The Cathedral dedicated “The Sacrifice” in 1923. They placed the sculpture in the Chapel of St. Ansgar. The Chapel is one of the seven Chapels of Tongues radiating around the Apse and surrounding the Sanctuary. Malvina Hoffman, one of America’s foremost sculptors, carved the 4 1/2 ton piece. She used Caen Stone, a French limestone.
Sculptor Malvina Hoffman
Malvina Hoffman (1885-1966) was born in New York and studied art at several schools there. She became enamored of sculpture as she discovered what she could accomplish with this 3 dimensional medium. She moved to Paris to work and study where she participated in prize winning salon work. While in Paris, she persisted in her desire to work with Auguste Rodin, finally convincing him of her value and talent.
Off and on over the next seven years, until Rodin’s death in 1917, the French master helped Hoffman. He helped her to improve her technical knowledge and understanding of carving, modeling and foundry techniques. Additionally, under Rodin, she improved her artistic discipline and expressive abilities. Student and teacher developed a close friendship and when World War I broke out in 1914, Hoffman helped Rodin store his sculptures before she returned to the United States. After her return to New York, Hoffman improved her understanding of the human form by studying anatomy at the city’s College of Physicians and Surgeons.
“The Sacrifice”
Hoffman’s first major sculpture after the war was “The Sacrifice” a massive memorial to Harvard University’s war dead. In the piece, we see the head of a 12th-century crusader lay on the lap of a draped woman. Mrs. Robert Bacon commissioned the sculpture in memory of her late husband, the U.S. ambassador to France and the alumni of Harvard University who lost their lives during World War I. “The Sacrifice”, dedicated in 1923 at the Cathedral, stayed in St. Ansgar’s Chapel until 1932. It was then that the newly completed War Memorial Chapel at Harvard installed the piece.
The representation of the dead Crusader stands for those who went from Cambridge, England in the 12th century and gave their lives for an ideal. The Crusader is lying upon a cross with his head pillowed in a woman’s lap. According to the traditional position of the feet, this crusader never reached Jerusalem. Crossed feet would indicate one who had made it. The woman may typify Alma Mater (nourishing mother) as well as those women who gave their best to a great cause and made their lonely grief their glory. The two figures symbolize mutual sacrifice.
Caen Stone
Caen stone (Pierre de Caen) is a light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone quarried in northwestern France near the city of Caen in Normandy. It is a marine limestone composed almost entirely of fine carbonate mud set in a crystalline calcite cement. Fossils and other distinguishing features are few. This makes the stone a good freestone, one that can be laid in any orientation without unduly influencing the stone’s likelihood to decay. The uniform texture of the stone also makes it an excellent medium for sculptural work and consequently is popular with masons. Following the Norman Conquest in 1066, many of England’s medieval castles and churches were built using Caen Stone. This includes the Tower of London, Westminster and Chichester Cathedral. Caen Stone has been the principal building stone for Canterbury Cathedral since 1070. Today quantities are limited.