The Young Sophocles Leading the Chorus of Victory after the Battle of Salamis

John Talbott Donoghue

1885, cast 1927 · Bronze · The American Wing

In his best-known work, Donoghue represented Sophocles, the Greek dramatist of tragedy, in the year 480 B.C., at age sixteen. After the Athenians’ decisive defeat of the Persians in sea combat, the Battle of Salamis, the exultant group erected a trophy. Because of his musical talent, young Sophocles was elected to lead the chorus of victory. He is poised, mouth open in song, as his right hand releases the strings of his lyre. The original plaster was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1886 and was awarded an honorable mention. At the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, the piece won a first-place prize. In 1917, the Metropolitan Museum purchased a plaster cast from the Art Institute of Chicago, and ten years later, this bronze was replicated from it.

Artist

John Talbott Donoghue

Date

1885, cast 1927

Medium

Bronze

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1927