Darius

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Born in the old Ralph Waldo Emerson House in Malden, Massachusetts, Darius Cobb was a descendant of Henry Cobb of Kent, England, who came to Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1629 on the ship Anne. Darius and his twin brother Cyrus were the sons of the Reverend Sylvanus and Eunice Hale Waite Cobb. Their mother founded the first women's club in America, the Ladies Physiological Institute. Darius first received his education through public schools, then attended the Lyman School of East Boston with his twin. Later, he studied classics under Professor I. N. Eyers, mathematics at the Norway Liberal Institute in Maine, and oratory under Wyzeman Marshall, while also studying music, art and literature. He graduated with high honors from Boston Latin School. On January 1, 1866, the twin brothers were married by their father in a double wedding ceremony to sisters; Darius married Laura Marie Lillie, a lineal descendant of John Alden. Darius and his wife had seven children: four daughters—Lillie Alden, Cora Stanwood, Estelle Marcy and Edith Harriet—and three sons—Stanwood, Percival Bartlett and Frederick Walter. Darius moved his family to Newton Upper Falls in the early 1880s, where he resided for the rest of his life.

In Their Own Story

In 1862, Darius and his brother Cyrus enlisted in the 44th Massachusetts Infantry, doing service in North Carolina for nine months. In 1870, the two brothers co-authored a book titled *The Veteran of the Grand Army*, based on their war experiences. Their Civil War service gave them an edge in the design competition for the Cambridge Soldiers Monument, dedicated in 1870. The figure of a soldier at the top of the monument was their first life-size sculpture. Darius was art editor/critic of the *Boston Traveler* from 1872 to 1879, and became prominent in musical and literary circles and on the lecture platform. Later in life, the Cobb brothers worked together on a series of paintings illustrating French history for Boston's Tuileries Apartment Hotel. Darius's first significant religious work was entitled *Judas*, followed by *Christ Before Pilate*, *Abraham*, and a head of Christ called *The Master*. This painting was completed in 1917 when the artist was 83 years of age; he had worked on it for 34 years before considering it finished. A few years after his death, it was destroyed in a fire.

Reader's Guide

Darius Cobb's career in art was shaped by his twin brother Cyrus and by nature as their great instructor. They also received instruction from a relative and pupil of Washington Allston. While Cyrus predominantly chose sculpture, Darius focused on painting. Darius was best known for his landscapes and portraits. His portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson hung in the Emerson School in Newton Upper Falls for many years. Among his more noted pictures are portraits of Reverend John Stetson Barry (1858); Louis Agassiz (1875) and Rufus Choate (1876); *King Lear* (1877); *Judas in the Potter's Field* (1877); *Christ Before Pilate* (1878); *For Their Sakes* (1879); *Washington on Dorchester Heights* (1880); portraits of Gen. B. F. Butler (1889), and Rev. Phillips Brooks (1893); *Immortality* (1893); and portraits of John A. Andrew (1894) and Charles P. Clark (1897). In 1897, assisted by his brother Cyrus, he decorated the walls of the banquet hall of the Tuileries, Boston, with panels illustrative of French history. Of the nine panels he painted six: *Jeanne d'Arc*; *An Intrigue in the Court of Louis XIII*; *Richelieu and the Mayor of Rochelle*; *A Troublesome Edict of Louis XIV*; *The Storming of the Tuileries*; and *The Downfall of the Second Empire*. In 1898 he painted two large pictures for the town hall at Revere, Massachusetts, the subjects being scenes in the ride of Paul Revere. According to *The Town Crier* for May 5, 1911, 10,000 postal cards printed with Cobb's painting of *The Last Comrade's Final Tribute* were circulated throughout the United States.

Did You Know?

• Darius Cobb was born in the old Ralph Waldo Emerson House in Malden, Massachusetts.
• He and his twin brother Cyrus were married in a double wedding ceremony to sisters on January 1, 1866.
• Darius worked on his painting *The Master* for 34 years before considering it finished in 1917.
• He served in the 44th Massachusetts Infantry during the Civil War for nine months.
• 10,000 postal cards were printed with his painting *The Last Comrade's Final Tribute* in 1911.