Messenger of Sympathy & Love; Servant of Parted Friends...

As the culmination of the U.S. Post Office Department mural series, Eugene Savage's paintings represent the post as a vital thread connecting human lives. Upon receiving the commission, Savage stated that he was delighted to depict not just the "vehicle and mechanics of mail transport," but also "the human values conveyed which furnish their reason for being." The titles of Savage's paintings, written along the lower edges of the murals, are taken from a poem, The Letter, by Dr. Charles W. Eliot. The poem is inscribed on the façade of the former Washington, D.C. city post office, which now houses the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.

In Messenger of Sympathy and Love, the mail is portrayed as a uniting force among citizens old and young, rural and urban, joyful and grieving, near and far. The unusual composition—a central area filled with figures and activity against a vibrant red background—reveals Savage's dual inspirations. His mural style is derived from close study of Renaissance frescos in Rome as well as the influence of the Mexican muralists working in the United States in the 1930s. Savage's unique composition recalls both the framing device of an early Renaissance altarpiece, a format he used in other artworks, and the bold colors of a Jose Clemente Orozco mural. In the center of the mural, the many deliveries, receipts, and encircling garlands of mail represent the endless possibilities and positive influence of the post.

Additional Information

Eugene Savage's three years of training in Rome strongly influenced his artistic style and philosophy. Most significantly, he was inspired by thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Italian frescos. Savage so appreciated their aesthetic that he attempted to create the appearance of true fresco in his own painting, even when working in oil, as in the U.S. Post Office Department murals.

He did this by layering gesso on his canvas for a rough surface and applying paint in thin, transparent layers. He also often placed his murals and easel paintings in spaces and frames shaped to resemble altarpieces (see Recessional, below). In addition to their materials and compositions, Savage's murals were inspired by the allegorical subject matter of Renaissance artworks. Rooted in Greco-Roman antiquity, the use of allegory in visual art flourished during the Renaissance. Often invoking myth or literature, allegorical art uses symbols or figures to portray abstract ideas. In 1924, art critic Royal Cortissoz wrote of Savage's work: "There is allegory in all of his pictures; …there is a play of mind around some theme touching the universal sympathies of mankind."

In his Post Office Department murals, Savage drew on a literary source—the Charles Eliot poem—and composed his pictures to represent the ideas in the text. In Messenger of Sympathy and Love, the bountiful harvest, the playing of music, and the stance of the central woman in purple all signify joy and life; the seated, draped woman at the far left represents grief and solitude, while the postman offering her a letter is the "consoler of the lonely." In Carrier of News and Knowledge, the airplane delivers "news and knowledge," while the flags and men of different nationalities signify "trade and industry," and "mutual acquaintance." Savage also includes religious imagery in this mural. The woman, draped in dark clothing and a long yellow veil, hiding her baby's eyes from the vision of death that is the skull, resembles the Virgin Mary, the Christian symbol of love, protection, and sacrifice. Through his use of allegory, Savage does not produce a picture of a historical event, either real or imagined, but rather a picture of life in all of its aspects, as nourished by the post.