Mourning Victory from the Melvin Memorial

Daniel Chester French

1906–8, carved 1912–15 · Marble · The American Wing

By 1897, the Boston businessman James C. Melvin had commissioned a funerary monument from French to honor his three brothers who had died in the Civil War. The original marble memorial was erected in 1908 at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts. Four years later, Melvin presented the Metropolitan with the funds to have this replica carved. The massive figure of Mourning Victory emerges from the block of stone projecting two moods: melancholy, in her downcast eyes and somber expression, and triumph, in the American flag and laurel she holds high. French captured the sense of calm after the storm of battle, which must have referred to the pride, after the sorrow of grieving, felt by the surviving brother.

Artist

Daniel Chester French

Date

1906–8, carved 1912–15

Medium

Marble

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of James C. Melvin, 1912