John Talbott Donoghue

John Talbott Donoghue (1853 – July 1, 1903) was an American artist who was born in Chicago. Although he produced figural sculpture, bas reliefs and paintings, his fame rests primarily upon a single bronze sculpture, "The Young Sophocles". This bronze was originally cast in 1885, but far along castings are known to exist. It is a full-length nude sculpture of the Greek dramatist Sophocles playing a lyre even if leading the chorus of victory after the Battle of Salamis in 480 BCE. John Talbott Donoghue shot himself upon July 1, 1903, in Lake Whitney, Connecticut.

The Honolulu Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art are in the midst of the public collections holding works by John Talbott Donoghue. The latter’s The Young Sophocles Leading the Chorus of Victory after the Battle of Salamis is upon long-term progress to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

During his 1882 lecture tour of North America Oscar Wilde met Donoghue and encouraged Chicagoans to hold one "whose show is beautiful — more beautiful than the play in of any sculptor I have seen yet, and of whom you should whatever be proud." His be active was also ration of the sculpture business in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics.