Sketch for the Mural at Oberlin College, "The Spirit of Self-Sacrificing Love"

About this artwork

In late 1913, Oberlin College commissioned Kenyon Cox to decorate the new administration building on the campus with a mural in memory of his father, Jacob Dolson Cox. The elder Cox had been governor of Ohio and secretary of the Interior under President Grant, and Cox designed a decorative tablet listing his father’s accomplishments for a small vestibule. After he completed the project, the administrators wanted Cox to come up with another design to complement it. He decided to include a tribute...

Art Historical Context

Kenyon Cox created this painting around 1914 as a preparatory study for a mural at Oberlin College. Commissioned in late 1913 to honor his father, Jacob Dolson Cox—a former Ohio governor and U.S. Secretary of the Interior—the project expanded to celebrate his mother, Helen Finney Cox, a noted advocate for social work in Ohio. The study depicts a lunette design titled “The Spirit of Self-Sacrificing Love,” portraying a laurel-crowned, winged figure holding a glowing torch to symbolize what Cox called his mother’s “Biblical charity.” Cox’s composition pleased the college administrators, who adopted the winged figure as the official seal for Oberlin’s publications. As a leading figure in the American Renaissance movement, Cox specialized in grand public murals that blended classical ideals with American themes. This oil study reveals his careful planning of symbolic elements and harmonious forms intended for architectural spaces. Today housed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the work offers visitors a glimpse into early 20th-century mural traditions and the personal stories behind institutional art.

About the Artist

Kenyon Cox · 1856–1919

Kenyon Cox (1856–1919) was born on October 27 in Warren, Ohio, to General Jacob Dolson Cox, a prominent politician and Civil War veteran, and Helen Finney Cox. Despite fragile health, young Cox pursued art at the Art Academy of Cincinnati before advancing to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. In 1877, he traveled to Paris, studying first under Carolus-Duran, then at the Éco...