Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1100404
THE CAPITOL DOME 41 Fig. 15b. Supreme Court bronze doors, designed by Cass Gilbert (1867–1934) and John Donnelly, Sr. (1867–1947), sculpted by John Donnelly, Jr. (1903–1970), installed 1935 mental bronzework, ornamental plastering, architectural ornamental interior marble work and ornamental carved wood." e contract was signed 18 April 1932, and the work completed in May 1935 at a cost of $35,924.50. 49 A photographic record of many of his models remains extant. 50 The name John Donnelly is incised as carver on the east pediment of the Su- preme Court building, where he worked to the design of his friend, the sculptor H.A. MacNeil, 51 who was pleased with the resulting pediment (figs. 13 and 14). 52 MacNeil acknowledged the careful and thorough nature of Donnelly's carving. Donnelly was also commissioned at this time to model the doors, designed by Lee Lawrie, for the John Adams Building of the Library of Congress. e figure sculp- tures on the doors represent different aspects of the written word, including Ogma (Oghma), an Irish mythological figure who, it is said, invented an alpha- bet that was named for him—the Ogham alphabet. Donnelly's son John worked in the firm until it went out of business in the early 1940s and was responsible for the entrance doors to the Supreme Court (fig. 15a and b), which he signed (fig. 16), as well as the flagpole bases for the plaza Fig. 15a. Detail (Magna Carta), Supreme Court bronze doors Fig. 16. John Donnelly, Jr.'s signature on the bronze doors at the Supreme Court