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From http://www.si.edu/oahp/spq/spn96s2.htm
SAINT DUNSTAN
As you walk through the Enid A. Haupt Garden, you may pass by the south tower of the Smithsonian Building. As you look upwards, a statue rests in a niche on the east side of the tower. A glance shows a man wearing ecclesiastical garb, holding tongs in his left hand and a staff in his right hand. Who is this mysterious figure?
In December 1977, Secretary S. Dillon Ripley asked his Special Assistant, Richard H. Howland if there would be "any possibility that we could find, somewhere around the Smithsonian, a sculpture which would fit the niche on the east side of the central south tower of the Smithsonian building? I am thinking of something, of course, in the classic Italian tradition ranging from mourning figures to knights of old to Saints."
The word "saints" surfaced in the mind of Richard H. Howland when he visited Westminster Abbey in 1979. While there he discovered that the Abbey was undergoing restoration. Thirty-three of the thirty-six late 19th century limestone statues of Saints along the north facade of the Abbey were being recarved due to environmental deterioration. Howland discussed a possible donation of one of the statues to the Smithsonian, and the Abbey offered "St. Dunstan" to the Institution.
Despite the fact that the statue was in extremely bad shape, Dr. Howland proposed to Mr. Ripley that the Institution "bring the wretched statue here to Washington and let it be examined, rebuilt, or left to lie fallow. We shall either have an attractive and historically/sculpturally/architecturally significant statue for our niche or we won't." Mr. Ripley decided that the estimated cost of $750.00 for transporting St. Dunstan to Washington was worth the risk of restoring the statue and accepted the Abbey's gift.
When the statue was uncrated in January 1980 after its two-month Atlantic sea voyage, further damaged had occurred during shipping, and more restoration was needed than had been anticipated. The contract for the restoration of St. Dunstan was awarded in July 1980 to Constantine Seferlis, a stonecarver at the National Cathedral. 3 Seferlis determined that the head and shoulders, feet, arms, and hands had to be completely recarved. He recommended that a paste combination of crushed limestone and stone glue and metal pins and bars be used to rebuild the statue. Upon completion, St. Dunstan would be stained to match the Seneca sandstone of the Smithsonian Building. Seferlis worked on the decayed statue for three months. The 1,000 pound statue was hoisted upward to its present home in November 1980.
St. Dunstan, one of the most enlightened men of his time, was born circa 910 A.D..near Glastonbury, England, where he received a monastic education. After entering the priesthood at Winchester, where his uncle was Bishop, he returned to Glastonbury and lived near the church where he studied bell-making, metalworking and manuscript-writing.
In 943 he was made Abbot of Glastonbury by King Edmund I, who sanctioned Dunstan's monastic reforms in England. These included the reconstruction of monastic buildings, the restoration of churches and the integration of monks with the secular clergy. Dunstan continued his work under King Edgar who appointed him Archbishop of Canterbury in 959. For the 973 coronation of Edgar, Dunstan devised the English coronation rite which has remained in use throughout the centuries. Dunstan retired to Canterbury where he taught until his death on 19 May 988.
Dunstan's life was truly one of intellectual pursuits. Besides his ambitious undertaking of monastic reform, Dunstan was known for his scribesmanship and his musical skill with the harp and voice. His early years as a blacksmith may have spawned the popular legend which remains a part of Dunstan lore to this day. Legend maintains that the devil was enraged by Dunstan's preaching. He visited Dunstan in his blacksmith's shop, disguised as a beautiful young woman, to tempt Dunstan into sin. A gust of wind blew up the devil's skirt, revealing his true nature. Dunstan took his blacksmith's tongs from the hot fire and tweaked the Devil's nose.
S. Dillon Ripley stated that Dunstan "seems to symbolize much of the principles of the new Quadrangle." It seems appropriate that this saint of intellectual and artistic pursuits surveys the Quadrangle, home to two galleries, classrooms and an international center, from his perch on the south tower. |