''Memory'' (1924) is an 8-foot-tall bronze sculpture of a woman by Cyrus E. Dallin located in the Sherborn War Memorial in

Sherborn, Massachusetts Sherborn is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Located in Boston's MetroWest (Massachusetts), MetroWest region, the community is within area code 508 and has the ZIP Code 01770. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

' Central Cemetery.

Description

The sculpture depicts a female figure of Memory standing with her right hand held to her cheek in contemplation. Her left arm holds a

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

doughboy helmet The Brodie helmet is a steel combat helmet designed and patented in London in 1915 by Latvian inventor John Leopold Brodie (). A modified form of it became the Helmet, Steel, Mark I in Britain and the M1917 Helmet in the US. Colloquially, it wa ...

encircled by a

laurel wreath A laurel wreath is a symbol of triumph, a wreath (attire), wreath made of connected branches and leaves of the bay laurel (), an aromatic broadleaf evergreen. It was also later made from spineless butcher's broom (''Ruscus hypoglossum'') or cher ...

. She is standing in a

contrapposto ( 'counterpoise'), in the visual arts, is a human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot, so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs in the axial plane. First appearing in Ancient Greece in the early 5th ...

position wearing a high-wasted robe. This posture in dress combined with the viewers position looking up at the work places prominence on the hips. The sculpture rests atop a granite

plinth A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

in an impressive granite

exedra An exedra (: exedras or exedrae) is a semicircular architecture, architectural recess or platform, sometimes crowned by a semi-dome, and either set into a building's façade or free-standing. The original Greek word ''ἐξέδρα'' ('a seat ou ...

of New Hampshire Granite designed by Boston architect William Ware Dinsmore. Immediately behind the sculpture is a tall wall with two benches embedded in lower walls on either side. Six bronze plaques with the names of town residents who died in defense of their country from as early as

King Philip's War King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1678 between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodland ...

through World War I. Among the sixteen

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

casualties are two men from the

54th Massachusetts Regiment The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment is an infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was the second African-American regiment, following the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantr ...

. That regiment is honored in the Shaw Memorial by

Augustus Saint-Gaudens Augustus Saint-Gaudens (; March 1, 1848 – August 3, 1907) was an American sculpture, sculptor of the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts generation who embodied the ideals of the American Renaissance. Saint-Gaudens was born in Dublin to an Iris ...

in Boston.

History

William Bradford Homer Dowse, a town resident and prominent lawyer, businessman and philanthropist, funded the sculpture to honor the men of Sherborn who died in wars from 1676-1918. The statue and monument were dedicated on October 14, 1924 at a ceremony marking the town’s 250th anniversary. In 2017 the town received a grant from the Massachusetts Preservation Projects Fund to restore the statue as light green

copper sulfate Copper sulfate may refer to: * Copper(II) sulfate, CuSO4, a common, greenish blue compound used as a fungicide and herbicide * Copper(I) sulfate, Cu2SO4, an unstable white solid which is uncommonly used {{chemistry index Copper compounds ...

corrosion was visible on the head and hands with black

copper sulfide Copper sulfides describe a family of chemical compounds and minerals with the formula CuxSy. Both minerals and synthetic materials comprise these compounds. Some copper sulfides are economically important ores. Prominent copper sulfide minerals ...

settling into the garment folds. The restoration left the statue with a uniform dark bronze color that makes discerning the sculptural details challenging.

References

{{Authority control 1924 sculptures Bronze sculptures in Massachusetts Outdoor sculptures in Massachusetts Sculptures of women in Massachusetts Sherborn, Massachusetts Statues of women in the United States Works by Cyrus Edwin Dallin Allegorical sculptures in Massachusetts World War I Cemetery art

Description

History

See also

References