John Harvard, (sculpture).

John Harvard, (sculpture).

French, Daniel Chester, 1850-1931, sculptor.

Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company, founder.

John Harvard, (sculpture).

Dedicated Oct. 15, 1884.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze; Base: fine-hammered granite.

Sculpture: approx. 71 x 38 1/2 x 65 in.; Base: approx. 61 x 72 x 12 in.

(On proper right side of bronze base:) Daniel C. French / 1884. (On proper left side of bronze base:) THE HENRY-BONNARD BRONZE CO./NEW YORK 1884. (On front of granite base:) JOHN HARVARD / FOUNDER / 1638 (On bronze plaque on right side of granite base:) VE RE TAS / HARVARDIANE/SIGILLUM/1638/ACADEMIAE (On bronze plaque on left side of stone base:) EMANUEL / SACRAE/THEOLOGIAE/STUDIOSIS/POSIT/GVA (On back of stone base:) GIVEN BY/SAMUEL JAMES BRIDGE/JUNE 17, 1884 signed Founder's mark appears.

A portrait of John Harvard seated in a chair with an open book resting on his proper right leg. More books are piled beneath his chair. His academic robe is open and falls across the arms and seat of the chair. The sculpture is installed on a square stone base adorned with two oval bronze relief plaques. The relief plaque on the right side depicts the Arms of Harvard, a shield featuring three open books inscribed with VE RE TAS. The relief plaque on the left side depicts the Arms of Cambridge University in England, a lion holding a wreath with its proper left paw and a banner inscribed with EMANUEL in its mouth.

Portrait male -- Harvard, John -- Full length

Occupation -- Education -- University Founder

Object -- Written Matter -- Book

Outdoor Sculpture -- Massachusetts -- Cambridge

Administered by Harvard University, Harvard University Portrait Collection, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 Accession Number: B37

Located Harvard University, Old Harvard Yard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

This sculpture, presented by Samuel James Bridge in 1884, was originally installed in the Delta, behind Memorial Hall. Twenty-five years later it was moved to Old Harvard Yard, in front of University Hall. IAS files contain an excerpt from Samuel Eliot Morison's "Three Centuries of Harvard," Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1964, pg. 361-362. IAS files also contain a copies of two pages from the dedication program for Oct. 15, 1884.

Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985

Richman, Michael, "Daniel Chester French: An American Sculptor," New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1976, pg. 56-61.

Greenthal, Kathryn, "Augustus Saint-Gaudens: Master Sculptor," New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1985, pg. 41.

Harvard University, 1991.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Massachusetts survey, 1994.

Richman, Michael, "Daniel Chester French: An American Sculptor," New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1976, pg. 7 and 56.

Greenthal, Kathryn, "Augustus Saint-Gaudens: Master Sculptor," New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1985, pg. 41.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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