[1] The life-sized sculpture, made of bronze, depicts St. Luke the Evangelist seated with his left foot propped up on a rock and cupping his chin with his hand.
The sculpture of St. Luke, completed in 1957, is one part of a collection of four total figures located outside of O’Shaughnessy Hall on the south quad of the campus of Notre Dame.
In the heat of the day, a local woman came to draw water, and she was surprised when Jesus requested a drink from her— a despised non-believer.
After fleeing Croatia, Ivan Meštrović became a professor and for 20 years was the director of the Art Institute of Zagreb.
While in New York, Ivan Meštrović had his own exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the first one man show to ever take place there.
Anthony J. Lauck, CSC, founding director of the Snite Museum, chair of the art department, and a sculptor, encouraged Hesburgh to bring the renowned artist to Notre Dame.
[4] “Many of his best works possess just such a rough, almost primitive, quality designed to dominate the viewer.” After the war, he chose to sculpt more about religion and his folk culture.