed and built by hotel staff.     It's obvious that the designer and builder of the base was a professional.  It had to support thousands of pounds.. The same for the fountain pool as to it's design and construction--nothing that someone with no expertise in concrete basin construction should or could design, let alone build.  The blog has clearly taken it's information from the Smithsonian Art website below.  This is purely guess by whoever was interviewed by the volunteer staff of S.O.S.

SOUTH TAMPA MAGAZINE   "4 Quintessential Pieces of Tampa Public Art," May 19, 2020
McKenna Kelley basically says the same as the other sources, she attributes the piece to George Grey Barnard, but provides a date of 1900 as it's commission date.  She refers to "Plant's wife" instead of widow, a "train engine" instead of locomotive, and at the center of the sculpture is "a stern."  (It's a BOW. What ship has anchors in the stern?)  Beautiful photo in contrast to the writing.

SAVE OUTDOOR SCULPTURE!

Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS!) (1990-1995) was a nationwide survey committed to documenting and preserving America’s outdoor sculpture. Established in 1990, SOS! helped educate local communities about America’s endangered sculptural heritage. Working with 106 cooperating regional partners, SOS! conducted the first ever comprehensive survey of America’s outdoor sculpture. From 1990 through 1995, nearly 7,000 dedicated volunteers were recruited and trained to collect information on the history and condition of outdoor sculpture in their local communities.. They documented and photographed nearly 32,000 outdoor sculptures across America. The information they collected is part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s online Inventory of American Sculpture database.

Below from "Smithsonian Institution Research Information System "SIRIS" Art Inventories Catalog, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, with spelling errors and erroneous references to the "stern" left as is.    The front of a ship is the BOW.  The STERN is the rear end of a ship. Plant was a MAGNATE, not a MAGNET.

The fountain was commissioned in 1900 by Mrs. Margaret Plant, widow of railroad and shipping magnet [sic], Henry Bradley Plant. She had the fountain installed in front of the Tampa Bay Hotel, built by Henry Bradley Plant in 1891. [The hotel was completed in 1893.] The historic hotel later became the Henry B. Plant Museum of the University of Tampa*. This statue is reportedly the oldest piece of public art in Tampa. Barnard designed the statue; Hotel staff prrobably [sic] designed the fountain. ... In the center of the sculpture is a ship's stern [sic] topped by an eagle holding a treasure chest in its talons. Flanking the ship's stern [sic] are male and female sea nymphs...  Sculptor Barnard, George Grey 1863-1938, Save Outdoor Sculpture, Florida, Tampa survey, 1994. Inventory staff, 2000. SOS Conservation Notification Report, 1997. Medium: Sculpture: limestone; Base: cast concrete and stucco; Basin: cast concrete and stucco

IAS files contain related articles from the Tampa Tribune and the St. Petersburg Times, and excerpts from the books "The Treasure City-Tampa," by Gary Mormino and Tony Pizzo and "Plant's Palace: Henry B. Plant and the Tampa Bay Hotel," by James Covington. For additional information see South Tampa News, Nov. 8, 1995. 

The Treasure City-Tampa contains only a photo of the sculpture with no history.  There are no Tribune or St. Pete Times articles from the period of when the sculpture was installed.

TampaPix Note:  The identity of the sculptor and the history seen in the Smithsonian source above was provided from "S.O.S" the 1994 campaign to restore and repair old public sculptures.

*The whole building became the University of Tampa in 1933.. The museum was created years later at the south end of the building.
 

Frederic H. Spaulding unlocks the front door to the new headquarters of the University of Tampa with Dean John Coulson, 1933. From "Under the Minarets, the University of Tampa celebrates fifty years of progress, 1931-1981"

BIRTH OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TAMPA

Early in the morning on Aug. 2, 1933, a battered pick-up truck arrived at Hillsborough High School on Central Avenue. This was the day when Tampa Junior College was transformed into The University of Tampa and when its headquarters moved from the local high school to what was then known as Plant Hall. (The City of Tampa had bought the the three million dollar building for $125,000 from the Plant heirs in 1905.)  Riding on the truck was its president, Frederic H. Spaulding, the former principal of Hillsborough High School and the man who had been the motivating force behind establishing the first local university for Tampa’s high school graduates.

Portrait of Frederic Spaulding in the lobby at the University of Tampa

While the school was still known as Tampa Junior College, a committee recommend names for the school's athletic teams. Since St. Petersburg Junior College was expected to be the arch rival, and they were using the mascot  Trojans, the name Spartans was selected from the ancient Greek Trojan/Spartan war.

In 1933, when the school became the University of Tampa, athletic director and head football coach Nash Higgins selected the team colors. Since most of his players came from Hillsborough High School (red and black) and Plant High School (black and gold), Higgins combined the colors of those two schools making the UT's colors red, black and gold. See "Tampa Gets a University" here at TampaPix.

MARGARET PLANT CONTESTS HER LATE HUSBAND'S WILL

H. B. Plant (HBP) died in NY City on June 23, 1899.   In the most recent codicil (update) to his will, executed just days before his death, H. B. Plant claimed he was a resident of Connecticut.   So his Last Will & Testament (LW&T) was filed in New Haven, Connecticut by Mrs. Plant on the advice of her husband's lawyers.

Upon learning of the terms set up in this, his third codicil,  Mrs. Plant contested it, her lawyers claiming HBP was actually still a resident of New York.   In Connecticut, the trust HBP set up in the codicil was legal, but in New York it was not.

Under the terms of the new codicil, Margaret Plant and her step-son, Morton F. Plant, would receive $30,000 a year each.  A lot back then, but a drop in the bucket compared to the value of Plant's estate.  The bulk of his estate (worth over $12 million at the time of his death) was left to a yet-to-born (hereafter expressed as "YTBB") great-grandson in a trust to be disbursed when he turned 21.  Some articles claim it would be when the YTBB great-grandson's YTBB youngest sibling turned 21.  Regardless, HBP's grandson who was to be the father of this YTBB heir was Morton F. Plant's son, Henry Bradley Plant, II, who at the time of HPB's death was four years old.   So about eighteen years would have to pass for HBP-II to reach twenty-one, marry, and in nine months have a son as his first child.  Twenty-one more years would have to pass for this son to reach the age requirement of the trust, or even longer if the age referred to his youngest sibling.  At MINIMUM, the trust would not be disbursed to this heir for another thirty-nine years.

This legal proceeding dragged out for almost two years.  In this time, the value of HBP's estate doubled. 

It is doubtful that Mrs. Plant would commission ANYONE to create a memorial structure in HBP's honor during this time of the litigation. But it is not unlikely that Morton Plant would have done such a thing, as he became 80% owner of the T.B. Hotel.

In early Jan. 1902, the New York Supreme Court ruled in favor of Mrs. Plant, issuing an opinion that HBP was really still a resident of NY when he died.  See the court's decision.   A short time later, the Probate Court in New Haven, CT transferred the administration of the estate, which by then had been assessed at about $24 million, to New York.  Read about the final settlement of Plant's estate. Mrs. Plant would inherit one-third, over $8 million, with her stepson inheriting the remainder, after dispersing funds to HPB's desired charities.  Morton Plant's share amounted to nearly double of his step-mother's.    Early articles about Mrs. Plant's contesting of the Will state that Morton Plant was not a party of the contesting of the Will and instead was opposed to it.

THE PICCIRILLI BROTHERS - THE SCULPTING VERSION OF GHOSTWRITING
A ghostwriter is someone hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are putatively credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit their autobiographies, memoirs, magazine articles, or other written material. (Wikipedia)

Tampa Morning Tribune,  March 28, 1902, page 5: 

"F. Piccarilli [sic], the designer of the Plant Memorial fountain, is here to superintend the setting up of the handsome piece of sculpture."

Notice this is almost two months AFTER Plant's estate had been settled and administered, with Mrs. Plant receiving over $8 million worth of HPB's estate property including 20% share of the T.B. Hotel, and his son, Morton Plant,  receiving over $15 million worth of estate property and 80% share of the hotel.

It was more likely that if either of the Plant heirs commissioned someone to create this sculpture, it would have been Morton Plant, as he received twice the share that his step-mother received AND Morton was 80% owner of the T.B. Hotel.

In 1888, Giuseppe Piccirilli (1844–1910), a well-known stone carver in Massa, Italy, and a veteran of Garibaldi's Unification war, brought his family to New York City. Giuseppe, who was born in Rome and received his early training in the atelier of Roman sculptor Stefano Galletti, came from a long line of stone carvers, unbroken since the days of the early Renaissance. All six of his sons—FERUCCIO (1864–1945), Attilio (1866–1945), FURIO (1868–1949), Masaniello (aka Thomas) (1870–1951), Orazio (aka Horatio, Horace) (1872–1954) and Getulio (1874–1945)—were trained as marble cutters and carvers."

Since there was no prior publicity concerning this sculpture, the Tribune MAY have erred in referring to Mr. Piccirilli as the "designer."  But no mistake about it, he was in town to supervise the installation of this sculpture.  It can be easily seen that the sculpture was created in at least two parts--a vertical seam can be seen just left of center of the ship's bow. The eagle and strongbox were probably a third piece, thus requiring assembly.

Although the Piccirilli Brothers were known primarily as architectural modelers and the carvers of other sculptors' works, Attilio and Furio further distinguished themselves as sculptors in their own right."  This is the same family of brothers who carved the statue of Abraham Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial.

At right, Giuseppe Piccirilli and Barbara Giorgi Piccirilli, ca. 1880, parents of the stone carving Piccirilli brothers. Photo from "Evidence of a Myth" by Eduardo Montes-Bradley at Heritage Film Project. See: The Italian Factor: "The Piccirilli Contributions to Public Art in America" and Furio Piccirilli, Notes for a Documentary Film. Unless otherwise noted, some excerpts below are from: How Six Italian Immigrants From the South Bronx Carved Some of the Nation's Most Iconic Sculptures. by Lucie Levine. All six brothers--Ferrucio, Attilio, Furio, Masaniello, Orazio, and Getulio,--were born in Massa, Tuscany, near the world famous marble quarries of Carrara, where their father, Giuseppe, was a master carver. Giuseppe taught his trade to all six sons, and Attilio and Furio continued their studies at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome. Before coming to New York in 1888, the Piccirillis spent two years in London.  Attilio and Furio lived in a rented space in Chelsea where Furio was the first to find a job.  Later that year (1887), all the Piccirillis from Massa-Carrara, except for the oldest brother Ferruccio, joined Attilio in London. (Eduardo Montes-Bradley at Heritage Film Project.) Fortuitously, the Piccirillis arrived in New York at the dawn of the City Beautiful Movement (1890 – 1920), a model of city planning that sought to engender moral and social uplift through inspiring civic architecture. The movement’s monuments were wrought in the classical carving style the Piccirillis had perfected. Tampapix note:  There was also a sister,  Jole, born in June 1886 just before leaving Italy. Photo ca. 1930 from The Italian Factor: "The Piccirilli Contributions to Public Art in America." Identification from  Mott Haven Herald "Sculpting family carved Mott Haven legacy." Albert Ten Eyck, a former sculpture curator at the Met, explained, “with the arrival of the Piccirillis, it became unnecessary for American sculptors to go to Italy to have their sculpture translated into marble. It became unnecessary, in fact, for a sculptor to know anything about stone cutting, and some were quite content to model in clay, and have all their stonework done by the Piccirillis.” The brothers faced some anti-immigrant sentiment even as they worked to realize some of the United States’ most patriotic sculptures. For example, the Art Commission of Virginia rejected Attilio’s sketches for a bust Thomas Jefferson, noting that the name Piccirilli would not be welcome in Virginia. Similarly, The Lincoln Memorial Commission rejected French’s suggestion to have “Piccirilli” inscribed on the pedestal of the Lincoln Memorial. In fact, it was unusual for the Piccirilli name to be inscribed anywhere. The brothers often toiled in anonymity, and as classical, figurative sculpture lost favor to more modern styles in the 1920s and ‘30s, their relationship to the city’s monuments faded into memory. By the 1940s, an art critic even suggested that the bronze sculptures on top of the Maine Monument be melted down for the war effort.

Above excerpts from: How Six Italian Immigrants From the South Bronx Carved Some of the Nation's Most Iconic Sculptures. by Lucie Levine. SEE PHOTOS AT THE NYPL

Only three mentions of George Barnard are found in the Tribune:

On Sep. 11, 1902, the Students' Art Club met at home of Mrs. Deakyne.  The club president told of the "young artist Barnard" having recently been commissioned with a $350,000 contract.  She contrasted the amount with how much Barnard lived on while he was studying in Paris--"$350 for three years." 

Barnard first studied at the Art Institute of Chicago under Leonard Volk. The prize he was awarded for a marble bust of a Young Girl enabled him to go to Paris,[3] where, over a period of three and half years, he attended the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1883–1887), while also working in the atelier of Pierre-Jules Cavelier. He lived in Paris for twelve years, and scored a great success with his first exhibit at the Salon of 1894. He returned to America in 1896, and married Edna Monroe of Boston. He taught at the Art Students League of New York from 1900 to 1903, succeeding Augustus Saint-Gaudens. He returned to France, and spent the next eight years working on his sculpture groups for the Pennsylvania State Capitol. He was elected an associate member of the National Academy of Design in 189x, and an academician in 1902. (Wikipedia)

The club president's mention of a $350,000 contract recently given to Barnard was about Barnard's commission to create the sculptures for the Pennsylvania State Capitol.

The Pennsylvania State Capitol sculpture groups are a pair of larger-than-life, multi-figure groups by American sculptor George Grey Barnard, that flank the west entrance to the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Barnard was commissioned to create the sculptures in 1902, and modeled them in clay and plaster over several years in France.  Piccirilli Brothers carved them in white Carrara marble in New York City, and installed the finished sculptures at the Capitol in 1911. (Wikipedia)

     

If Barnard was commissioned by Mrs. Plant or Morton Plant to create the memorial sculpture installed in front of the T.B. Hotel in March/April of 1902, why would the Students Art Class president not mention this, being so relevant to Tampa?  If she did, surely the Tribune would have included this fact.

On Oct. 8, 1910, The Tampa Tribune published a short two-paragraph article "Six-year-old child of George Grey Barnard has fractured skull." Datelined "PARIS, Oct. 5. The 6-year-old son of George Grey Barnard, the American sculptor, while riding a bicycle today was struck by an automobile at Fontainebleau.  His skull was fractured.  He was brought to the Doyen Hospital here."

On Dec. 23, 1910, the Tampa Tribune published an article about the Students' Art Club meeting on the previous day.  An oral review of George Gray Barnard was given. Now he was "...the American sculpture who ranks as second in the world..." and again his previous rags to riches life.