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John Harvard (statue)

John Harvard
A bronze sculpture, on a tall granite plinth, of a man sitting in a chair with an open book in his lap. The statue as a whole is darkly weathered, but the toe of the figure's left shoe is shiny as if from frequent rubbing.
"He gazes for a moment into the future, so dim, so uncertain, yet so full of promise, promise which has been more than realized." 
Artist
Year 1884 (1884)
Type Bronze
Dimensions
  • 71 by 38.6 by 65 in
    (180 by 98 by 165 cm) (sculpture)
  • 61 by 72 by 12 in
    (155 by 183 by 30 cm) (plinth) 
Location Harvard Yard, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Coordinates: 42°22′28″N 71°07′02″W / 42.37447°N 71.11719°W / 42.37447; -71.11719

John Harvard is a sculpture in bronze by Daniel Chester French in Harvard Yard, Cambridge, Massachu­setts honoring John Harvard (1607–1638), whose deathbed bequest to the "schoale or Colledge" recently undertaken by the Massachu­setts Bay Colony was so gratefully received that it was consequently ordered "that the Colledge agreed upon formerly to bee built at Cambridg shalbee called Harvard Colledge."  There being nothing to indicate what John Harvard had looked like, French used a Harvard student collaterally descended from an early Harvard president as inspiration.

The statue's inscription‍—‌JOHN HARVARD  •   FOUNDER  • 1638‍—‌is the subject of an , traditionally recited for visitors, questioning whether John Harvard justly merits the honorific founder. According to a Harvard official, the founding of the college was not the act of one but the work of many; John Harvard is therefore considered not the founder, but rather a founder, of the school, though the timeliness and generosity of his contribution have made him the most honored of these.

Tourists often rub the toe of John Harvard's left shoe for luck, in the mistaken belief that doing so is a Harvard student tradition.


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Wikipedia

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