Sappho

Sculpture

-

Drexel Founding Collection

#ADM.391, Photograph by Lynn (Clouser) Waddell 2013

Name/Title

Sappho

Entry/Object ID

391

Acquisition

Source (if not Accessioned)

Mrs. Maud H. Hoopes

Notes

Drexel's copy of Sappho was acquired thus (from another Google search): The third copy of Sappho, ordered by J.C. Peterson [i.e., Charles Jacobs Peterson, 1818-1887] in 1866, was donated by his widow, Sarah H. Peterson, to Drexel.... Almost certainly this would have been the Petersons of Peterson's Magazine! Sarah apparently assumed her husband's role after his death in 1887.

Made/Created

Artist

William Wetmore Story

Date made

1866

Place

Country

Italy

Continent

Europe

Dimensions

Dimension Notes

H, L, W: 90 1/2x38 x34 in

Height

90-1/2 in

Width

34 in

Length

38 in

Interpretative Labels

Label Type

Curator Pick of the Month

Label

Sappho was a woman from Lesbos, Greece whose poetry greatly influenced the writers of her time. Sappho is one of the few female writers whose name and reputation survived to modern times, though much of her actual work has been lost. Her poem Hymn to Aphrodite tells the story of unrequited love as she calls to the Greek god of love, Aphrodite, to help win their affections. William Wetmore Story is an American poet and sculptor. His sculptures can be found throughout the United States in various museums and academic establishments. Sappho is on display in the Great Court of Main Building to the left of the marble staircase.