[note 2] John Harvard's gift to the school was £780 and‍—‌perhaps more importantly[M][12]‍—‌his 400-volume scholar's library:[13] Partly under the chair, within easy reach, lie a pile of books.

[note 2] That he had died of tuberculosis, at about age thirty, was one of the few things known about John Harvard at the time of the statue's composition; as dedication orator George Edward Ellis put it: Gently touched by the weakness which was wasting his immature life,[note 3] he rests for a moment from his converse with wisdom on the printed page, and raises his contemplative eye to the spaces of all wisdom.

[note 1] Historian Laurel Ulrich suggests that John Harvard's general composition may have been inspired by Hendrik Goltzius' engraving of Clio (the Greek muse of history), and that the figure's collar, buttons, tassel, and mustache may have been taken from a portrait of Plymouth Colony Governor Edward Winslow.

[19] At its October 15, 1884 unveiling[M] Ellis gave "a singularly felicitous address, telling the story of the life of John Harvard, who passes so mysteriously across the page of our early history."

[18][26] The statue is depicted on the United States Postal Service's 1986 John Harvard stamp (part of its Great Americans series).

But if the founding is to be regarded as a process rather than as a single event [then John Harvard, by virtue of his bequest "at the very threshold of the College's existence and going further than any other contribution made up to that time to ensure its permanence"] is clearly entitled to be considered a founder.

The same persons presum­ably, marked a large '87 on the wall at the entrance of the chapel," [30] and in 1886 the Crimson mentions a further incident: "A graduate contribu­tor to the Advocate suggests that the editors of the college papers ferret out the authors of the small disturbances, such as the painting of the John Harvard statue."

He was of the opinion that a Harvard man would at least soften the profanity by varnishing it with Latin or Greek ... Two detectives who were requested to ferret out the perpetrators paid little heed to the discussion on swear words, but kept their eyes on several impressions that had been made on the paint when it was fresh.

[33] Out-of-state newspapers reporting the outrage, and to a greater or lesser degree following the subsequent investigation, included (among many others): Despite a mass meeting of outraged Harvard men (who insisted the culprits must be outside­ers or, failing that, freshmen), the hiring of detec­tives, and an apparently facetious report that Harvard President Charles W. Eliot was unavaila­ble for comment because he had "gone out in the woods to cut switches" (all Globe, June 3), on June 22 an anonymous contribu­tor (Globe, p. 20) intimated that while "the faculty claim that they have not found out any of the men who did the 'fine art' work ...

)[41] As the statue's hundredth anniversary approached, Harvard Lampoon president Conan O'Brien predicted that "we'll probably stuff it with cottage cheese, maybe also with some chives."

[42] The challenge of creating an idealized representation of John Harvard was discussed by Ellis at the October 1883 meeting of the Massachu­setts Historical Society:[11] A very exacting demand is to be made upon the genius and skill of the artist ...

A year later, in his oration[M] before the unveiling of what he called "a simula­crum ... a conception of what Harvard might have been in body and lineament, from what we know that he was in mind and in soul", Ellis answered Winthrop's criticism: This exquisite moulding in bronze serves a purpose for the eye, the thought, and sentiment, through the ideal, in lack of the real ...

The wise, the honored, the fair, the noble, and the saintly, are never grudged some finer touches of the artist in tint or feature, which etherialize their beauty, or magnify their elevation, as expressed in the actual body,‍—‌the eye, the brow, the lip, the moulding of the mortal clay.

Should there ever appear, however, some authentic portrai­ture of John Harvard, the pledge may here and now be ventured, that some generous friend, such as, to the end, shall never fail our Alma Mater, notwithstanding her chronic poverty, will provide that this bronze shall be liquified again, and made to tell the whole known truth so as by fire.

"Edward T. Wilcox, A.M. '49 ... had a 38-year tenure at the College, during which he no doubt won many a highball with the following challenge [which he repeated during remarks at a 1974 ceremony honoring long-serving Univer­si­ty employees].

[10] "If I remember aright," French was quoted in 1899 as saying, John Har­vard "is described as being 'rever­end, godly, and a lover of learn­ing,' and it is known that he died at an early age (about thirty) of consumption, which gave a clue to his phy­sique."

French continued, "It may possibly be of interest that my regular model for the statue, except the face, was a young Englishman, a graduate of Oxford, who was temporar­ily embarrassed financially and took this means of earning his bread."