Louis Saint-Gaudens (January 1, 1854 – March 8, 1913) was a significant

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

of the Beaux-Arts generation. He was the brother of renowned sculptor

Augustus Saint-Gaudens Augustus Saint-Gaudens (; March 1, 1848 – August 3, 1907) was an American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation who embodied the ideals of the American Renaissance. From a French-Irish family, Saint-Gaudens was raised in New York City, he tra ...

; Louis later changed the spelling of his name to St. Gaudens to differentiate himself from his well-known brother.

Life and career

Born in New York City to a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

-born father, Bernard Paul Ernest Saint-Gaudens, and an Irish-born mother, Mary McGuiness, Louis received his early training as a cameo cutter from his brother, who later assisted him in beginning his art studies in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. In 1878 he and his brother Augustus moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

where they shared a studio and attended the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centur ...

. Louis studied at the École from 1879 to 1880. Returning to America, he settled in Flint, Ohio, where he lived from 1898 to 1900. There he met his future wife, sculptor Annetta Johnson. Their son, Paul Saint-Gaudens, was a master potter who became known for his Orchard Kiln Pottery Works. In 1900 the family relocated to

Cornish, New Hampshire Cornish is a town in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,616 at the 2020 census. Cornish has four covered bridges. Each August, it is home to the Cornish Fair. History The town was granted in 1763 and contained ...

, a mile away from Louis's brother's studio.Opitz, Glenn B., ''Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers'', Apollo Books, Poughkeepsie, New York, 1988 For the rest of his life, Louis Saint-Gaudens not only worked as his brother's assistant but also pursued commissions of his own. He sculpted major pieces for the

Boston Public Library The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonwea ...

; the Church of the Ascension,

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; The

Brearley School The Brearley School is an all-girls private school in New York City, located on the Upper East Side neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan. The school is divided into lower (kindergarten – grade 4), middle (grades 5–8) and upper (grades 9 ...

, New York; Union Station, Washington, D.C.; U.S. Customs House, New York; St. Louis Art Museum;

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, New York; New York Life Insurance Company Building, New York; the Joseph Francis U.S. Congressional Medal; and the Benjamin Franklin Centennial Medal of 1906. The over fifty sculptures that Saint-Gaudens completed for Washington, D.C.'s Union Station are considered his masterwork. He was a member of the National Sculpture Society.

Legacy

Louis Saint-Gaudens died of pneumonia, aged 59, in Cornish, New Hampshire. His home and studio in Cornish, New Hampshire, a former Shaker Meetinghouse, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Significant Works

* 1890 Eagle and nest of eaglets - New York Life Insurance Building, Kansas City, MO * 1891 Young St. John the Baptist - Font of

Church of the Ascension (New York) The Church of the Ascension is an Episcopal church in the Diocese of New York, located at 36–38 Fifth Avenue and West 10th Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan New York City. It was built in 1840–41, the first chu ...

* 1894 Lions -

, Boston, MA * 1896 Statue of Homer - Main Reading Room,

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

- Washington, DC * 1902 Eagles and seal of the State of New York - Roswell P. Flower Monument, Watertown, NY (with

) * 1905 Holland Statue, Exterior of Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, New York, NY * 1905 Portugal Statue, Exterior of Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, New York, NY * 1908

Joseph Francis Joseph Francis (March 12, 1801 – May 10, 1893) was a 19th-century American inventor who devoted his life to improving maritime equipment, especially life-saving tools. His most famous invention, the metallic life-car, rescued thousands of ...

Medal, United States Mint * 1912 ''

The Progress of Railroading ''The Progress of Railroading'' is group of public artworks by American artist Louis Saint-Gaudens. This series of six sculptures were cut by Andrew E. Bernasconi, a high-grade Italian stone workman, between 1909 and 1911. These statues are loca ...

'',

Union Station (Washington, D.C.) Washington Union Station is a major train station, transportation hub, and leisure destination in Washington, D.C. Designed by Daniel Burnham and opened in 1907, it is Amtrak's headquarters, the railroad's second-busiest station, and North Ameri ...

* 1914 Forty-six Roman Legionnaire Statues - Interior of

References

Notes

Sources

* "Art In American Churches", ''New York Times'', January 20, 1895 * "Art Notes", ''New York Times'', December 21, 1884 * "Louis St. Gaudens Dead", ''New York Times'', March 13, 1913 * "Uncle Sam's Medal Factory", ''Washington Post'', June 13, 1909 * Armstrong, Craven, et al., ''200 Years of American Sculpture'', Whitney Museum of Art, NYC, 1976 * Craven, Wayne, ''Sculpture in America'', Thomas Y. Crowell Co, NY, NY 1968 * Goode, James M., ''The Outdoor Sculpture of Washington, DC, Smithsonian Press, Washington, DC, 1974 * Johnson, Louis, ''Early History of the Home & Studios of Louis and Annette St. Gaudens'' Published by John H. Dryfhout, Cornish, NH * Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, ''The Reminiscences of Augustus Saint-Gaudens'', Edited and Amplified by Homer Saint-Gaudens, Published By The Century Co. New York, MCMXIII * Taft, Lorado, ''The History of American Sculpture'', MacMillan Co., New York, NY 1925 * Wilkinson, Burke, and David Finn, photographs, ''Uncommon Clay: The Life and Works of Augustus Saint-Gaudens'', Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, San Diego 1985 *'' The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris'' by

David McCullough David Gaub McCullough (; July 7, 1933 – August 7, 2022) was an American popular historian. He was a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In 2006, he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States ...

, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, May 2011

External links

Louis Saint-Gaudens Home, New Hampshire
*
''Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Master Sculptor''
exhibition catalog fully online as PDF from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Louis Saint-Gaudens
"''Columbus taking possession of the New World"''
sculpture by Louis Saint-Gaudens and Mary Lawrence Tonetti at the east portal of the Administration Building - World's Columbian Exposition 1893 in Chicago, Ill.
Benjamin Franklin Bicentennial Medal
in Museum of Fine Arts in Boston {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Gaudens, Louis 1854 births 1913 deaths Artists from New York City American people of French descent American people of Irish descent American architectural sculptors Deaths from pneumonia in New Hampshire American alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts Artists from New Hampshire 19th-century American sculptors 19th-century American male artists American male sculptors 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists Sculptors from New York (state) Artists of the Boston Public Library