John Donoghue

Background

John Donoghue was born in 1853 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. His parents had come from western Ireland.

Education

As a youth Donoghue was clerk in the Recorder’s office until a change of administration forced him out. In 1875 he entered the Chicago Academy of Design where he won a scholarship with a bust of a Vestal virgin. After two years he was enabled to go to Paris where he studied under Jouffroy at the École des Beaux-Arts and in 1880 exhibited at the Salon a plaster bust, “Phaedra. ”

Career

Donoghue returned to America. He held an exhibition in Horticultural Hall, Boston, and in that city he made his “Boxer, ” using as a model John L. Sullivan, whom he considerably idealized. After reaching Chicago he gained a certain fame from Oscar Wilde’s praises, which were also instrumental in enabling him to return to Paris in 1882 or 1883. This time he was under Falguiere. To the Salon of 1884 he sent a bronze bas-relief of a seraph, made in Rome. In Rome, likewise, he modeled his best-known work, “Young Sophokles leading the chorus of victory after the battle of Salamis” (1885), a statue suggested by his reading of Plumptre. It was exhibited in the London Royal Academy in 1890. Shortly after the “Young Sophokles” came the “blunting Nymph, ” exhibited at the Salon of 1887. To this time also belong some portraits and a statuette, “Hannibal. ” He returned to America again and to Boston where he did some portrait work. The public library there preserves two bronze busts by him: “Hugh O’Brien” (1888), and “J. B. O’Reilly” (1897).

In the late eighties or early nineties he spent about two years in London, exhibiting at the Royal Academy in 1890, besides the “Young Sophokles, ” a bust of Mrs. Ronalds. He then again went to Rome where he modeled for the Chicago World’s Fair a colossal figure called “The Spirit, ” inspired by Milton. It was so large that he used as a studio the baths of Diocletian. The statue never reached its destination, however. Half of it reached Brooklyn, when the sculptor’s funds gave out; this half was finally destroyed and the part left in Rome disappeared. It is said that the Chicago Exposition officials had refused the statue for fear that winds from Lake Michigan might overturn it. It was one of Donoghue’s major attempts and its fate was a grievous disappointment to him. He was, however, represented at the Chicago Exposition by the “Young Sophokles, ” the “Hunting Nymph, ” and “Kypris. ” The last-named had figured in the Salon of 1892. Donoghue worked for a time for New York architects in the ornamentation of buildings. The “St. Paul” of the Library of Congress and the “St. Louis of France” for the Appellate Court Building, New York, are due to him. Another recorded work is called “Egyptian Ibis. ” A second bitter disappointment came when his design for a McKinley memorial for Philadelphia was refused on account of expense.

As a sculptor Donoghue showed much promise though he never reached the first rank. He is now remembered chiefly for his “Young Sophokles. ”

Worried and oppressed by disappointment and financial difficulties he shot himself. His body was found on the shores of Lake Whitney near New Haven.

Achievements

• John's best-known work is “Young Sophokles leading the chorus of victory after the battle of Salamis” (1885), a statue suggested by his reading of Plumptre.

Works

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  • Fire under the Ashes: An Atlantic History of the English Revolution

    ( In Fire under the Ashes, John Donoghue recovers the las...)

  • The Death's Head Chess Club: A Novel

    ( A novel of the improbable friendship that arises betwee...)

  • The Complete Poetry and Selected Prose of John Donne (Modern Library Classics)

    ( This Modern Library edition contains all of John Donne's...)

  • Police, Arrests & Suspects: The True Story of a Front Line Officer

    (FACT is stranger than FICTION on the front line... Who's ...)

  • Shiitake Growers Handbook: The Art and Science of Mushroom Cultivation

    (Great growing mushroom guidebook!!)

Personality

As a man Donoghue was tall and handsome, by nature reticent, generous to the point of frequently impoverishing himself, witty, and most winning of manner. Though naturally unaffect ed he is said to have developed certain eccentricities after meeting and admiring Wilde.