On our way to the mess hall
The statue
While walking through a quad on my way to breakfast to the newly opened “Rattey”, I noticed an ancient statue depicting a Roman man. Every morning and afternoon I grew in curiosity over the abnormal statue. Finally, after much deliberation and talk with experienced Brown students, I finally have the facts straight.
The bronze statue is supposed to represent Caesar Augustus, the first Roman emperor. From the Brown website and various Residential Advisors, the Caesar Augustus statue was a gift of Moses Brown Ives Goddard in 1854. The statue was shown on the first day of the 1906 school year at the conclusion of a chapel exercise. The status is an exact replica of the original marble statue in Rome. The statue was moved to the Sharpe Refectory in September 1952. Unfortunately, his right hand was separated during a hurricane in 1938. From that point on, it has overlooked thousands of Brown students that pass by him every day, month, and year.
William,
ReplyDeleteYou don't normally think of Rhode Island being in the middle of hurricane country but that had to be a pretty decent storm to have dismembered old Augustus' arm.
Are you as curious as I am about how it is that if this was a gift of Ms. Goddard in 1854, why wasn't it shown until 1906?