2-995-630 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Socrates, 1860. [Typographical error - the statue is actually of Hippocrates]. One of six '...Sculptures of Philosophers of all ages which decorate the central court of the Oxford University Museum These statues...have been executed by A. Munro, and may be pronounced happy specimens of portrait-sculpture, full of mind, variously developed, the peculiar pursuits and characteristics of the individual being in each case suggested by some appropriate emblem. They display great simplicity of treatment in respect of costume, &c., following as nearly as may be those of the individuals, or, at any rate, that of the period to which they belong. They are carved in Caen stone, and are a little under the full height of man-measuring only 5 feet 6 inches-the proportions of the compartments for which they were destined not admitting of a greater height...Socrates [ie Hippocrates], (the gift of Mr. Ruskin, senior) rests his hand on a tripod, on which is represented the AEsculapian symbol, and on the pedestal of which is inscribed, in Greek characters, the first fine of his celebrated aphorism, "Art is long, Life is short".' From "Illustrated London News", 1860.