Chestnut Hill Academy, Henry Memorial Library

Violet Oakley’s largest mural for an educational institution was Heroism, Service, and Sacrifice, made for Chestnut Hill Academy, a private boys’ school. George and Gertrude Woodward of Chestnut Hill were instrumental in recruiting Oakley to paint the mural in the school’s library, which was dedicated to Charles Wolcott Henry, Gertrude’s brother-in-law. A space about five feet high and eighteen feet long on a wood-paneled wall above the bookcases was allotted for a painted frieze. Library murals typically illustrated a famous work of literature; in this case, the Bible was chosen to underscore the value of religion in the education of children.

Oakley divided the frieze into three biblical scenes of exemplary boyhood inscribed with relevant lines of scripture. Two curved panels at the ends depicted Old Testament episodes in the life of David set in sun-bleached mountainous landscapes: at left, David is shown as the boy-hero who slays Goliath; at right, he is the mentor of his teenage son, Solomon, whom he exhorts to serve the community by building the Temple of Jerusalem. In the larger New Testament panel between them, sacrifice for others is inferred by David’s descendant, Jesus, in the Temple of Jerusalem. A perennial subject of religious painting known as Christ Among the Doctors, the scene depicts the child Jesus engaged in discourse with a group of rabbis and students of the Torah. In the background, his parents, Joseph and Mary, can be seen in the open courtyard approaching the Temple. By portraying family members and the interaction of adults and children, Oakley incorporated the idea that education is an intergenerational responsibility, an idea she continued to develop in the mural program for the Charlton Yarnall House.