His name is well known among both art enthusiasts as well as coin collectors in both the United States and Europe. Considered to be among the most prominent artists of the late 19th century, his work can be seen and studied in major cities across the United States, often commemorating the American heroes of the past. The coins he designed during the last years of his life were frequently exported since they were first minted in 1907, and up to this day those large twenty dollar gold pieces are frequently encountered all over the world. Considered to be among the most beautiful coins ever produced, it took Augustus Saint-Gaudens a long way to come that far.

Childhood

Augustus Saint-Gaudens was born on March 1, 1848, in Dublin, Ireland. His mother, Mary McGuiness, was a born Irish while his father, Bernard Paul Ernest Saint-Gaudens had emigrated from Southern France to Dublin. It is said that he stopped in Dublin on his way to the United States, and saw a beautiful woman standing on shore, this being Mary. We do not know if this is true, if the story has been altered over the years or if Bernard had other reasons to come to Dublin. However, we do know that he and Mary met in 1841, and married the same year. It is said that he come from London shortly before the couple met, where he had worked for three years as a shoemaker, his profession by birth as the Saint-Gaudens family was one of shoemakers.

Third child of Bernard and Mary, Augustus was the first to live up to adulthood. His two younger brothers, Louis and George had both died on a young age, unfortunately a common occurrence in the mid 19th century. Much of what we know of Augustus’ childhood and his parents was collected by his son, Homer Saint-Gaudens, who published the book The Reminiscences of Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1913. The work, in two volumes, is the most extensive on the life of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, told by him personally, with comments by his son, and certainly recommended to anyone seeking to find more information on the life of the famous American sculptor.

The young Augustus, however, did not stay long in his mother’s Ireland. At just six months, in September 1848 the family boarded a vessel bound to Liverpool, across the Irish Sea. In Liverpool they boarded a ship bound for Boston, where they arrived later that month. Mary and Augustus stayed in Boston for a few weeks, while Bernard was seeking work in New York. Once he found an opportunity to execute his profession as a shoemaker, mother and son moved to their father, settling in New York City, but moving from street to street over the years, with Augustus’ father slowly expanding his business. Augustus grew up like an ordinary child in New York at the time, but gradually he started to obtain an interest in art. He was not considered to be a young talent though, although John W. Bond, who wrote the book Augustus Saint-Gaudens, The Man And His Art, mentioned that a client of his father was impressed by a drawing made by Augustus in this period.

The first serious step was taken when Augustus had just reached the age of thirteen, when his father mentioned the fun was over and work life was about to begin. This was not unordinary at all in the 1860s and in fact Augustus had been blessed, by having the opportunity to attend school up to that point. Others did not have that luck, working long days under harsh conditions starting at a very young age. By now, however, the decision of the family to immigrate to the United States was becoming a good one, as Bernard operated a pretty stable business in New York, growing slowly but steadily. So when his father asked the question to Augustus, he replied:

“I don’t care, but I should like it if I could do something which would help me to be an artist”.

Studies

After the comment to his father, Bernard apprenticed him to Louis Avet, a Frenchman as well, who is said to have been the first cameo-stone cutter in the United States. That decision would make Augustus one of the most prominent American artists of the 19th century, both earning money for the family as well as learning to become an artist in the first place. In his reminiscences, Augustus was thankful of this training, the first steps to a beloved profession. He did get into trouble at some times, as all young boys usually do, and he specifically remembered running into trouble with a police officer after working long hours at night, like he did even at his young age. He was imprisoned for a night, which made an impression on the young man which would stay with him for the rest of his life.

His apprentice to Louis Avet, and later other cameo cutters ended at age 19, after taking art classes in his free hours as well. Most notably these occurred at the National Academy of Design, a neighbor of the family after his father had moved his business once again. In that year, 1867, his father asked his son a question which would influence his life once again. The young Augustus had given his earnings to his father for the past six years, and to thank him he would give him the opportunity to go to the upcoming Paris Exposition. For Augustus it was a chance to visit his ancestral land for the first time, and subsequently it would also influence Augustus for the rest of his life, returning on multiple occasions.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens lived in Paris for little over two years, working and studying. In this important period of his life, he continued to design Cameo’s and made many drawings as well, mostly as part of his studies. These studies were under Francois Jouffrey, and were a decision taken only shortly before he left New York City on a ship bound for Liverpool. In his sparse free time, he enjoyed the city, and occasionally travelled outside of Paris to the French coast, and on multiple occasions’ to South-Western France and Switzerland.

The next step in his young life took place in late 1870, after the Franco-Prussian War had been declared. He was strongly opposed to the war, saying in his reminiscences that “in common with most Republican sympathizers, I felt violent antagonism to the action of the
French Government.” After leaving Paris, he stayed with his brother Louis for a couple of months, who had moved to Limoges, a city 250 miles south of Paris. Limoges is mostly known for its porcelain manufacture, and Louis worked for a New York based porcelain company at the time. During the stay with his brother, Saint-Gaudens decided to move further south, to Rome. He hoped to find an Italian friend there, and perhaps work and study in the ancient Italian capitol.

Life in Rome

Saint-Gaudens arrived in Rome some day in late 1870. Having not been to the city before, Saint-Gaudens was impressed by what he saw at first. However, soon afterwards he commenced working and obtained a studio at the Palazzo Barberini, which he shared with an old friend from Paris. His first major work and statue was that of Hiawatha in marble, which he completed in 1872. Finishing of the statue was delayed at first as Saint-Gaudens did not have the money to cast the figure. However, help came, and the money was advanced to him by an American, in trade for two figures of his daughters. In this same period, he received his first commission, for copies of the busts of Demosthenes and Cicero. In Reminiscences, he recalled the moment clearly and with much enthusiasm:

“This was one of the happiest moments in my life, for I had been certain that, if I could ever get my wonderful production before the American public, I would amaze the world and settle my future. Here was the opportunity in my gasp.”

For the first time since February 1867, Saint-Gaudens returned to New York City for a short visit in late 1872. It was a visit of many reasons. First of all, to see his parents, who did not knew that he was in the city until he walked into his father’s shop. Secondly, he had a case of Roman fever and needed to get out of Rome and into a different atmosphere and climate. And finally, and perhaps most important for its future career, he had received a commission for a bust of Senator William M. Evarts, who resided in New York City at the time. By now, Saint-Gaudens was receiving more commissions, and it appeared that his hard studying over the last decade was finally paying him.

Soon, Saint-Gaudens returned to Liverpool, and onwards continued to Paris. Here, he stayed for a couple of months, meeting old friends. After he returned to Rome in the summer of 1873, as he noted in his Reminiscences, the tide was to turn in his favor. During his second stay in Rome there were some difficult times coming to him, forcing Saint-Gaudens to return to cameo cutting to earn his living. While doing this, he continued work on his second major sculpture, named Silence. It would be his second and last work in neoclassical style, prominent among American sculptors at the time. It was completed in 1874, and it was no longer necessary for him to make cameos to earn a living.

Full-time sculptor and major works

In early 1875, after an absence of eight years, Augustus Saint Gaudens returned to the United States. At first, he had trouble finding commissions, and he started teaching to earn a living. This was the first time he did this, but he would continue to do so for the rest of life, giving lessons on various art subjects. However, in 1876 all other projects would fall behind his first major commission, awarded to him by a matter of slim chance, and it came with the huge sum of eight thousand dollars. He had been waiting for this very moment, and he would finally be able to show his work in public, in his New York City, where a statue of Civil War Admiral David Farragut was to be erected.

On this first major commission, Saint-Gaudens worked together with his close friend Stanford White, which he would continue to do on the majority of his most prominent works. The work was not completed until 1881, but it was not the only project Saint-Gaudens was working on during that period. Still, other commissions were not awarded to Saint-Gaudens in competitions, which obviously disappointed him. After the statue of Farragut was commissioned to him, he would not enter other competitions for commissions, as his earlier experiences made him believe it was not worthwhile for him (to secure a commission, Saint-Gaudens had to present full details of his proposed statue. To make these, a lot of time and money was spent, and Saint-Gaudens did not have much of either of the two at the time).

Saint Gaudens spent another period in Europe before the work on the statue of Farragut was completed, and slowly continued to work on it while in Paris, where he mostly resided during that time. Around 1878 he had been given several smaller commissions for statues and related objects, including a grave monument (tomb) for the King family, now in the Newport Cemetery in Rhode Island. He also completed numerous medals, which would be the first steps which eventually would lead to the design of the double eagle, still twenty years away in 1907. Saint-Gaudens stayed in Paris until June 1880, returning to New York with the Farragut basically finished. It was unveiled on May 25, 1881, on Madison Square. The New York Times reported on the event, mentioning the three years it took to complete the statue, but later in the same article the newspaper reports:

“Instead of three years being too much, we may say that so good and through a piece of art-work might have been cheerfully granted a longer period of incubation…The Farragut monument is incontestably the handsomest in or about New-York City, and the one in which art has reached the highest level.”

Almost instantly, Saint-Gaudens was recognized has one of the talented sculptors of his time. Together with Sanford White, he had created a marvelous monument, which still stands on Madison Square. It was spoken highly of by well-settled and famous sculptors, who were amazed by the recreation of Farragut for the citizens of New York. From that time, more commissions would come, and an increasingly good and in particular busy life was to come for Augustus Saint-Gaudens, now having reached age 33 and settled in New York City.

The next major public commission would follow a few years later. It was a statue of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It was to be erected in his former home state, Illinois. The original idea was for a seated figure of Lincoln, but a sculpture of the former president in a standing position was preferred in the end. In 1885, Saint-Gaudens devoted much of his summer time, which he spent in a newly bought home in Cornish, New-Hampshire, on the project. The grand house in Cornish would remain to be his home for the next couple of decades, being his favorite spot in nature to retreat from the busy life in New York City. The home, studio and gardens still exist to this day, and are now part of the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site.

The statue of Lincoln was unveiled on October 22, 1887 in Lincoln Park, Chicago. It was titled “Lincoln, the Man”, a phrase that supposedly was born when Saint-Gaudens saw Abraham Lincoln in person, as a teenager in New York City. Again, it was considered to be a magnificent statue, fully worthy for the American hero of Abraham Lincoln. It was another collaboration of Saint-Gaudens and White, and another one which was accomplished successfully. It is considered to be one of the oldest, as well as the most famous public sculptures in Chicago, and it is one of the grandest of all sculptures of Abraham Lincoln. A replica has been placed on the tomb of Lincoln, in Springfield, Illinois.

When “Lincoln, the Man” was unveiled in Chicago, Saint-Gaudens was already working on one of his most ambitious projects, taking a full fourteen years to complete. It would become known as the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, and was unveiled in Boston in 1897. It would be his third major work commemorating a Civil War hero, a favorite subject during the latter part of the 19th century with both artists and public. Besides several major works he made, and which were yet to come, he also created a bust of General Sherman, completed in 1888, and various smaller works commemorating the heroes of the American Civil War. Other works of this period included various medallions and a second grave monument, this time for Mrs. Henry Adams of Washington.

In 1884 Saint-Gaudens was formally contracted to create a memorial for Robert Gould Shaw, Colonel of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. The first all African-American regiment to fight for the North during the Civil War, Colonel Shaw led to regiment to Fort Wagner, South-Carolina, where he was among the first to die during the attack on the Confederate troops. First, it was meant to honor Colonel Shaw only, but his family, after seeing the first sketches, thought that it was too pretentious, and the important African-American troops were added. This would later turn out to be an excellent decision, as this is another masterpiece by Saint-Gaudens which is now considered to be one of America’s greatest public monuments. Saint-Gaudens, however, was not satisfied with it once completed, and continued work on improvements even after it had been unveiled.

Several former members of the 54th were present at the unveiling of the memorial, which depicts General Shaw and his troops marching out of Boston and onto the War in 1863. It was placed across the State House, and to this day the memorial is often cherished with flowers. Truly a labor of love, the fourteen years that it took Saint-Gaudens to complete the memorial were basically underpaid, as Saint-Gaudens only received the modest sum of $13,000 upon completion in 1897. While the 54th Regiment might have been doomed when they left Boston on their march to the South, the memorial Saint-Gaudens created truly is strong commemoration to the heroes of the past.

In the same year that Saint-Gaudens completed work on the Shaw memorial, he also completed work on yet another statue of a Civil War general. It was the Logan monument, on which he had commenced work shortly after the dead of John Alexander Logan, General in the Union army and later Senator of Illinois in two different periods. Saint-Gaudens finished it relatively quickly, and it was unveiled on July 22, 1897 in Grant Park, Chicago. In attendance were former soldiers of both the Union and Confederate armies as an article which appeared in the New York Times attested the next day:

“Over 20,000 men were in line [for the parade]. The survivors of Gen. Logan’s old regiment – the Thirty-first Illinois Volunteers – the grand army of the Republic, followed by the ex-confederates, 200 strong. Behind the Southerners marched 2,500 regulars. Every branch of the service was represented”

His largest work up to that point, the sculpture Saint-Gaudens had created measured an impressive 15 feet in height, weighing 14,200 pounds. It depicts General Logan on horseback, with an American flag in his right hand, looking bravely forward to the enemy. The whole sculpture is said to be very realistic, as Saint-Gaudens’ work usually was. It was another impressive and well-completed project of the established artist.

Before Saint-Gaudens completed the Logan and Shaw memorials, he had started to work on yet another memorandum to a Civil War hero, and which statue he would consider himself to be his greatest work. Now located at the major entrance of Central Park, New York, it was the statue of William Tecumseh Sherman, Major General of the Union in the Civil War. Sherman passed away in 1891, and a committee was appointed by members of the New York Chamber of Commerce, who in turn appointed Saint-Gaudens to make the statue. The bust of Sherman, which Saint-Gaudens had completed in 1888, would serve as the start for the equestrian monument he would work on for the next eleven years. The statue was unveiled in New York City on May 30, 1903.

When it was unveiled, Saint-Gaudens had created a true monument for the legendary Civil War General. It did not only include Sherman, on horseback looking forward, but it also featured an iconic figure of victory, striding forward. This image, in a modified form, would later appear on the Double Eagles that were designed by Saint-Gaudens. The work was cast in Bronze, but gilded, giving it a gold appearance and completing it as a true piece of art. It was restored in its original gold color in 1989, but has not been conserved since then, with the gold flakes slowly coming off it once again.

Later life

Saint-Gaudens went back to Europe (for the last time) in 1897, once again settling in Paris. However, he now took more trips, including two to Spain, a country which immediately pleased him. He also visited the town his father grew up, and made numerous trips to Italy. During the last period before he left for Europe, Saint-Gaudens had not been feeling well, being mentally and physically exhausted from the hard work he had done during the last decades. However, in Paris, Saint-Gaudens continued to work on various projects, including the Sherman statue, of which most work was done while he was in Paris for the last time.

During the last decade of his life, Saint-Gaudens completed a large number of commissions, both large and small. These included another work featuring Abraham Lincoln, now being seated and completed in 1906. Almost completed in 1904, it was lost in a great fire which destroyed much of Saint-Gaudens’ work, sketches and notes. The finished work was completed with help from his assistants Henry Herning and Elsie Ward. The final work featured the former President seated, like the original idea Saint-Gaudens had for the first statue. It is located in Grant Park, Chicago, where it was unveiled twenty years after the work had been completed, on May 31, 1926.

Saint-Gaudens was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 1900, a fate which would influence a major part of his life for the next seven years. Gradually weakened, Saint-Gaudens continued to work, creating many smaller sculptures and busts. Soon after he was diagnosed, Saint-Gaudens and his family retreated to Cornish, New-Hampshire. He had first come to Cornish in 1885, and had started to fall in love with the place, often spending many months in the countryside of New Hampshire, retreated from the pressure of New York City. In 1891, Saint-Gaudens had purchased and old house and hay barn, converted it into a studio and did most of his work there. Over the years, more artists came, and by 1900 it was known as a true artist society. These included prominent painters, architects, novelists but also other sculptors, numbering about 100 persons by the early 20th century. The place would be known as the Cornish Art Colony, and is now mostly known by the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site.

During his last final years, Saint-Gaudens designed the new Ten dollar and Twenty dollar gold pieces, perhaps his most widely known work, but lost the battle with cancer on August 3, 1907. The New York Times reported the next day:

“The death yesterday of Augustus Saint-Gaudens deprives American art of one of its foremost figures…No American sculptor has reached higher distinction than Augustus Saint-Gaudens, yet he never had to contend with poverty of the lack of friends and patrons. He had the rare quality of impressing the public and yet extorting from his rivals in art not only respect but enthusiasm for his work.”

For sure, the world lost one of its greatest artists of its day in August of 1907. His work was largely appreciated during his lifetime, and the double-eagles he designed during the last years of his life would be struck until 1933. In the late 1980s, the important design by Saint-Gaudens was brought back to life on the American gold bullion coins (American Gold Eagles), and more recently, in 2009, on the special Ultra High Relief double eagles. His statues still rise in many important American cities, seen by thousands everyday, and appreciated by every art lover.

Personal Life

Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ wife was Augusta Homer, of Roxbury, Massachusetts where they married on June 4, 1877. They met while Saint-Gaudens was in Rome for the first time, where Augusta was studying painting. Together they had one son, Homer Saint-Gaudens, born in 1880. He grew up as an artist, mostly writer and art-critic, but also served as a theater director and died in 1958. Augustus Saint-Gaudens himself had one brother, Louis, who was born in 1854 in New York. While not as successful as his older brother, Louis did study at the School of Art in Paris, as Augustus had done and made a number of sculptures and medals.
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Lesser known is the second son of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Louis St. Gaudens (he changed his last name to be distinguished from his brother) who was born in 1889. He was the son of Augustus and Davida Johnson Clark, his mistress who had frequently posed for Saint-Gaudens. She had been the inspiration for a number of angels in his sculptures, and was the main inspirations for the statue of Diana. Davida Clark died three years after Saint-Gaudens, a lost battle against cancer as well.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens was cremated, and his ashes were interred in Cornish, New-Hampshire. Together with his wife who survived him for 19 years, their son, Homer, Augustus’ brother Louis, daughter-in-law Carlota and nephew Harold. The place where there ashes rest is known as the “Temple”, first created in 1905 in the form of a Greek temple to be used in a stage play to marks Saint-Gaudens’ 20th year at Cornish, and was recreated in marble.