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Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Portrait of Robert Louis Stevenson, modeled about 1887, cast 1910

bronze

D: 34 in.

John Herron Fund

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Irish-born sculptor August Saint-Gaudens was raised in New York City after his Irish mother and French father immigrated to America when he was six months old.  He took classes at the Cooper Union and the National Academy of Design before traveling to Paris where he studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. He also studied art and architecture in Rome. Upon his return to the United States Saint-Gaudens received critical acclaim for his monuments commemorating heroes of the American Civil War and his numerous funerary monuments and busts.  His colossal Standing Lincoln in Lincoln Park, Chicago is considered one of the finest portrait statues in America. It was followed by a seated statue of the president in Chicago’s Grant Park, a copy of which was placed by Lincoln’s tomb. Saint-Gaudens was an important teacher, tutoring privately and at the Art Students League of New York.  He is also known for his portrait medallions and coin designs.  Later in life he founded the Cornish Colony in New Hampshire which attracted numerous painters, architects and sculptors, including Paul Manship, Thomas Wilmer Dewing and the illustrator Maxfield Parrish. His house and gardens is preserved as Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site.

In 1887 Saint-Gaudens arranged to model a portrait of Robert Louis Stevenson.  The sculpted portrait shows the popular Scottish author lying in bed weakened by tuberculosis, a manuscript in one hand and cigarettes in the other.  Typical of Saint-Gaudens’ portrait reliefs are the lively variety of naturalistic details, such as the contrast between the smooth pillowcases and the rougher blanket and bedclothes.  The Stevenson portrait became Saint-Gaudens’ most widely reproduced work.  To avoid the effect of mass production in the numerous castings, Saint-Gaudens varied details of the portrait and its size; this posthumous cast is from a variant designed in 1890.

Reference

John H. Dryfhout. The Work of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Lebanon, New Hampshire:  University Press of New England, 2008. ISBN-13: 978-1584657095