Marble Orpheus Sculpture 🏷 $35,000
About Dr. Murray
“He’s rich, so we call him eccentric,” one doctor says, “if he were poor, we’d call him crazy.”
Dr. Richard D. Murray, was born on December 25, 1921, in Youngstown, Ohio. A brilliant plastic surgeon, he holds degrees from the University if Notre Dame, Georgetown University, and University of Pennsylvania.
An extensive traveler, he spent has spent part of his time abroad lecturing on plastic surgery. Several months of his time in the last few years have been donated to working on refugees from Communist China at the Hospital of Our Lady of Maryknoll, in Hong Kong.
For many years he was the only surgeon between Pittsburgh and Chicago who did the sex-change surgery, and he was much in demand, lecturing on the procedure. When he performed his first sex-change surgery, he neglected to tell some of the staff the nature of the operation. Some nurses were so shocked they walked out of the operating room. One refused to speak to him for months. Murray wrote a paper justifying the operation, on humanitarian grounds, for individuals born with a genetic imbalance that puts there physical body at odds with their sexual identity.
In addition to his medical work, he is a gifted artist, sculptor, and author. His art and writing is prophetic and many of his pieces are part of private and public collections. As a patron of the Arts, he has been President of the Youngstown Symphony Society, and of the Ballet Guild of Youngstown. In 1966, he received the Frank Purnell Award as Youngstown’s most outstanding citizen.
“Often contented by enjoying classical music at his home, alone. the stereo on full volume fills the vast marble hallways with a richness of sound. There is a heavy scent of slightly fading lilies; a friend brings the flowers once a week, leftover from a funeral home.In the drawing room where Dr. Murray sits, the air is chilly, slightly dank and drafty. He has tried adding insulation and resetting the thermostats, but it doesn’t help, the room remains cold. Could it be evil spirits? Dr. Murray finds the notion preposterous, that spirits who visit would resort to such a cliched expression of their presence. Dr. Murray, who has spent thirty years making his presence known, expects more imaginative measures from any spirits who might be along for the ride.”
Story of The Statue
Italian Bardiglio Grey Marble
Signed on the base”Murray & Ronci”
circa 1960’s
Measures: 7.5’ x 3.5’ x 3.5’
Dr. Murray from Youngstown, OH and stone mason Joe Ronci made the statue of Orpheus in the mid 1950’s through the 1960’s. Orpheus under attack by a couple Maenads, eating his legs and ripping at his flesh. Orpheus was Dr. Murray’s idol. The lady on the statue back is Orpheus’ wife, Eurydice.
Locals offended by the Nude scene on Dr. Murray’s front lawn decapitated the statue on two separate occasions before he made them vandal-proof by surgically inserting bronze rods, from clavicle to the cranium.
John Glaros, the man which Murray and Ronci modeled for the Sculpture --
Orpheus in Greek Mythology
Orpheus was a musician, poet and prophet in Greek mythology. His parents were the king of Thrace Oeagrus and the muse Calliope. He was considered the best musician and poet of all, and he perfected the lyre. It was the god Apollo who taught Orpheus how to play the lyre when he was an adolescent. According to a source, his music had the ability to charm the animals and make the trees dance. It is also said that he took part in the Argonautic Expedition, playing the lyre on the way. If it weren’t for him, the Argonauts would never be able to avoid the beautiful songs of the Sirens.
The most famous story about Orpheus is that of him and his wife Eurydice. Eurydice was having a stroll, when a satyr tried to rape her. She tried to avoid him, but she fell into a nest of vipers and she was fatally bitten. Orpheus found his wife’s body and due to his grief, started singing the most mournful songs. The nymphs and the gods started weeping upon hearing Orpheus’ songs, and advised him to go to the Underworld and bring his wife back. Orpheus indeed followed their advice and met with the god of the Underworld Hades and his wife Persephone. He pleaded to let him take his wife back, and after singing to them, their hearts were softened so much that they agreed. However, they told him not to look back until they had reached the surface. They started walking towards the surface; when Orpheus reached the opening of the cave with his wife following, he looked back, anxious to see if Eurydice was behind him. As she had not yet reached the opening though, she disappeared back into the Underworld forever.
Orpheus, during the end of his life, worshipped no gods except the sun, whom he called Apollo. One day, he went to pay tribute to the sun near the oracle of Dionysus, where he was caught by the Maenads, and was killed for being an infidel to the god Dionysus.
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Sean Zuza
@electriczuza
seanzuza@gmail.com