YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Augustus Saiht-Gaudehs, by Eehyoh Cox

THE REMINISCENCES OF
AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS

EDITED AND AMPLIFIED BY
HOMER SAINT-GAUDENS

VOLUME TWO

PUBLISHED BY THE CENTURY CO.
NEW YORK ***** MCMXIII

Copyright, 1913, by
The Century Co.

Published, October, ISIS

CONTENTS
PAGE
THE TEACHER, 1888-1897 . . '.  3
Teaching in the Art Students' League — Affection of Master and
Students — General Trend of Instruction — Detailed Advice —
Instruction of Mature Assistants — Letters of Criticisms —
Competitions — Study Abroad. II
FELLOW ARTISTS, 1888-1897  40
Theories or the Lack of Them — The Progress of American Art
— American Art Equal to French — French and American
Sculptors — French and American Painters — Architects —
Actors. Ill
ENERGETIC YEARS, 1888-1897  61
William Dean Howells — The Chicago Exposition — The Colum
bian Medal — Many Studios — The Sherman — The Shaw Un
veiling — The Logan Unveiling — Dissatisfaction with America
— Honors. IV
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS, 1892-1897  97
Distractions — Studio Confusion — Studio Annoyances — Irritat
ing Commissions ; Logan, Garfield — Peter Cooper, a Labor of
Love — Outside Activities — Friends — The Death of Bion.
V
THE LAST TRIP ABROAD, 1897-1900  122
A Sick Man — To Paris — Paris Work, Sherman, Library Fig
ures, Brimmer, Lowell, Dana, Stevenson — Scotland — "Amor
Carita's "— Sherman — Depression — To the Midi with Garnier
— Aspect — Saint-Gaudens — Garnier's Narrative.

CONTENTS
VI PAGE
SPAIN, 1899  153
The Cirque de Gavarnie — Across the Pyrenees on Mule-back —
Catalonia the Magnificent — The Spanish Male — Saragossa —
Madrid — Toledo — The Alhambra — The Bull Fight.
VII
PARIS LIFE, 1897-1900  178
Paris Lif e — MacMonnies and Whistler — Dubois — The Salons
— Success — Daily Friends and Pleasures — Philosophies.
VIII
THE RETURN TO CORNISH, 1900-1907  206
American Art as Saim>Gaudens left it — The End of the Remi
niscences — America with Fresh Eyes — The Hospital — A Rail
road Accident — Cornish Winters — Cornish Friends — Letters
Here and There — Illness.
IX
FINAL OUTSIDE INTERESTS  247
The Studio Fire — The Death of White — Outside Interests —
The Roman Academy — The Artistic Development of Washing
ton — Impressions of Washington — Honors.
X
CORNISH SCULPTURE, 1900-1907  289
The " Sherman " — Equestrian Statues — The Library Groups —
The St. Giles " Stevenson "— Lesser Work — The " Seated Lin
coln"— The "Daly"— The " Parnell "— The "Brooks."
XI
FINAL WORK, 1904-1907  328
The "Hanna"— The "Magee"— The " Whistler "— The Coins
— The Puritan — The Hay Bust — Hay Letters — The Mitchell
Relief — The "Masque"— The "Sage"— The "MacVeagh"—

CONTENTS
PAGE
Mrs. Saint-Gaudens — The "Booth"— The Baker "Christ"—
The Albright Caryatids — Philosophy.
CHRONOLOGY OF THE WORK OF AUGUSTUS SAINT-
GAUDENS  361
INDEX  367

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME II
Portrait of Augustus Saint-Gaudens by Kenyon Cox Frontispiece
Four sketches for "The Puritan"  7
"The Puritan"  14
Two sketches for the Standing Lincoln  27
The model of the Statue of Abraham Lincoln now in Lincoln
Park, Chicago  34
Group of Three Medals designed for the Columbian Exposition 45
Augustus Saint-Gaudens in New York about 1887 .... 56
The Sherman Statue  63
Four sketches for the SchifF children relief  70
Two of the many sketches for the Peter Cooper  75
The Shaw Memorial, Boston, Massachusetts  82
Augustus Saint-Gaudens without his beard, 1895 .... 90
Diana  99
Statue of Peter Cooper  Ill
Etching of Augustus Saint-Gaudens by Anders Zorn . . .118
Sketch for alterations of Stevenson relief for Edinburgh . . 129
Sketch of original idea for bas-relief of Wayne MacVeagh and
his wife  129
Augustus Saint-Gaudens with his cousin Hector Saint-Gaudens,
at Salies du Salat  140
House where Augustus Saint-Gaudens lived at Salies du Salat 149
Drawing of street in Aspet, France  160
Nine portrait reliefs and busts  167

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE
Caricatures by Augustus Saint-Gaudens of Stanford White,
William Gedney Bunce, Charles F. McKim, Henry Hering,
Augustus Saint-Gaudens, James Earle Fraser and William
MacMonnies ...  182
Portrait in bas-relief of the children of Jacob H. SchifF . .189
Amor: Caritas  200
Augustus Saint-Gaudens about 1901  208
A caricature letter from Augustus Saint-Gaudens to James Wall
Finn  213
A caricature letter from Augustus Saint-Gaudens to Maxfield
Parrish  220
Caricature illustrations  225
Relief caricature of James Wall Finn  230
Relief caricature of Charles A. Piatt  1280
The house in Cornish as it stands  241
Augustus Saint-Gaudens in the pergola outside his studio in
Cornish  241
The Seated Lincoln Statue for the Chicago Lake Front . . 249
Augustus Saint-Gaudens in the town of Aspet, France . . . 256
Three generations  265
The Adams Monument in the Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington 274
Painting of Augustus Saint-Gaudens by Ellen Emmet . . . 279
Facsimile of part of a letter of Augustus Saint-Gaudens to
Charles F. McKim  286
The second study for the head of the "Victory" of the Sherman
Statue  291
Medallion of Ex-Attorney-General and Mrs. Wayne MacVeagh 297
The Robert Louis Stevenson Panel  297
A painted reproduction of the Boston Public Library figures,
set up by Augustus Saint-Gaudens to determine the size 304
Model for the Parnell Monument for Dublin, Ireland . . . 309

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE
Model of the square in Dublin in which the Parnell was placed,
made by Augustus Saint-Gaudens  309
Augustus Saint-Gaudens about two years before his death . .816
Original sketches of ideas for The Magee Memorial and The
Brooks Memorial  320
Study for the Head of Christ made for the Phillips Brooks
Monument .  325
Preliminary sketch for the double eagle or twenty-dollar gold
piece  836
Relief sketches for Gold Coin, showing evolution of design . . 341
Plaque made by Saint-Gaudens as a gift to each of the partici
pants in the Masque which had been given in his honor at
Cornish, New Hampshire, June 23, 1905  350
Sketch for relief of Mrs. Saint-Gaudens ....... 355

The Reminiscences of
Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Volume II.

I
THE TEACHER
1888-1897
Teaching in the Art Students' League — Affection of Master and Stu
dents — General Trend of Instruction — Detailed Advice — Instruc
tion of Mature Assistants — Letters of Criticisms — Competitions —
Study Abroad.
SAINT-GAUDENS' text having led him through half
his stay in New York, offers me a fitting place to enlarge
on his chief professional interest not definitely connected
with his own work, his teaching. This interest developed as the
natural result not only of his high reverence for the seriousness
of the art of sculpture, but also because of a strongly recipro
cated affection for youth. The French masters, such as Colin or
Gerome, often charged a round sum for a criticism, but if Saint-
Gaudens felt certain that a pupil was serious in his efforts, he
would go any distance to give advice to that pupil. He would
go, busy or sick. He would go even when he knew that the zest
of his subsequent morning's or afternoon's work would be im
paired or demolished by the reaction of genuine regret over his
pupil's lack of ability. Moreover, with the same spirit, toward
the close of a competition in his class, to which he was supposed
to come only twice a week, he would often appear every after
noon and Sundays as well ; while, whenever he believed he had dis
covered some new idea about his work, he could not be happy
until he had explained it to those he taught. For instance, after
he had modeled upon the Sherman cloak about two months, he '
suddenly caught the composition he desired. He never rested
till he had finished. But on the moment of its completion he
hurried uptown to his class to tell them that "When an idea
3

THE REMINISCENCES OF
comes you must work quickly and refuse to leave it until you
get what you desire."
In a like manner, for their part, too, his pupils offered him
unwavering affection and loyalty, though it is amusing to re
member that in one another's presence both teacher and students
were invariably nervous. I am told that the latter would be
come panic-stricken the moment they caught sight of Saint-
Gaudens' rough homespun suit; in a jiffy sponges, lathes, and
quick ways of working, the "concert tools," went under the
table, and the special hook for his hat, his clean towel, plumb-
line, and fresh clay were as instantly prepared. While my
father, on his side, frequently spoke of the difficulty caused him
by his self-conscious desire to maintain his dignity. He used
to say that whenever he criticized it always brought about an
itching of his right shin which continued until the desire to
stand upon his right foot and scratch his shin with his left heel
was too great to be resisted. Unfortunately, he writes of all
this very briefly. He says : —
An interesting side of my occupations at this time,
which I have not yet touched on, lay in my teaching at
the Art Students' League. It was of the greatest in
terest to me to watch the growth and development of
talent among my pupils, the majority of whom were
women. I noticed what others have discovered before
me, that unquestionably women learn more rapidly than
men, but that subsequently men gain in strength and
proceed, whereas women remain, making less progress.
Men always seem to compose better than women, and
are more creative. Women can more easily copy what
is before them.
It is also a proven and amazing fact to me that every
pupil who is studying a model posed for the nude will
4

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
show a marked tendency to bias his drawings in the di
rection of his own physical — I might almost say mental
— peculiarities. That is, assuming the model to be a well-
proportioned man, the long, thin pupil will more likely
make a drawing long and thin than the short and stout
pupil, and vice versa. A pupil with stubby legs will
draw his man short-legged, while the long-armed, the
big-headed, the lame, in fact all personal traits, can al
most invariably be detected in the work. Of course as
the student acquires power this is more or less overcome,
but it holds to a greater or less degree in the productions
of even the highest men. It is seen also to a certain
extent in the likings for other men's work. I have in
mind a sculptor of great effeminacy whose men in all
his drawings have an effeminate quality, he himself lik
ing in a picture anything with that note. This char
acteristic obtains also in criticism. If the teacher is
long-legged, he is likely to find the legs of his pupil's
work too short, and insist that they be made longer, and
so on in bewildering diversity.
I had taught, of course, long before I began at the
League. Indeed I had started to give lessons back in
the days of the German Savings Bank Building. But
the first occasion where I felt my efforts well repaid was
close to this later time. For about then, during the
superintendence of the wood-cutting in the Vanderbilt
house, which, after a while, became a terrible bore, I had
noticed that one of my carvers reproduced models with
an artistic felicity so markedly superior to any of the
others that I had asked him to come and help me in my
5

THE REMINISCENCES OF
studio. This was Philip Martiny, and the principal as
sistance he gave me, during his stay of about a year or
so, was on the figure of the Puritan.
Of all my pupils, however, none has approached in
importance a lad sent me by some stone-cutter as a
studio boy whom he thought would answer my purpose.
This was Frederick William MacMonnies. Since I
was always busy and still taking myself very seriously,
though by then old enough to know better, I gave scant
attention to the youth. I did notice, however, that he
was pale, delicate, and attractive looking, and one day
I found a pronounced artistic atmosphere in some little
terra-cotta sketches of animals which he brought to me.
From that moment the charm of his work began to as
sert itself, until it became evident that I had a young
man who was to make his mark.
He remained with me five years before he went to
Paris. But he returned again when subsequently I
asked him to come back and help me for a year or less
on the fountain which I was commissioned to do at the
same time as the "Lincoln." I was much behind in my
work and, since I needed somebody who could aid me
with skill and rapidity, I could think of no one better.
He modeled the boys that are in that fountain, and,
though he created them under my direction, whatever
charm there may be in them is entirely due to his re
markable artistic ability, and whatever there is without
charm can be laid at my door. He went to Europe im
mediately after that, and I did not see him again until
the Chicago Exposition.

-<- ---. ._

irmm '
Wf f :
FOUR SKETCHES FOR "THE PURITAN"
AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
Before I leave this subject of my assistants, however,
I must tell of another of a different character from
Martiny and MacMonnies. I was constantly being ap
plied to by young men who wished to enter my studio
and study with and under me, though I as regularly
stated that I took no pupils and needed but few assist
ants. Nevertheless, one Germanic-looking, bespec
tacled, energetic-headed young man, by his persistence
at last succeeded in making me employ him. This
youth, who has since become an artist of talent, soon con
trolled the studio. I was afraid to speak to him, afraid
to discharge him, and approached him in terror and
trembling when I had anything to ask. I was hypno
tized, and he so preyed on my nerves that one day I told
the stable boy, whose work it was to bring the horse for
the "Shaw" from the Riding Club, a young, red-headed,
soft-hearted Irishman, wholly drunk half the time and
half-drunk all the time, that I would give him twenty-
five dollars if some day before I arrived in the morning,
he would "smash" our mutual boss.
He agreed; but, alas, he was as weak as I, and the
domination of the assistant continued until one morn
ing, in a burst of fury, I discharged him with oaths,
curses, and objurgations. To my surprise, he replied
faintly and humbly, "I had not the faintest idea I was
disagreeable, Mr. Saint-Gaudens."
Then I apologized, though the fury left me force
enough to tell him it would be better for him if he started
in fresh fields and pastures new. We are now great
friends. 9

fn

THE REMINISCENCES OF
Of course this mention by my father of his assistants is
more brief than he would have made it had he been given op
portunity to complete his manuscript or to revise what he had
written ; since, beside those of whom he has spoken, many of the
best sculptors in the land passed through his studio, men of the
caliber of Mr. Herbert Adams. For example, another artist
of talent who played an amusing role on this scene at almost
the same time as MacMonnies was Mr. Charles Dana Gibson,
who worked for my father when only a boy of twelve or fourteen.
The meeting of the two came about through the youngster's
developing a knack for cutting out striking paper silhouettes,
which caused one of his relatives to conclude that Saint-Gaudens
must decide upon the boy's future career. This interview she
arranged by asking the architect, Mr. George B. Post, who
was then employing my father, to take her young man to the
sculptor. Accordingly Gibson, not knowing what was really
happening, but feeling very much in the way, was haled by Mr.
Post to the Thirty-sixth Street Studio, where the architect and
sculptor had a hurried and confused conversation, which left
both master and pupil at the mercy of a complete misunder
standing. As has been explained, my father already had his studio full
of assistants. So now, believing that the boy had been sent
to him to be given work, rather than to be artistically advised,
he appeared far from good-tempered, as he drew some of the
lad's clippings from an envelope to look them over.
"Did you do these?" Saint-Gaudens asked.
"Yes," breathed the uncomfortable and bewildered youngster,
still gazing in terror at the elder man's unsympathetic expres
sion and exceedingly long nose.
A big model named Van Oertzen, who had been posing for
the "Puritan," stood near by. My father evidently thought
that Gibson had done his work from life, which was another mis
take, so he handed the boy paper and scissors and pointed to
the German. 10

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
"Let 's see you copy him."
That was a knotty proposition for the young man who had
never reproduced a living figure before and whose eyes more
over were hypnotized by the striped stockings worn by the
model. However, bravely making the attempt while my
father watched him askance, he finally received for a verdict a
gruff, "All right! Go to work!"
Consequently Gibson went to work. But all the time, be
lieving himself not wanted, he continued to work only in an aim
less fashion, until one day, about three weeks later, my father
sent him to a photographer on Forty-second Street, whence he
was to fetch some vaguely-understood object. At the photog
rapher's, the boy received a bit of tissue paper, about four
inches square, on which were drawn a few lines. Whereupon
he strolled back down Broadway, staring about him at the
novelty of the city and in his abstraction rolling the paper first
in one direction, then in another, until finally it became a neat,
perspiration-soaked ball.
My father met him at the studio door.
"Did you go to the photographer?" he asked.
"Yes, sir."
"Well, where is the drawing?"
"Oh!" Gibson remembered himself and hurriedly dropped the
dirty little wad into my father's hand.
Then Gibson left.
Such young men, good, bad, and indifferent, my father kept
by him through all his progress. In the case of his relief
work they never became more than tools, as he felt confident
of his mastery of that form of art, and desired no outside opin
ions on the results. But for his statues in the round they
proved of unusual assistance, because, as he used to say in fun,
"It is a great thing to have a lot of people developing things
which you can destroy after a while if you want to." The re
mark contained much truth; for beneath it lay my father's
11

THE REMINISCENCES OF
constant desire to have work carried forward while he was out
of the room, in order that he might see it with a clear vision
upon his return. Moreover, with these monuments and busts
he was always anxious to receive criticisms from many
persons, since, while frequently he would not take the sugges
tions, quite as frequently he would find that the personal truth
expressed in a genuine reply, directly or indirectly contained
a valuable idea.
On the personal side, also, these assistants, as in the case of
the young men and women at the League, seemed unanimously
happy with my father, their only complaint being that, quite
in contrast with his attitude toward students in the schools,
he was so fearful lest he hurt their feelings that they often
found it difficult to learn just what he desired. No doubt this
condition was emphasized by the fact that his own delicate men
tal balance made him supremely sensitive to the state of mind
of others, especially since these assistants were much more to
him than so many transitory workers. I have mentioned his
desire to help with his criticism the students he encountered at
the League or elsewhere. Such service he rendered with even
greater sympathy when the task in question was done by some
junior who had been trained under his own eye, whom he could
follow with solicitude and pride through the formative period
of his art. And when the young man was launched upon a ca
reer of his own, my father's delight in his successes was only
equaled by an eagerness to give him all possible aid. If, for
example, Saint-Gaudens' own studio was too overwhelmed with
work for him to accept a new commission himself, and the monu
ment was one which he felt could be intrusted to a former pupil,
it made him happy to do what he could to help that pupil to re
ceive the commission. Nothing in the world would persuade
him to recommend a sculptor in whose abilities he did not thor
oughly believe. But once that question was satisfactorily set
tled, he would put his heart into smoothing the young man's
12

"THE PURITAN"
The Chapin Statue, Springfield, Massachusetts

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
path. There was something of the paternal in Saint-Gaudens'
attitude. It implied a very warm and even tender tie. How
real and how sensitive this was he showed much later, in the
course of his stay in Paris between 1897 and 1900, when he met
MacMonnies and realized, with a personal sense of sadness, that
the youth of the earlier days in the Thirty-sixth Street studio
had, quite naturally, "grown up," and was no longer the same
protege whom he had once known and cared for. But becom
ing philosophical as the years passed, he clear-sightedly, though
plaintively, recognized that master and disciple must some
times draw apart. In a long letter to one of his friends at
home he breaks off to say:
This last page is for a very delicate subject, Mac
Monnies. I will speak of our relations philosophically,
although it is difficult, after the profound intimacy and
affection I had for him at one time. It took me several
months to realize it, but finally, with deep bitterness
and sorrow, I discovered that the friend I had loved was
as dead as Bion to me; the gentle, tender bird I had
caressed out of its egg had turned to a proud eagle, with
(most naturally) a world of his own, a life of his own,
and likes and dislikes of his own. The angel boy had
grown into the virile man with a distinct personality;
my boy had gone forever. And when I realized it, the
gloom of Paris was unbearable, — that, and the absence
of Bion. I do not speak in bitterness but in sorrow
only. I find that I have met in Mac another man,
whose acquaintance I am now making,^-no doubt a
fine fellow and a devoted friend when I get to know him
again. It is all quite natural, and it was unnatural in
15

THE REMINISCENCES OF
me to expect that he was not subject to the same de
velopment as the rest of us.
Here then, at the end of my effort to establish the nature of
the relations between master and pupil, I will try to explain in
some measure the details of my father's professional and per
sonal advice. First in this effort let me give the one attempt
he made to define the goal towards which he felt both he and
those around him were striving. I take it from a note I came
upon in his scrap-book after his death:
I thought that art seemed to be the concentration of
the experience and sensations of life in painting, litera
ture, sculpture, and particularly acting, which accounts
for the desire in artists to have realism. However,
there is still the feeling of the lack of something in the
simple representation of some indifferent action. The
imagination must be able to bring up the scenes, inci
dents, that impress us in life, condense them, and the
truer they are to nature the better. The imagination
may condemn that which has impressed us beautifully
as well as the strong or characteristic or ugly.
With this artistic creed, he believed a facile technique to
be most needed to express these experiences and sensations, a
technique which could only be gained by training and drudg
ery. Therefore he always remained an advocate of that long
schooling which he insisted would help the mediocre and never
hurt the talented.
In carrying out such a course his two chief doctrines were,
"Beware of discouraging a pupil. You never can tell how that
pupil will develop, consequently take as great pains to mention
the good as the bad," and, "Refrain from ridicule, unless ridi-
16

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
cule is the only way to get your remarks home." Now and
then, of course, he was forced into radical steps. They tell
me that once, when he failed to obtain even a gleam of intelli
gence from a certain student, he picked up a tool and slashed
the whole work to pieces. Yet even with that he modified the
bitterness of the act by saying to the victim, "This seems to be
the only way to treat it. But, cheer up, it 's not your Water
loo !"
Probably this incident and others like it were largely due to
his intense earnestness in his work and, by consequence, to his
vigorous demands upon his classes. For though with the at
tentive he was all attention and rewarded the pupil by the se
vere task of remembering his name, he had no toleration for
the badly-grounded, the frivolous or noisy, the man with the
excuse, or the man skeptical of his teacher's ability to speak
with authority. In the first group the fashionable girl and
the old lady with the white curls, who set up her daub from her
seat in a rocking-chair, were disposed of with the remark that
the League was no nursery. To the frivolous he insisted,
"You can make fun of anything, but a class-room is no place
for that species of recreation." Accordingly, when once a tool,
which had been thrown against the ceiling with a lump of clay
some days before, happened to fall while he was near, he walked
out without a word and refused to return until an apology was
sent him. His distaste for excuses was the terror of the moni
tors. Frequently, after he had posed the model, the man
would hold his attitude while my father was in the room, but the
minute he left would relax and stay relaxed until the end of
the week. Then on Saint-Gaudens' reappearance the model
would resume his proper attitude and the class would receive
an unfavorable criticism without the possibility of a defense.
In the last division, that of the skeptics, came those like the
man who was studying to be the "lightning modeler" in a
vaudeville circuit, and was possessed with a gift of argumenta
tive gab. The man's work was abominable. My father did his
17

THE REMINISCENCES OF
best to correct it. The man talked. My father laid down the
tool and waited respectfully until the man was through. Then
he walked away. The man never got another criticism.
In this class-room, therefore, my father had scant patience
with Rodin-like tendencies, with "cleverness," or superficial
surface modeling. Rather he stood as the apostle of academic
work having "construction" as the password. To his pupils
seriously applying themselves he gently urged the influence of
the Greeks before that of Michelangelo and his school. More
specifically, such a letter as this, sent to Mr. John W. Beatty
on July 10, 1905, names the men he set before his followers : —
. . . Phidias — Praxiteles — Michelangelo —
Donatello — Luca della Robbia — Jean Goujon —
Houdon — -Rude — David d' Angers — Paul Dubois, these
are the names that occur to me at once. Of course, if
we knew the names of the sculptors of the portal at
Chartres or "le beau Christ d' Amiens," they would re
place two of the more modern Frenchmen . . .
The most satisfactory beginning of sculpture, to my father's
mind, lay in the ability to draw in charcoal. So back his
would-be pupils often went to the "antique" or other lower
classes with the advice that, for the rest of the season, they
draw very slowly and with great consideration in the manner
of Holbein or Ingres, putting down but one line at a time and
not changing it thereafter. Another, though less important,
foundation which he insisted upon was an understanding of
anatomy, since he reasoned that the knowledge of what was
possible in the human figure would prove of immense aid in
reproducing just what was before one. "Every man who to
day discourages anatomy, studied it with care in his youth.
Now he simply does not appreciate what he learned," he
would say. 18

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
Then when the prepared student came to my father's hands,
he was told to work as naively and as primitively as possible,
to leave no tool marks showing, to make his surfaces seem as
if they had grown there, to develop technique and then to hide
it. He assured them that they need never fear ruining their
imagination or their sense of beauty by their attention to the
fundamentals while in class. Esthetic qualities, if ever in
them, would remain, though they could not be acquired at any
price if not inherent. They were in the school to learn to
handle their tools and to copy the model accurately and abso
lutely, until the ability to construct became automatic. They
should be right, even if they had to be ugly, and to that end
they should take all the measurements they wished of a model,
almost pointing the model down to their statue if they de
sired. Occasionally an inspired youth would remark that he
never measured his work, upon which my father would
promptly rage, for he said: "You will have trouble enough in
producing good art as it is without scorning such mechanical
means as you can take. Beside, continuous measuring will
train your eye to see accurately. Nobody can give the length
of a foot off-hand as well as a carpenter."
Yet this need of infinite pains in all things that I have
mentioned was my father's chief advice, which he managed to
mingle successfully with a power to urge his pupils ahead.
For in some strange fashion he could instil into them the feel
ing that work which might do credit to a pupil one month
should not be accepted the next, yet at the same time arouse
in them the capability of endless patience toward thoughtful
effort. To him a good thing was no better for being done
quickly. Change after change should be made if needed to
produce what was best.
"Conceive an idea," he would say. "Then stick to it.
Those who hang on are the only ones who amount to any
thing." Now to speak more specifically of his detailed criticism
19

THE REMINISCENCES OF
among his pupils let me begin with the study from the nude, the
branch which was to him of chief importance.' He insisted,
first of all, that the figure should have its center of gravity
properly placed, that his pupils should at once use the plumb-
line. Here, for instance, is a specimen of his attitude to
wards a violation of this rule, even when broken by so strong
an artist as MacMonnies in so successful a statue as the Na
than Hale. My father writes Mrs. Van Rensselaer:
. . . Bion refers to my having lifted it up a little
in front when it was set on its pedestal here the other
day. It fell forward. But MacMonnies in company
with all the other Gauls, including the sober Bion, must
have a change, and a figure that is standing simply and
naturally on its legs according to the laws of gravitation
is everyday and commonplace. One that does n't stand
on its legs, but stands on an ear or has a foot growing
out of its biceps, or behind its head, or out of its stom
ach, or one that has an arm which disappears myste
riously, "Oh! Oh! Mon Dieu! Quel audace! Quel
genie !" Therefore Mac is crazy to get his "Hale" tum
bling forward on its nose again.
Immediately after the use of the plumb-line, my father would
attack the proportions with an astonishingly just eye. With
a moment's inspection, he could say : "It 's too short here, or
too long there." And if the pupil proved that the measure
ment was correct, his answer would be : "Then it 's wrong
somewhere else," and invariably he was right.
From this Saint-Gaudens went on to mention his details,
taking pains never to work on the studies except to add re
minding balls of clay and lines, while by his words he did his
utmost to make the pupils see for themselves, often saying:
20

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
"When I tell you a thing is wrong I know it is. But don't
change it unless you feel the error on your own account."
As I have explained, in the class-room Saint-Gaudens re
fused to have these figures "treated," that is, modified from
the lines of nature to suit the requirements of their surround
ings. On the other hand he never expected that even the best
of pupils could reproduce the model absolutely. Consequently
there were certain varieties of error that brought down from
him especial damnation. Studies fatter than the model, or
figures that "looked like tadpoles," came first in the category,
together with cross-eyes, stuck-out chins, fat rumps, short
legs and shins, thin wrists and ankles, and any leaning toward
turned-out toes which so frequently offended him in the atti
tudes of modern men. Many times he expressed his admiration
of the way Indians walked with their toes seemingly turned
in. And often he mentioned certain actors also who had
grasped the strength of this attitude, and who had gained in
apparent virility by turning in their feet.
Following work from the nude came my father's interest in
compositions, upon which he constantly insisted enough impor
tance was never laid. Therefore in this direction he often
asked his classes to submit subjects. Of these, Biblical or
mythological motives specially pleased him, while disassociated
suggestions for titles drove him to the attitude set forth in
this bit of writing: "I think the idea you wished to express a
thoughtful and admirable one, but one that belongs to an order
that can hardly be expressed in a group. It is too abstract."
In such compositions he insisted on the strength of concave
outside lines, and on the merit of vertical Unes. Simple lines
running up and down he believed had much to do with the
sense of tallness or beauty, while cut-up objects invariably
looked short. Meeting lines should always come together with
an acute angle which suggested movement rather than with a
right angle which checked the idea of motion. The radiation
of lines he also regarded as one of the necessities for success in
21

THE REMINISCENCES OF
sculpture. While, contrary to the practice of many, he in
variably commended the repetition of a successful accent as in
a fold of cloth, using it often himself, perhaps most noticeably
in the "Shaw," the "Puritan," the Rock Creek figure and the
"Sherman." After composition, my father regarded the treatment of
drapery and its construction as of chief importance, the two
subjects being closely allied. Here in especial he attempted to
lead his pupils along the narrow path that must be trod be
tween work that appears labored, or spectacular, or showy,
and work that looks as if it were "good enough." He wished
results to seem "soft," and "generous," and "easy." Tex
ture, he always insisted, should represent the light on the
thing as well as the thing itself. Furthermore, he demanded
that it be "fat and juicy," though virile, with the supple lines
of the folds blurred or "flued" so that they should not appear
too stiff or "snappy," like tin or paper, nor too "mushy,"
like lead or cast iron. To this end two of his characteristic
jocose comments were: "That reminds me of a box of soap,"
or, "All yours needs is a little perfumery and lace."
In reaching the right results in composition and the model
ing of drapery, he advocated no special means. For himself,
he would conceive his general scheme through countless models,
set up a careful nude, drape a manikin, make serious studies
with cloth, and then turning to the clay figure, quickly develop
it in quite another direction from the model. He often ac
quired good drapery by accidental suggestions. A compara
tively unconscious touch here or there would give into a more
satisfactory fold or a more beautiful composition. So, in this
sort of work, he was forever making impromptu and experi
mental moves.
The two other branches of sculpture, the modeling of busts
and reliefs, naturally leads the account of my father's teach
ing from the class-room to the studio. For he felt that those
subjects were not to be treated in such a place as the League,
22

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
saying in regard to the only bust ever shown him there, "Don't
work on heads. The figure is the important thing." To
those whom he took under his own roof, however, his attitude
became quite different, and with' them he went into these mat
ters most carefully.
Regarding busts his chief advice was that the surface should
not be given especial attention till at the last. Rather the
outline should be watched and drawn from all possible points,
the sculptor beginning in the rear and working towards the
front. This way of modeling he thought preferable, since the
first simple measurements of the mass and area make the start
easy, and lay a good foundation for the details and subtleties
to come.
In relief modeling, especially during his final years, he was
at his greatest pains to make his criticisms distinct. It is
true that he felt that he had mastered this phase of his art
more than any other. Nevertheless, here he found himself
unusually at a loss for words with which to describe his under
standing, as the development of a medallion was to him so
purely a matter of feeling. The chief maxim upon which he
insisted was that the perfect relief texture, lettering, molding,
background, and all, should interest by its color and light
from edge to edge. For instance, to the pupil who made the
background flat, he would say, "Remember that your back
ground is your atmosphere, and part of the composition, and
that the composition should extend from edge to edge of the
frame." While on another occasion he wrote, "The outline
of the face is much too sharp, and cut against the ground
as if it were something shaved off and pasted against the
back." In these ways he produced his special treatment of light
and texture. The dark spot created about the profile head,
he felt could be dealt with by anybody. But the more dis
tant bits of drapery would often look amateurish and needed,
to give them strength, a fearless hand to dig into the anatomy,
23

THE REMINISCENCES OF
and to give them color, most delicate modeling. Skill of this
kind he had developed during his apprenticeship in cameo-cut
ting. For at that early time he had not only learned the
value of producing firmness by his lines, avoiding the "drop of
wax" feeling already mentioned, but had mastered also the
knack of realizing instinctively which parts in the surface to
raise and which to lower; because, from the way the modeled
planes catch the light, their position must needs be relatively
different from those of a figure in the round. Moreover, this
attention to the planes, he insisted, had great effect upon the
apparent drawing, a sculptor often fussing endlessly over his
lines, when really only a little of the surface needed to be taken
off or added on.
Other of my father's familiar remarks were that a circular
bas-relief was a poor form, as it looked too lazy in conception
— this despite the fact that he produced one in the original
Stevenson — that a full face in a medallion was too much for
the gods — this though he modeled a full face on the twenty
dollar gold-piece — and that a bas-relief should never contain a
landscape, or several planes in perspective. Ghiberti's doors
in Florence, the classic violation of this latter theory, my
father thought successful considering the circumstances, yet
they never really appealed to him. When he did deal with fur
niture, as in the medallion of Mr. William Dean Howells and
his daughter, he shifted his point of view up and down in order
to represent only the edges of the table and of the chairs, all,
roughly speaking, on one plane. Near the end of his life, it
is true, he introduced a few trees and open-air scenes, but he
hesitated greatly in these problems, and carried them out under
fairly simple conditions. I fancy he himself often wondered
why he so strayed from his principles. Perhaps it was be
cause, like all artists, he absorbed and reproduced his surround
ings, which then were of the country.
Let me now generalize even further concerning my father's
ideas at large, which he constantly explained to his assistants.
24

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
Perhaps the most amusing of these he expressed by two lines
which he invariably chalked on the studio wall:
WHAT IS ART?

<  >
>  <

"Which horizontal line is the longer?" he would ask, and
upon being told, "The lower one," he would smile and answer
that they were both of the same length, so furnishing an ex
cellent illustration that art is not what a thing actually is, but
what it appears to be.
I remember also two expressions which were always at his
tongue's end. Work went "Bang, bang, bang!" with virility,
or was "Fragrant like a rose," which metaphor of odor re
ferred in sculpture, as in literature, to a quality he laid great
stress on, that of charm.
"Charm may lie in character, or in line, or in many things.
But every man must have it to be successful," he would say.
"It is hard to know what gives it, perhaps the proper choice of
things to accentuate or to suppress. Anything that is final
or with no more to think about is uninteresting."
Without doubt this mystic side of objects never failed to
interest him. I recall the first time we visited the Broadway
Theater in New York, where an old curtain bore a scene of a
shepherd driving his flock up from a river. The background
of dark woods and fragrant moonlight on the water had an
indescribable fascination for him, one that he remarked on each
and every occasion when we sat before it. Towards such an
end he admitted of many accessories in sculpture provided they
were more or less concealed. He considered them of great
value when they bore upon the whole subject, though of none
in themselves. Indeed he constantly raged against what the
French call a joli morceau, distracting and detracting from the
25

THE REMINISCENCES OF
whole. He desired rather details so modeled that they should
add interest to a small figure, and yet upon enlargement should,
by a strange law of sculpture, assume their subordinate place,
giving color without confusion in the bigger masses.
Finally, in the general view, his two pet phrases were : "After
all, you can model anything. It all depends on the way it is
done." And: "You cannot reproduce things absolutely. So
since you must err, err only on the side of beauty."
Such is a potpourri of my own knowledge of my father's ef
forts to teach and of the details which his pupils and assistants
here and there have told me about him. Yet better than all
this is what he says himself. In his deliberate reminiscences
he wrote little in this vein. But luckily he expressed himself
much more amply, not only in his spoken instructions but in
letters sent from time to time to young artists. From these
letters I have drawn the most pertinent.
The first extracts are from what he wrote to a young sculp
tor, Mr. Charles Keck, long in his studio and at that time
studying in the Roman Academy:
The bas-relief is interesting, and has a charm of ar
rangement and sentiment in certain directions. The
idea is excellent. The wrong thing is that the woman
with the cup who, in a gentle position, all willingly
tempts the man while he is struggling in action, is an
impossibility that troubles the spectator. I repeat, the
grouping is very good indeed. The medallion is at
tractive, although it has no personal distinctive attrac
tion of your own. It is like a great many charming
medallions by other fellows. . . .
. . . Your "David" is very much better in every
respect than the things I have spoken of before. The
modeling is very much better, freer, and firmer. My
26

rms

owBl HosM Bl
of=
i-3PStsco H>ZO2
o rzoor1 z

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
only quarrel with it would be that it is a little "Cock-a-
doodle-doo" in character, a little what I call "Frenchy,"
although that is not a fair term to employ when it is con
sidered that the best modern sculpture is French —
sculpture that we take our hats off to, and that
"Frenchy" is the last word to apply to the masterpieces
of French art.
The next two are from letters to Miss Helen Mears, another
pupil whom my father held in high esteem:
. . . The kneeling boy is as yet not very success
ful. It seems to me something better can be found, and
I 've roughly indicated a possibility of improving the
disposition of the legs, and thereby the general character
of that figure, which is the only thing that has an ele
ment of weakness in it. It seems to me the gesture
would be nobler by bringing his leg lower down. But
the thing to do is to make several sketches in different
positions, and select the best.
I think I should have the architectural parts put up
in wood or plaster, made light so that they could be
easily moved up or down or sideways as changes might
suggest themselves. I do not at all agree with your
friend's suggestion about the arrangement of the col
umns. You decide your disposition of them and let
the architect arrange the rest. . . .
And later:
... I think French's advice excellent, except that
I should make the half -size study exactly as though it
29

THE REMINISCENCES OF
were the finished thing. Leave as little as possible to
do in the large, have it enlarged mechanically, and then
you can go over it with a freshness that you could not
obtain otherwise. I should use models in the small
exactly as though you were not going to do the large.
Don't leave any serious study to struggle with in the
big; of course you must do the whole ensemble together
in the small. Putting them up separately can only be
done in the big from what is carefully prepared in the
small. You couldn't have had a better man than Mr. Bacon,
and I should follow what he says closely. The sculp
ture is to be the main thing, as he says, and I like his
idea of the low-relief pilaster. If it looks weak when
modeled it is an easy thing to increase the weight of
the pilaster.
It 's hard to tell what relief to make the life-size fig
ures of your fountain. I should determine the relief
in the small. I think they might look well in any re
lief, but I think a middling-relief would be best, say
double the relief of the Parthenon cavalcade. . . .
I don't think I would put a shawl on Miss Willard
unless she wore one. If she did, I should do it by all
means, or something of the kind thrown over her shoul
der, as a wrap would be good and justifiable. Women
frequently do that to keep off the chill in a lecture room
or a public hall. You know I don't despise the making
of modern dress. Something can be done I' m sure.
Lastly, here are some characteristic letters which my father
wrote to me during the winter of 1898. Though the matter
30

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
contains little of value, the intimate tone and the gentle spirit
of banter closely approximates his spoken criticisms to those
for whom he cared. They refer to some attempts of mine at
drawing the pretty daughter of my boarding-house keeper in
Dresden. Of my first little work, he wrote:
. . . The head is very well drawn. It is well con
structed and whatever crooked things there are that
show are no more than often appear in nature. If it
is from somebody, or from memory, the model is evi
dently very handsome. The arrangement of the hair
has also a great deal of character. The only thing seri
ously out is the nose which is too small across the nos
trils — much too small. The left eye (her left eye) is
a little too big in drawing (a very slight difference in
reality makes a big difference in effect), and as the
head is not very much turned, you should not have it so
near the nose. On the side seeming nearer, the nose
ought to be a little farther away from the eye, leaving
the other side where it is. Also the side nearest the
nose should show, by its shape, that it is a little more of
a three-quarter view, as you show in her right eye.
You '11 say that I make you sick, but when you have
a son you can make him sick in turn by telling him what
I' m telling you.
Again, upon receiving a second drawing, this time of my
self: I have your letter and the drawing. The drawing
has very good qualities in it and is quite excellent con
sidering the difuculti — duficuly— deffee . . . Thu!
31

THE REMINISCENCES OF
. . . that you underwent and your inexperience in
artistic production. It shows that you see very justly.
It is hard in modeling though; for instance, where the
dark red of the lips shows against the face the Hne is
too sharp. In nature you will find that there is more
blending of the outline of the lips into the face. It is
softer. Then again it would be better if the face were
shown against the background simply by the contrast
of the dark ground against the light of the face and
with no outline or line all round the edge of the face
as you have it. The only thing out in the drawing is
the ear. I 've forgotten how your ear is constructed,
but if it 's made like that you have the only ear so placed
in the world. You have tipped the top forward, instead
of backward as it exists with everybody but freaks. If
your ear is so constructed you needn't worry about
studying to earn your living. You can earn that in a
museum. Sometimes ears are straight up, but never
forward. Now another thing. "Punctuality is the courtesy of
Princes," or something to that effect. And another
swell ratatatata thing is always to answer letters and at
once, no matter how briefly. So be in good form and
reply (as briefly as you wish). Not to reply is very
impolite. Don't drink beer and don't call me papa. Call me
daddy, governor, boss, or father, or anything. But
don't call me papa or I'll cry. Affectionately, Your Daddy.
32

THE MODEL OF THE STATUE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN NOW IN
LINCOLN PARK, CHICAGO

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
Aside from his actual criticism, in two other directions, also,
Saint-Gaudens interested himself in the needs and hopes of his
pupils and followers ; he was constant and untiring in the ad
vice he gave upon the conduct of competitions and upon the
comparative merit of study at home and abroad.
As to the first of the two vexed questions he used to remark
to his pupils, "Don't waste time on competitions. If you do
a good piece of work the knowledge of it will spread through
the country like oil on water. Competitions are unnecessary
and many good men cannot produce satisfactory designs under
such conditions, whereas bad men often make effective sketches.";
Nevertheless, since competitions did exist, my father en
deavored to restrict and improve them in every possible way.
This letter to me written on May 2, 1906, gives a good idea
of his desires:-
. . . With regard to the competitions, the "pint" is
this : The Von Steuben will certainly show that there
are six or seven men of distinguished ability in this
country who could do good monuments. It is a shame
that they should not be employed, when all over the land
monuments are being erected by contractors who pro
duce deadly work, whereas, if they had competitions,
based on the hne of the Detroit one, they would be sure
to get things that would be dignified and honorable,
provided always a distinct understanding that the find
ings of the committee are abided by and not gone back
on. That has been the cause of terrible distress and
fear among the sculptors who enter competitions.
A great point could be made to show the outrageous-
ness of this by explaining what was done with the Sher
man monument in Washington. There a lot of us took
35

THE REMINISCENCES OF
the trip down to judge the thing and gave it to Paul
Bartlett. Ward, Post, Warner, French, and I went to
a great deal of trouble, and, as I remember it, we were
paid nothing. We did it out of patriotic motives. We
were simply thrown over by the Lay Committee, by the
committee of Generals and Officers, and the thing was
given to the man we had ranked tenth. The result that
you see there is not so bad as it would have been if
X  ¦ had not died. He was a dreadful sculptor,
and the case is an object lesson, the memory of which,
with two or three others of a similar character, make the
decent sculptors all chary of entering competi
tions. . . .
. . » Of course in this I am talking of the younger
sculptors who are unknown. The principal men, once
they get their reputation established, obtain their work
directly. But there are other artists, and they are the
ones to be encouraged, and thought about, and worked
for. Another letter describes this attitude even more fully. In
it he speaks of a "limited competition." This means a compe
tition wherein a limited number of previously selected sculptors
are asked to compete, with the assurance that the commission
will be given to one of their number. The letter was written
to Mr. Charles Moore on December 1, 1905 :
. . . Thank you for the Macomb Statue competi
tion program. I shall, as you suggest, commend it to
those who may consult me. You are to he thanked for
your interest in these works. I judge from what you
say that you may have some authority in the matter.
36

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
If so, will you excuse me for suggesting that it would
be well to have a second and third prize, say the first,
three hundred dollars ; second, two hundred dollars ; and
third, one hundred dollars. Should one be selected for
execution, only the two latter prizes would be given.
This encourages a better class of competitors. But the
programs are out now, and it is too late, I suppose,
to do anything. In any event, you will pardon this
criticism, but I have, as you are aware, the good execu
tion of public monuments very much at heart, and I
know the field and conditions of the sculptors pretty
well. Of course, if it could have been a limited compe
tition, it would have been better. However, if the first
fails, that could be resorted to.
As to the matter of study abroad, my father felt that for
the advanced student, the man who has shown that he will un
doubtedly make a thorough life work of his art, a firm under
standing of what had been accomplished in Europe was inval
uable. Therefore he devoted himself for many years to pro
curing this training for such through the Rinehart scholar
ship which later was merged into the Roman Academy, an in
stitution in whose welfare my father was deeply concerned.
But for the student still in the earlier stages of training in the
technique of the craft, my father advised otherwise. His po
sition in this case is summed up in three letters, to Mr. Charles
Keck, to Miss Winifred Holt, and to Miss Isabel M. Kimball.
To Mr. Keck he wrote, in part, from Paris :
Dear Charlie:
. . . X. has just gone back, but his things at
the Salon were not particularly good. I don't think
37

THE REMINISCENCES OF
Y*  's work is very good either, and, on the whole, un
less a fellow has stuff in him, coming over here does n't
seem to do any good. Though the Salons were very in
teresting, there were only four or five things that were
good, and not more than one or two of a really high
order. But work of a high order has always been rare
and always will be. There can be but few real artists.
There can be lots of excellent workmen, though, and
that is better than the amateurishness that results when
there has been no good training. I think, as far as that
goes, the academical training in New York is as good
as in Paris, in some respects better. . . .
To Miss Holt he wrote on September 20, 1900 :
Probably your father has written to you of my change
of heart after having lived three years in Paris, and
that I cannot now advise you to go there, especially
without your family.
There are only two schools for sculpture in Paris,
where women can study, Julien's and Colarossi's, and
it will surprise you to see how weak is the work pro
duced. The professors give scant attention to the pu
pils, and, if you wish to devote yourself to sculpture, I
would advise you to study drawing seriously under Cox,
Mowbray, or Brush at the Art Students' League in New
York rather than in Paris.
This is my advice. I may be all wrong. No one can
tell in advance what might be the result of studying in
Paris, or New York, or elsewhere. There are so many
conditions that might change one's point of view, and
38

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
what I say must be taken on general lines. I don't
think any one can predict what another person could
or could not do, or how another may be influenced. . . .
To Miss Kimball he wrote on December 17, 1905:
. . . The older I grow, the more and more I am
convinced that as thorough and adequate training can
be had here as abroad, that the work by the students
here is equal to that produced by those in Europe, and
that belief in this by the students will help greatly in
their education. Of course Europe, with its wealth and
glory of art, must be seen and imbibed sooner or later.
That goes without saying. But I beheve, for the
American, the best time for that is after he has had a
sound academical foundation here. It is time to realize
that the training here is excellent, and that we are con
stantly adding to the list of men of high achievement
whose education has been at home. . . .

39

II
FELLOW ARTISTS
1888-1897
Theories or the Lack of Them — The Progress of American Art —
American Art Equal to French — French and American Sculptors
— French and American Painters — Architects — Actors.
1HAYE shown Saint-Gaudens' relations with his pupils, his
attitude toward them, his lasting solicitude in their be
half and in behalf of sculptors generally. In all this,
some notion has been had of Saint-Gaudens' feeling toward
sculpture. More is needed, but not readily supplied, because
my father was a man who spoke most aptly through his fin
gers. Once, for example, while wishing to defend certain of
his ideas, he said to Martion Brimmer, "I 'm a poor hand at
argument, but if I can get my hands in some clay, I can show
you what I mean. It is the doing of a thing so that it looks
well that is the proof of the pudding." Also, in confirmation
of the sculptor's own view of himself, I quote the following
letter to me from one of his later assistants, Mr. James Earl
Fraser :
"... I feel as though I knew what your father meant,
but I cannot explain it. He never cared to talk art, and he
hated theory.
It seems to me that he realized what he wished without
thought, and decided whether it looked beautiful or not to him,
whereupon his sense of beauty, combined with the truth and
dignity that he put into anything he did, made it a great work
of art. I do not think for him theory amounted to anything.
A man can make theories forever, but when a man finishes
theorizing and begins to work, he forgets every theory that he
40

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
ever heard of, and it is his artistic judgment that tells. If it
is the right kind, well and good. If it is not, what hope has
he, theory or no theory? I believe this was your father's feel
ing also.
I never have heard Mr. Saint-Gaudens say much on art in
general. It was more to the effect that he did not like the look
of that fold, or that he would try changing this. He went
absolutely by the impression a thing made on him and, to my
mind, paid no attention to theory. He did not need any."
On this subject of my father's theories, therefore, or what
took with him the place of theories, the subconscious actuating
principles of his art, perhaps the most illuminating light is
thrown by study of his attitude towards his own tastes, and by
observing those about him whom he chiefly admired. His gen
eral attitude toward his work cannot, of course, be disposed
of in any one place, but is continually and cumulatively indi
cated by this account of his actions throughout his life. What
ever inference is to be gained from his predilections in modern
art, however, is more easily drawn.
In regard to modern art, and especially the art of our land,
Saint-Gaudens was an enthusiast. Well he might be, for this
art in America had grown with great rapidity, especially about
the time of the Columbian Exposition of which my father speaks
in the next chapter.
The chief reason for this speedy advance lay in the fact that i
from the date of the final acceptance of the Society of Amer- {
ican Artists by the majority of the painters and sculptors,!
the warring groups had learned to progress with some degree!
of amity, since, though during all these years it is true the!
institution needed a home of its own, nevertheless, despite the*
lack of a building, the Society had promoted a feeling of good
fellowship hitherto sadly lacking. ',
Under such auspices for the sculptors, a half-dozen men, '
somewhat more prominent than their fellows, had attained an
eminence where at last they formed the most satisfactory com-
41

THE REMINISCENCES OF
parison with their companion artists in other lands. J. Q.
A. Ward stood their obvious head. He alone bridged with
his mature work the entire period between the Philadelphia
Centennial and the Chicago World's Fair, showing through
such of his statues as the "Horace Greeley," unveiled in 1890,
and the "Henry Ward Beecher," set before the public the
following year, that he had attained an ability hitherto un
reached to grasp the external and transitory details of the
jday, and through his art to make them both permanent and
oble in bronze. Together with him stood five other strong
en, Olin Warner, Daniel Chester French, Frederick William
acMonnies, Herbert Adams, and George Grey Barnard.
arner, besides his smaller commissions, created three bronze
ortrait statues of Governor Buckingham, General Devens,
a id William Lloyd Garrison, as well as his "Diana," a figure
vhich showed a modern mastery of the nude and a charm
a id inspiration unequaled at that time. French, from his
ascetic "John Harvard," unveiled in Cambridge, Massachu
setts, in 1882, to his "Republic" at the Columbian Exposi
tion, and his "Angel of Death and the Young Sculptor," es
tablished himself as a master in his art, escaping from the
old drug of classicism on the one side and a lack of dignity in
unrestrained realism on the other. MacMonnies, with the
poetic refinement of his Nathan Hale, paved the way for his
commission for the great fountain for the Chicago Fair, a
climax of sculptural expression in this republic. Adams came
to the fore in 1887, with his powerful yet delicate bust of Miss
Adeline V. Pond. And finally, Barnard joined their ranks
through his "Brotherly Love," and his "The Two Natures,"
compositions powerful and original in expression.
As in the case of the sculptors, so did the painters possess a
leader, a man not only markedly their head, but able as well to
bridge the past with the present. For John La Farge at last,
in the midst of these years, found his especial strength when he
turned his powers to painting on glass ; because, of all modern
42

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
men, he there most successfully mastered the glory of actual
light, and, what is more, after a firm study of it, best repro
duced it on canvas. It was not until the Columbian Exposi
tion, however, that the display of mural decoration made it
clear that, aside from John La Farge, this branch of art had
begun to show a recognized standing. Frank D. Millet was
the director there, with C. J. Turner his assistant. Under
them labored such men as J. Alden Weir, Edwin Howland
Blashfield, Walter Shirlaw, Robert Reid, C. S. Reinhart, J. Car
roll Beckwith, Edmund Simmons and Kenyon Cox. The re
muneration was small, and the results in themselves not ex
traordinary, but the magazines and newspapers helped the good
work to the best of their ability until, at last, mural decoration
found itself upon its feet.
To demonstrate what that strength amounted to, it is nec
essary to step somewhat outside the allotted space of this chap
ter. Yet nowhere is there a better opportunity to mention the
success and the significance in mural work of the erection of
the Boston Public ^Library. In it two opportunities were
given to Americans hitherto scarcely thought of in this di
vision of art, Edwin A. Abbey and John Singer Sargent. For
themselves they created masterpieces, permeated with the en
chantment of glowing color and imagination; yet, more than
that, they gave the impetus to mural decorative painting which
afforded further opportunity to Blashfield, to Cox, with his
firm understanding of Academic Tradition, to Simmons in the
Criminal Courts Building, to Blum in Mendelssohn Hall, to
Vedder, Thayer and La Farge in the Walker Art Building at
Bowdoin College, Maine, and soon after in the Library of Con
gress. Close at hand with such artists, scarcely to be divided from
them in many cases, were the figure painters. More than any
of the others, they labored under irritating restrictions. Salon
pictures were virtually unsalable. Modern costumes presented
them with no striking dress to reproduce, either with peasantry
43

THE REMINISCENCES OF
or officialdom. Neither classics nor mythology nor religious
paintings were wanted. And to cap all, a squeamishness re
garding the nude still existed, as was well shown ,by my father's
difficulty over the Columbian Exposition medal. With such
limited demands, of course, the figure painters made no tradi
tions. Yet, after all, ideals did exist, and with such ideals they
put forth original compositions that instilled vitality into their
work. Abbott H. Thayer profoundly touched a new feeling,
an American feeling, for the purity and grace of girlhood.
George deForest Brush brought out, in his paintings of Mother
and Child, the sympathetic beauty of maternity, the grace and
appealing charm of adolescence. H. Siddons Mowbray proved
himself a sure draughtsman, with a firm understanding of
beauty of form and decoration as taught by the Italian Renais
sance. Thomas W. Dewing produced refined, subtle, and mi
nute canvases, seeking grace in tone and sentiment through
strange half-modern and half-classic costumes. Robert Blum
filled his frames with much sparkling life, a little sentiment, a
little poetry, and great charm of execution, while Frank D.
Millet exhibited in America genre pictures of England of the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, most skilfully planned and
developed. To step further afield, the domain of portraiture was headed
by the master already spoken of, John Singer Sargent. Con
struction in form, mass, and tone, and calm insistence on the
proper details which give character and an appearance of spon
taneity, caused him, at last, to be able to substitute the true
varieties of nature for the old traditional symbols of things.
Under his leadership, portrait painters emerged to their na
tional own from out the early vogue of foreign work. Such
artists as Cecilia Beaux made felt a true resourcefulness of
form and color and composition, a free and easy manner, and a
facile power of rendering. Or again, a man like John W.
Alexander turned in another direction, an artist with a sure,
delicious method quite his own, opalescent in color, and, as
44

atoo

o"5

tsB -
B o>rO B5z BOBC

norc S2>z B

Oz

*-\ ~ '¦' c — friLL*^***-
ii &35^o

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
years passed, growing in warmth and poetry. All such work
ers were bound together by one common condition. Their
sitters desired portraits, the artists wished pictures, and only
then did the result produced entail the respect of both.
Finally, close in company with these artists, though per
haps more national than any of them, our landscape painters
forged to the front. Again here was a group proud to count
as their leader a man who held for them the same position as
was maintained by Ward and La Farge, in this case the veteran
Winslow Homer. Following him were many others from whom
it is hard to select ; George Inness, Jr., Childe Hassam, Willard
L. Metcalf, and John Twachtmann. In this division, espe
cially, Europe seemed to have less influence upon our art than
in any other. For surely nowhere in Europe exist our crisp
dry snows, our blue dazzling skies, or the other details that go
to make up a land where, though the inhabitants may have
come from another soil, nature itself possesses nothing exotic
in its charm.
In company with this advance throughout all other branches
of art, then, came that in his especial domain of sculpture ; so
that not for one moment did my father regard the United States
as in any measure behind France in the standard of her monu
ments. Moreover, such a condition as that which resulted upon
his obtaining for Mercie and Falguiere a commission to make a
statue of General Robert E. Lee, was, unfortunately, far too
common. The two Frenchmen evidently had thought the result
was going to some out-of-the-way corner of the world, and so
had bothered only with a hasty sketch of the monument, which
they turned over to their assistants for completion. The re
sult was exceedingly poor, and my father decidedly angry.
Consequently, with evidence of good work at home, and with
such examples of slipshod, mercenary efforts abroad, his con
fidence in American artistic ability and integrity steadily in
creased to the end of his life. Here is an excellent example,
contained in a letter he wrote in 1906 to Mr. John La Farge.
47

THE REMINISCENCES OF
The date of this letter is much later than the period now un
der consideration. Yet I include it, and others like it, at this
point for the sake of unity, and because all the copies of his
letters written during the time which is now being dealt with
were burned in the studio fire. He wrote:
Far from having any adverse criticisms to make on
your letter to Mr. Marburg of the Municipal Art
Society of Baltimore, I am delighted to have the oppor
tunity to say that I am in hearty accord with all that
you express in it. All the more so, because I recently
had a letter from Mr. Marburg asking for the names
of the principal French decorators. I should be sorry
to have that letter appear as an indorsement of the selec
tion of French artists over that of men of this country.
Of course, I say this with the greatest respect for the
men of France whom I have named, and for whom I
have the highest admiration, and also for the French
school, toward which I have the deepest gratitude.
But we are developing a lot of men here amply capable
of executing strong and beautiful things, and I think it
wrong not to entrust to them whatever work of impor
tance there is to be done in this country. I have only
recently, in the matter of sculpture, given advice in that
direction, although I yield to no one in my admiration
for the remarkable achievements of so many French
sculptors. It is also appropriate for me to quote here one of the very
few speeches Saint-Gaudens ever made. He said:
I know that I am expressing the sentiment of the
48

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
majority of my confreres, as well as of the painters and
architects, when I add that we feel for France the deep
est gratitude for the generous instruction she has ex
tended to us so lavishly in her academies and schools
of art.
Her hospitality has been without bounds, and her
guidance most enlightening and inspiring under the
masters of our day, — Barrias, Dubois, Falguiere, Fre-
miet, Mercie, Rodin, as well as under the masters of her
past, Jean Goujon, Germain Pillon, Houdon, David
d' Angers, Rude, Barye — a glorious list.
It is a great pleasure to be able to express to the
representative of that great nation, what I know so
many of my fellow-sculptors would wish expressed.
And although we are like the strong youth who feels
his strength as he breaks away from his mother's side to
make his own path in the world, nevertheless, like him,
we honor and cherish our alma mater, and feel for her
the deepest love, respect, and gratitude.
Now to speak more specifically of sculptors, whether abroad
or at home. Dubois and Gerome stood, to Saint-Gaudens, pre
eminent. This letter regarding Dubois, written to Mr. Royal
Cortissoz on May 27, 1905, is a characteristic expression:
Dear Cortissoz:
I agree with what you say about Dubois. I agree
with both hands and all my heart. He is a swell of the
highest achievement, with never an instant's weaken
ing, and he has had more to do with keeping a high
standard among those who believe, as you say, in "thor-
49

THE REMINISCENCES OF
ough discipline" than any other man in a century at
least. Of Gerome I will quote from a letter my father wrote to
Mr. Stanford White on December 29, 1904:
I think Gerome's "Corinthian" simply stunning. I
could go on adding adjectives, but they could not ex
press anything more than that I admire it in the high
est degree. It should be purchased by the Museum.
But Uke many other treasures, it will be allowed to
pass. If I had the power, I should buy it without an
instant's hesitation. You know I am a great admirer
of Gerome, and I think this a remarkable example of
the singular severity and nobility of his style.
In his esteem, after these men, abroad, came Rodin and
Falguiere. His enthusiasm for Rodin's early work, such as the
"St. John the Baptist Preaching," was revived by the produc
tion of the "Age of Brass." But Rodin's later eccentricities
puzzled and bothered him. I remember my father saying to
me, as we looked at the plaster of Rodin's "Balzac," on exhibi
tion in the Paris Champs de Mars of 1898, that the statue
gave him too much the effect of a guttering candle. Falguiere,
on the other hand, by his more mature and developed work, such
as the "St. Vincent de Paul," roused my father's admiration,
which is well noted in part of a letter written to me by Mr.
William A. Coffin:
"Saint-Gaudens loved and understood painting, and I have
heard him more than once praise a painter's work, in the So
ciety of American Artists, for its attention to 'form,' an im
portant thing indeed in painting but unfortunately too much
neglected in what might otherwise be a remarkably good pic
ture. 50

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
"Saint-Gaudens could call a spade a spade, and he was frank
either in praise or blame of men, their methods, and their art.
It did one's heart good to hear him denounce charlatan sculp
tors, many of whom crossed his path at one time or another,
.or speak with no uncertain sound of what he called 'a sissy'
in any field of art. He admired strength, but he became en
thusiastic over 'strength with elegance,' or 'strength with style.'
In 1900, in Paris, he spoke many, many times to me of his
admiration for Paul Dubois' equestrian statue of Jeanne
d'Arc. One day there, at the exposition, I said I thought I
had seen about all of the sculpture, and asked him what he
thought the best thing, or one or two or three of the best, in
the whole show. He reflected a few minutes and then named
two or three works. I have forgotten what they were. Then
he exclaimed, 'Henri de la Rochejacquelain — Falguiere — a
chef d'ceuvre, a wonder!' I was glad I had seen it, noted it.
It was inconspicuous, a single figure, slight and really a mar
vel of virile beauty."
But these first four Frenchmen were by no means isolated in
my father's estimation. Close behind them came a number of
other favorites, more or less contemporary, such as Fremiet,
and especially his bronze of a little boy playing with bear cubs,
Le Fevre and his "Adolescence," Rude and his great group,
"Le Depart," on the Arc de Triomphe, Brieux, Donnay and
Carpeaux, whose names I found on a slip of paper on his desk,
and Meunier of whom he wrote as "one of the strong men of
our times in a Millet-ish way, but minus the poetry."
The American sculptors for whom my father expressed his
respect were not only J. Q. A. Ward, Frederick William Mac
Monnies, Herbert Adams, Daniel Chester French, George
Grey Barnard, but, as well, a number of other men who fol
lowed in a different group because of their lesser years. I
will give two extracts from letters written to some of them,
both because of his praise of the men addressed and for his
incidental or accidental opinions of the qualities of modern
51

THE REMINISCENCES OF
art. I realize that such letters, and others like them to follow,
presented as I give them here and in other chapters, may leave
a false impression of distributing degrees of award. But
rather than paraphrase or try to balance my father's direct
words, I prefer to use his letters as being far more typical of
him than anything I could write.
Regarding a proposed tribute to the dean of the American
School, J. Q. A. Ward, here is a letter which my father wrote
to Mr. John J. Murphy on April 27, 1907 :
I regret that illness prevents my assisting in the
homage being done to Mr. Ward this evening. His
work and career, his virility and sincerity, have been a
great incentive to me, from the day when he exhibited
his "Indian Hunter" in an art store on the east side of
Broadway. It was a revelation, and I know of noth
ing that had so powerful an influence on those early
years. I am very happy to be able to join in this testi
monial to him.
My second extract, from a letter to Mr. McKim regarding
the art of William MacMonnies, is a paragraph which insists
even further upon my father's admiration of MacMonnies' tal
ent: . . . MacMonnies is a man who has the touch of
genius and everything he does is valuable, no matter
whether one quite likes the subject or manner of treat
ment. I think that the City of Brooklyn should pos
sess replicas of everything he has done.
Such was the general trend of Saint-Gaudens' appreciation
of the sculpture around him. Close by it, of course, in his
52

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
heart, came his regard for painting, where, just as in the case
of sculpture, he felt most enthusiastic over its advance in this
country, though never abating his interest in the work across
the water.
First, taking up the European painters, I give one of his
letters, which has been referred to earlier in this chapter, writ
ten to Mr. Theodore Marburg, on May 7, 1906. Puvis de
Chavannes, having died, is not mentioned, but if he had come
under the head of living French decorators, he would have
stood before the rest. My father writes:
. . . It is difficult to give a list, in the order of
their importance, of the principal living mural painters,
but I set them down here roughly: Besnard, Raphael
Collin, Luc-Oliver Merson, Maignan, Chartri, and
Blanc. The last man on the list you will know from the
other Blanc by his having made the decoration in the
Pantheon and also the remarkable colored terra-cotta
frieze on the back of what they call the Grand Palais,
erected in 1900. . . .
Turning now to the more pertinent subject of American
painters, I quote from a letter to Mr. Charles F. McKim, re
garding the decorations of the Boston Public Library, which
shows whom my father regarded as most fitted for the task, at
the time when they were planning the decoration of that build
ing. He writes :
I 've just seen Abbey again. He is all wound up, as
I am, about the Library business, and if anything should
turn up, he would come back from Europe next year
for it. We have made up a list of names, all strong
men, and he suggests having them meet at your office
53

THE REMINISCENCES OF
next week to powwow some evening, Wednesday, if
possible. He suggests that White be there, and that
all the photographs of decorative work be got out —
Masaccio, Carpaccio, Benozzo Gozzoli, Botticelli, &c.,
to show and talk over. If you think well of this, let
me know, and I '11 get the fellows together. Aside
from La Farge, "qui va sans dire," and to whom un
doubtedly the big room should be given, the following
are the names that you should consider in this matter:
Abbey, Bridgman, Cox, Millet, Winslow Homer,
who, Abbey tells me, has done some bully decorative
things in Harper's office that we can go see together,
and Howard Pyle. These are all strong men — every
one of them.
Besides these mural decorators, my father held in highest
esteem such artists as John S. Sargent, George deForest
Brush, T. W. Dewing, Abbott H. Thayer, Edwin Howland
Blashfield, Henry Siddons Mowbray, Elihu Vedder, Cecilia
Beaux, John W. Alexander, and others. As in the case of
sculptors, I am sorry that I am able to include only one or
two of the many letters he wrote, expressing so vividly wherein
lay his admiration for the men and tendencies of his time.
First let me give a letter about Mr. George deForest Brush.
The letter was written to Miss Rose Nichols:
Yesterday I went with Homer to Fontainebleau to
see Brush and Proctor, who live there at "Marlotte
Montigny." How remarkable Brush is! He has com
menced another picture of his wife, this time with all
the children and himself, and it is already a stimulat
ing thing; the composition is so fine, and what there is
of it that is drawn, is so splendidly drawn.
54

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
Here is one to Mr. Abbott Thayer about the "Angel on the
tomb of Stevenson at Vailima," now in the Albright Gallery
in Buffalo :-
I wish I could tell you how I feel about your Vailima
figure. It is a glorious inspiration, and when I came
upon it unexpectedly at Albright's GaUery it took my
breath away. It was inspiring when I saw it before,
but your changes had sent it flying heavenward.
And again, about Mr. Thayer's decoration for the Portico
of Bowdoin College.:
. . . Thank you for that photograph of your Very,
very beautiful tympanum, which I have on my desk
before me. I suppose you sent it. Its directness and
depths appeal to me singularly Uke some strangely
beautiful dream.
On June 13, 1906, he wrote to Mr. KA^AhJjg^:
I think you are *lm oyrAPtpgfr iWVy i™ the world to
have written me, whenT know what an infernal bore it
is for you to write. If you had one of these machines
it might be otherwise, for I am talking to you exactly
as if you were standing here in front of me with your
back to Ascutney mountain and your face in the
flicker of the vine-leaves, which I have so poeticaUy de
scribed to Paton. Don't be surprised if I am poetic
a number of times again before I am through.
I see about your big success in the papers. I would
give a good deal, I would give a peck of those sweet
57

THE REMINISCENCES OF
potatoes I used to hook and cook and eat in the streets
when I was a boy, to have a look at your things to-day.
Osier must think strange things of his theory when he
sees what you 've done, and what I have been told Sar
gent has been doing of him. We are not dead yet,
"By Jingo!" are we! If you were to, see the establish
ment I have here, you would not think I was, although
I am stretched out on a couch at this moment in the
flickering sunlight. I wfll stick at it until I am finally
stretched out. That 's the only thing, after all. Work,
I mean, not being stretched out! . . .
Of Mr. Edwin Howland Blashfield's decorations in the Sen
ate Chamber of the State Capitol at St. Paul, Minnesota, he
sent on October 22, 1905, this letter which fairly exemplified
his enduring respect for this painter:
. . . I think the whole swing very fine, the figures
over the oxen, with the straight-lined drapery, being a
particularly noble overcoming of a big difficulty.
. . . The group on the wagon seat is beautiful, and
the gorgeous creature in the center a swell idea, giving
the impression one gets of such a goddess as one some
times finds in unexpected places. The sick child along
side is lovely in Une and sentiment. Don't change
Xl/a • • •
He wrote to Mr. Henry Siddons Mowbray, of his painting,
"Le Destin," now owned by Mr. John D. Archbold of New
York: I want to dictate a word to you to tell you how much
58

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
I admire that splendid painting of the Fates. It is a
big thing, and inspiring for me to see it. You know
how much I admire all your other work. The portrait
of your wife is a gem, and your drawings are high in
style.
Hand in hand with this interest in the development of sculp
ture and painting, came, naturally, Saint-Gaudens' regard for
that of architecture. And though it has not so strict a bear
ing on the subject of this chapter, his attitude toward the first
two arts should not be mentioned without including his regard
for the third. McKim, White, Thomas Hastings, Daniel H.
Burnham, Cass Gilbert, and George Fletcher Babb, all these
men he felt were leading in the noble achievements of a profes
sion in which others also were erecting proud monuments in the
land. Now finally, to turn even more distantly afield, let me say a
word concerning my father's interest in the drama, an art which
appealed to him as being not at all unlike his own, a pictorial
representation of life, since, for this reason, what he consid
ered worthy in stage craft illustrates in a measure the
aesthetics which he applied to sculpture. The French theater,
to his mind, undoubtedly led by an enormous distance. Not
fond only of the older French classics, he constantly referred
to Coquelin, the elder, in "Cyrano," Bernhardt in "Tosca,"
Rejane in "Madame Sans-Gene," and Jane Hading in "Ther-
midor." The Italians followed next with Duse and Salvini.
But the English drama, aside from Shakespeare and the work
of Booth, Irving, and Forbes-Robertson, appeared a steady
disappointment to him. Nevertheless, he would look with fresh
interest and hope upon each new play, and listen with attention
to whatever his dramatist friends had to say, evidently anxious
to admire even where his deep critical interest held back his
approbation. I will place here, therefore, the following half-
59

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
jocose note which he wrote, intending some day to add it to
the reminiscences, a note which he never would have taken the
pains to set down if the subject had not been close to his heart:
I was really born to be either an actor or a house
keeper. I am convinced that, if I would overcome the
sense of consciousness, I should be a wonderful actor;
and as to housekeeping, I know. What I should like
to have been is another question; a dramatic author, per
haps. I think it is one of the greatest experiences a
man can have, to see his creations and his puppets on
the stage, working before him as in life.

60

Ill
ENERGETIC YEARS
1888-1897
William Dean Howells — The Chicago Exposition — The Columbian
Medal — Many Studios — The Sherman — The Shaw Unveiling— The
Logan Unveiling — Dissatisfaction with America — Honors.
IN the last two chapters I have made a lengthy digression,
opened by my father's mention of his interest in his pupils,
which reached its height at this time. Now let me turn
again to the products of the Thirty-sixth Street studio in the
course of the last nine years of his stay there. During this
time he made the bas-relief of William Dean Howells and his
daughter, Miss Mildred Howells, a task done "for fun," in
happy relaxation from the series of important commissions.
Mr. Howells, with his delightful power of observation and
memory, has been able to describe to me both that occasion and
Saint-Gaudens' general appearance during those years. It is
especially interesting to notice how justly Mr. Howells accuses
my father of falling victim to the very fault he so often de
claimed against, that of the sculptor's biasing his representa
tion of his model in the direction of his own personal likeness.
Mr. Howells writes :•
10 West Thirtieth St., November 15, 1908.
Dear Mr. St.-Gaudens:
My first meeting with your father I do not remember, but I
recall with great and distinct pleasure a dinner with him and
two painters at Miss Lazarus' in 1890. Though he could
talk so wisely and charmingly, he was willing to let the painters
talk, for they talked mighty well, but he interceded with them
for my share of the say, which I also could have been so willing
61

THE REMINISCENCES OF
to leave altogether to them. "Now you be still. I want to
hear Mr. Howells." What more was needed to make me love
him? But long afterward he came to see me, with much autobiog
raphy on his lips. He told me about his boyish life in New
York, and especially about the old cameo-cutter to whom he was
apprenticed, dramatizing him at his polishing wheel, and in
his moments of rage. He, told me also how, as a 'prentice, he
used to let the water-tap run, surreptitiously, for the pleasure
of the sound.
Another time he came to consult me about an inscription,
and he did not mind my being no good. But of course I saw
him most when he was modeling my daughter and me for the
low relief he made* when he was perpetually entertaining with
stories and reminiscences.
Your father was then slowly and desultorily completing the
equestrian Sherman, and showed me with particular interest
the figure of the Victory, which he said was studied from a
young Southern girl. I owned that I did not like the intro-
f duction of the ideal in that group and the, Shaw monument, but
he defended it strongly, and, I have no doubt, effectually.
Apropos of my realism, he told me a dream he had had about
me. We were on shipboard together, and a dispute rose be
tween the passengers as to the distance of a certain brilliant
planet in the sky. Some said it was millions of miles away,
but I held that it was very near; and he related that I went
down to my stateroom and came up with a shotgun, which I
fired at the star. It came fluttering down, and I said : "There !
You see!"
It was most interesting to watch the working of his mind
as well as his hand. He changed the position of one of my
arms, but changed it back, thoughtfully, almost ruefully.
Like all artists he had a difficulty in keeping his own portrait
out. He especially kept giving my daughter's profile his
noble leonine nose. He could not see that he did this, but
62

THE SHERMAN STATUE
At tbe entrance to Central Park, Fifty-ninth Street and Fifth Avenue, New York City

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
when he was convinced of it, he forced himself to the absolute
fact, and the likeness remained perfect. He was suffering at
this time from sciatica, and at intervals he stopped work and
limped around oenrnd a curtain to take medicine from a bottle
he kept there; then he came back and worked away for hours.
He was greatly interested in an Italian scholar of his who be
lieved he had seen and talked with the devil. He made me
question the man in his own tongue, and was richly satisfied
when it appeared that the Devil had taken the form of a bear
on this occasion.
The last time I saw your father was when he came to dine
with me, to meet Mr. Henry James, at the Century Club. He
had a great notion of the honor done him, and with his beauti
ful, beautiful modesty quite ignored the honor done his fellow-
guest and host. I had ordered a feast to the measure of my
means, but it turned out that both the novelist and he were
Fletcherites, and they each confined themselves to a bit of fish
and a boiled potato, with ice-water. He was enthusiastic for
that cure, and he conjured me to practise it, though I had
nothing to be cured of.
His face was to me full of a most pathetic charm, like that
of a weary lion, and, after our seeing him so constantly, my
daughter and I were finding sculptured lions all over Europe
that looked like St. Gaudens.
You see how very little I have to tell, and the little seems
to be mostly about me. Yours sincerely, W. D. Howells.
For the most part the reminiscences which follow deal with
the Chicago "World's Fair" of 1892, and with the unveiling
of the "Shaw" and of the "Logan." The first of these subjects,
in especial, I may well preface at some length since, despite his
brief mention of the Exposition, few persons had more at heart
than my father the question of the architectural beauty of the
65

THE REMINISCENCES OF
Exposition Grounds, and were made more happy over the re
sult. This letter, sent me not long since by Mr. Burnham,
indicates the nature of my father's enthusiasm :
"An occasion of your father's accurate judgment, made al
most at a glance, happened at the World's Fair in Chicago,
just before the Fair opened. The Art Building had just been
finished. Your father came to my rooms late in the afternoon.
He took me by the shoulders and said, 'Old fellow, do you
realize the rank of Atwood's building? In my judgment, it
is the best thing done since the Parthenon.' This conclusion
has been justified by the statements of many eminent critics.
Your father's perception of the value of an architectural de
sign seemed to be instinctive and his great generosity in prais
ing others was a very marked characteristic."
Saint-Gaudens, however, significantly fails to mention in his
reminiscences the one bit of sculpture which he did personally
attempt for the World's Fair, a commission which ultimately
brought him great distress of mind. It was the design for
the medal to be presented to the various prize winners. At
first, despite the fact that the authorities offered five thousand
dollars for the reliefs, a large sum for my father in those
years, he refused to accept the task, saying that neither he
nor any one else in the country could model a decent medal,
and that it was necessary to go to Europe for it. After a
.time, however, he agreed to make the effort. Upon the obverse
he created a design representing Columbus at his first landing
on this hemisphere. On the reverse he placed a nude boy
holding a shield which should bear the name of the recipient
of the prize.
Then came the catastrophe. Previous to the striking of this
medal, the Page Belting Company, of Concord, New Hamp
shire, improperly obtained a copy and printed a caricature of
it so villainous that the boy, who on the original stood as a bit
of artistic idealism, appeared in all the vulgar indecency that
66

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
can be conveyed by the worst connotation of the word naked
ness. At once the morality for which our nation is notorious
took fire, with the result that after an interminable hue and
cry the medal emerged bearing my father's relief upon the
obverse, and upon the reverse an invention from the hands of
Mr. Charles E. Barber, the "commercial medallist" of the-
mint. I add a letter which my father wrote to the New York
Tribune, showing his state of mind over the result. Of course
nothing came of it as far as the medal was concerned, though
it won for Saint-Gaudens the sympathy of all his fellow ar
tists.To the Editor of the New York Tribune:
Sir:
It occurs to me that the foUowing resume of my re
lations with the Washington authorities in charge of
the commission for the Columbian Exposition medal,
may not be without a pleasant moral to others moved
to entertain government proposals. I therefore send
it, for insertion, to your influential journal.
On the twenty-seventh of June, I received official
notification of the rejection of my third design for the
Reverse of the Columbian medal. At the same time it
was publicly announced that a design by Mr. Barber,
of the United States Mint, had been adopted in its
stead. I had myself undertaken the execution of this medal
only after earnest soUcitation by those then in authority,
to the detriment of other and important interests.
My first design, although it had been formally ac
cepted by the Hon. J. G. Carlisle, was immediately af
terwards rejected because its composition included a
67

THE REMINISCENCES OF
nude figure, to which impertinent attention was drawn
by an incorrect and offensive copy, made and pubUshed
by private parties.
I regret to admit that, subsequently, at the urgent
request of Mr. Carlisle, and upon his representations, I
foolishly altered my design, to flatter the sensitiveness
of the rampant "pure."
This second design, in which neither my feelings nor
my draperies were spared, was again refused, and I was
formally requested, through Mr. Preston, Director of
the Mint, to furnish an entirely new model "at an early
date." Unpardonable as it now appears, I complied,
producing once more the required model, which was
again in due course of time to be set aside.
The rejection of this third and last model is the
more curious to explain, in that, with excessive care for
the sensitive acuteness of the Hon. Secretary of the
Treasury, I had this time in my composition — scrupu
lously turning from classic thought of humanity, draped
or undraped — surely avoided all erotic insinuation by
the substitution, for the offending figure, of "The
Bird," whose fair fame is beyond suggestive possibili
ties. I have reserved, in this mortifying confession of crim
inal naivete, the final letter of vast persuasion that un
did me. Let me print it, that others may judge of the
frank tone and incredible bonhomie that may be danger
ously imported into government communications, and
also that I may find in their opinion "extenuating cir
cumstances." 68

§^

' 7^-r.: " .¦ '¦- — - "-- - ¦ ^
1 p)|* ^-jasKSIS ,—'.n ,..;„ .. iv .. _ ¦_- ¦ _ ._ ^ ¦' 1, &

FOUR SKETCHES FOR THE SCHIFF CHILDREN RELIEF

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
"From Me. Preston., Director of the Mint, to Au
gustus St. Gaudens, New York.
"Philadelphia, May 18th, 1894.
"Dear Sir:
"I am very much gratified by the receipt of your let
ter of yesterday, stating that you would prepare and
submit another design for the Reverse of the World's
Columbian Exposition Medal. As soon as the Reverse
is received, preparation will be made to have it engraved
immediately, and to make a faithful reproduction of
the same. I feel sure that the Mint has made a suc
cess in the engraving of the Obverse, and wUl be equaUy
successful in the engraving of the Reverse.
Very truly, etc., etc."
On the receipt of this guarantee to accept my fur
ther work, accompanied as it was by expressions of in
terest in its completeness and an assurance that every
care should be bestowed upon its reproduction, it was,
for me, impossible to hesitate.
Never was commission clearer or more kindly
thoughtful in detafi. In the face of this promise, that
"as soon as the Reverse is received, preparations wul
be made to have it engraved immediately, and to make
a faithful reproduction of the same," to harbor further
uncertainty would have impUed unmannerly doubt of
the word of the gentleman who had written it. I may
be excused if, in my simplicity, the idea even of such
possibility never occurred to me.
And I am now willing to confess that the condition
71

THE REMINISCENCES OF
of good faith common among gentlemen, which could
contemplate an engagement with another man to pro
duce this same Reverse at the very moment of holding
out to me as an encouragement in my work that the
"Mint has made a success in the engraving of the
Obverse and wiU be equally successful in the engrav
ing of the Reverse," does suggest a complication of
Bureaucratic Conscience and Machiavellian Subtlety
with which I have shown myself utterly unable to cope.
I shall, in all humility, await from these official
gentlemen their own explanation.
And I have, sir, the honor to be,
Very truly yours,
Augustus Saint-Gaudens.
P. S. Mr. CarUsle's may be the legal right to com
bine my work with that of another on the same medal,
but the rare shamelessness of such offense wiU be ap
preciated by all my confreres at home and abroad, and
it is as much in their interest as in my own unbridled
astonishment that I make this protest public.
To turn now to the reminiscences, which begin their tale
with an account of the Exposition which raised all this coil, my
father writes:-
In the midst of this period came the Chicago Exposi
tion, before which, at the invitation of Mr. D. H. Burn-
ham, I made a famous visit to Chicago, together with
Mr. R. M. Hunt, Mr. C. F. McKim, and others, and
conferred with regard to the laying out and carrying
forward of the plan. 72

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
Mr. Burnham was extremely anxious that I should
undertake the entire development of the sculpture of
the Exposition. But this was entirely out of the ques
tion. I have deeply to regret that my direct relation
with the sculpture I was forced to confine to the figure
of Columbus in front of the entrance to the Adminis
tration BuUding, even there acting only in a purely ad
visory and critical capacity. My pupil, Miss Mary
Lawrence, now Mrs. Francois M. L. Tonetti, modeled
and executed it, and to her goes all the credit of the
virility and breadth of treatment which it revealed.
Mr. Burnham arranged, however, that I should be
come a general adviser regarding the whole scheme.
Under those conditions I suggested the making of the
colossal statue of Liberty in the lagoon, by Mr. Daniel
Chester French. The scheme for the peristyle opening
out on the lake is also an enlargement, on a far nobler
scale, of a line of columns, each representing a state,
which I suggested for that place, and which pleased Mr.
Burnham greatly.
The monumental fountain at the other end we also
decided on at that time, and Mr. Burnham desired that
I should execute it. For this fountain I had in mind
one or two schemes. But, in consideration of calls on
me, I agreed to undertake it only on condition that I
could be helped by MacMonnies. MacMonnies decided
he would rather not. I then urged that the execution
be placed in his hands, and there is no other piece of
work with which I have been associated as adviser that
has approached this in the satisfaction it has given me.
73

THE REMINISCENCES OF
It seemed to fit in absolutely with his temperament, with
his appreciation of the joy of life, beauty, and hap
piness, and I consider his composition as a whole, and
particularly the central motive of the boat, the rowing
maidens, the young figure of America on top, the most
beautiful conception of a fountain of modern times west
of the Caspian Mountains. It was the glorification of
youth, cheerfulness, and the American spirit, and I
think it is a calamity greatly to be deplored that it
should have gone to ruin. It would have made a re
markable monument to that extraordinary exhibition.
The days that I passed there linger in the memory
like a glorious dream, and it seems impossible that such
a vision can ever be recalled in its poetic grandeur and
elevation. Certainly it has stood far beyond any of
the expositions great as they have been, that have suc
ceeded it.
Meanwhile, I was fast moving through my fifteen
years in the Thirty-sixth Street studio, progressing with
the ups and downs, misgivings and enthusiasms, which
follow all work or production of that kind, be they
masterpieces or be they inanities. By now the statue
of Peter Cooper had followed the Rock Creek Ceme
tery figure upon the memorable scaffolding, and conse
quently, as with this and the "Shaw" and the other com
missions, the studio became crowded, I hired a loft in
Twentieth Street, wherein I could model the equestrian
statue of General Logan for Chicago and the Memorial
monument to President Garfield in Fairmount Park,
Philadelphia. 74

TWO Of THE MANY SKETCHES FOR THE PETER COOPER

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
Then, my condition in New York growing no better,
since the Twentieth Street workshop was quickly filled
and the Thirty-sixth Street studio remained impossible
because of incessant interruption, I took yet another
small studio on Twenty-seventh Street, where, immedi
ately after the completion of the "Shaw," and while that
was being cast in bronze, I began the equestrian monu
ment to Sherman.
The horse of the "Sherman" was developed under my
supervision in yet another Fifty-ninth Street studio,
the famous high jumper, Ontario, posing as the model,
while the figure of Sherman I created from an Italian
model very much of the General's build. This man had
great pride in his profession. He had "le coeur au
metier" to such an extent that one day Mr. George
Parsons Lathrop, who was visiting me, after half an
hour or so of chatting, leisurely walked up to the model,
who was seated high astride a barrel, and pinched his
leg to see of what stuff the wonderful manikin was
made. I am not romancing.
At this time, too, Mr. WUliam Dean Howells had
been kind enough to speak in pleasant terms of the
bust of Sherman which I had adapted to the statue. So
in appreciation of that, as well as the deep admiration
which I have for his achievement, his principles, and his
deUghtful personality, I begged that he aUow me to
make his portrait and that of his daughter, Miss Mil
dred Howells. He kindly consented, and the medal
lion was modeled in that small studio, in the stifling
heat of the tropical summer, which vastly increased my
77

THE REMINISCENCES OF
admiration for him and his patience. To show how un
certain we are, or I am, about our judgment of the
work that is in hand, I will explain that when I made
this medallion I felt very happy about his portrait and
unhappy about that of Miss Mildred. Now, ten years
later, I see that the reverse would be the proper state of
mind. Through all this turmoil the Shaw monument had
come to bear more and more upon my mind, and finally
reached the long-looked-for day of its unveiling.
There had been much good-natured abuse of me for the
time expended on the bas-rehef. But it was impossible
to carry out my idea otherwise, in a great degree be
cause of the absence of sufficient remuneration. This
I mention without the slightest trace of regret or re
proach, as the sum I consented to execute the monu
ment for was ample to provide an adequate and digni
fied work. It was the extraordinary opportunity, the
interest of the task, and my enthusiasm, that led to a de
velopment far beyond what was expected of me. And
I held it a great joy to be able to carry out my idea as
I wished. Whatever regret I have is that I could not
achieve many things which I felt might have been done
with the general scheme, though much of it was to my
taste, especially the enclosing of the monument between
the two trees which frame the relief so admirably, and
the felicity of the location as well as the architecture
which supports the monument, the thought and work of
Mr. Charles F. McKim.
My own delay I excuse on the ground that a sculp-
78

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
tor's work endures for so long that it is next to a crime
for him to neglect to do everything that lies in his
power to execute a result that wUl not be a disgrace.
There is something extraordinarily irritating, when it
is not ludicrous, in a bad statue. It is plastered up be
fore the world to stick and stick for centuries, whUe man
and nations pass away. A poor picture goes into the
garret, books are forgotten, but the bronze remains, to
amuse or shame the populace and perpetuate one of our
various idiocies. It is an impertinence and an offense,
and that it does not create riots proves the wonderful
patience of the human animal. Who knows but what
an insane asylum in this fair land contains some help
less drooling lunatic, brought to such a pass by con
templation of one of my own results?
The day, to me all-important, dawned with a fine mist.
It was a strange feeling, arranging the last detaUs for
the unveiling, with a few men on the deserted side
walks, the monument itself still uncovered. Little by
Uttle the streets awoke. The rehef was hidden by flags,
and finally, at the appointed hour, I followed out what
I was told to do, and made the beginning of a day of
extraordinary excitement.
I was assigned to a carriage in company with Mr.
WiUiam James, the orator of the occasion, and we fol
lowed slowly at the tail-end of a long line of regiments
and societies. It soon dawned over me that to this
great crowd, this monster that lined the streets, I was
nothing more than the usual f eUow or public official that
one finds in carriages in processions. They generally
79

THE REMINISCENCES OF
appear very insignificant. Yet to see this line of faces
on each side of the streets continuing for mUes and
miles, and all the windows fiUed with persons gazing
at you, is really a profound experience to have. And
such it was as we drove to the State House, directly in
front of the monument. There those of us in carriages
were ushered to the lowest platform of the steps that led
down from the State House, immediately surrounding
the Governor.
The regiment that came nearest to us, virtuaUy at the
head of the procession, comprised the remaining officers
and colored men of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts,
whom Shaw had led; the bas-relief itself being within
thirty or forty feet of where the colors were presented
to them by Governor Andrew, before Colonel Shaw
started on the march to his death. At the unveiling
there stood before the relief sixty-five of these veterans.
Some of the officers were clad in the uniforms they had
worn during the Civil War, and rode on horseback.
But the negro troops, like those in the subsequent re
view at the time of the unveiling of the monument to
General Logan, came in their time-worn frock-coats,' — >
coats used only on great occasions. Many of them were
bent and crippled, many with white heads, some with
bouquets, and, the inevitable humorous touch, one with
a carpet-bag. After a few words from Governor Wolcott, a signal
was given, and a grand-nephew of Colonel Shaw's
puUed the string which caused the flags on the monu
ment to drop. The salute boomed from the cannon on
80

THE SHAW MEMORIAL, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

Copr. Augnstue Saim-Quudens

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
the Common, and was answered by others in the har
bor, and the head of the procession began to march by.
The impression of those old soldiers, passing the very
spot where they left for the war so many years be
fore, thrUls me even as I write these words. They
faced and saluted the reUef, with the music playing
"John Brown's Body," a recall of what I had heard and
seen thirty years before from my cameo-cutter's win
dow. They seemed as if returning from the war, the
troops of bronze marching in the opposite direction, the
direction in which they had left for the front, and the
young men there represented now showing these veter
ans the vigor and hope of youth. It was a consecration.
After the troops had aU passed between the monu
ment and the Governor and his staff, we were driven to
the old Music Hall, where the commemorative ceremo
nies took place. Here I so dreaded being seated in a
conspicuous chair on the platform that I stole away,
and went in after I knew the others Would all be placed,
when I hoped to find a corner with the crowd at the
back. But this was not to be. I was recognized, and
brought forward to occupy the one chair in the front
row conspicuous by its vacancy. As the others were
already sitting, I naturally attracted much more atten
tion than if I had gone in with the rest.
At these ceremonies I heard Mr. Booker T. Washing
ton, who created a great sensation. Of course, being
a negro, his appearance was particularly appropriate.
Mr. William James delivered the address, noble and
poetic, and with such a depth of feeling that I would
83

THE REMINISCENCES OF
wish to embody it here and leave it absolutely with my
impression. Otherwise I cannot describe what went on
because of the fright that took possession of me, as I
knew that sooner or later I should be caUed upon to
say something or other, and, if there is one thing I am
helpless about, it is any utterance in public. The
dreaded instant came. I was announced by one of the
orators, and stood up. It was an awful moment, but
it would be stupid to deny that at the same time it was
thrUling to hear the great storm of applause and cheer
ing that I faced. That also was a sensation worth hav
ing. I realized what an extraordinary feeling of
triumph and power must come to a successful actor,
when, night after night he evokes and faces such en
thusiasm, such spontaneous and convincing approval of
his efforts and achievement, with the certainty that it is
real, and not the polite compliment which bears no con
viction. But the following morning, whUe bending over the
basin in the bath-room, I was suddenly struck, as if with
an ax, in the lower part of my back, so that it was with
the greatest difficulty that I crawled over to the bed
and lay down. This was an attack of lumbago, fol
lowed byscjaiiea, which knocked in the head any tend
ency to pride or cockiness.
Soon after the unveiling of the "Shaw" came that of
the "General Logan," the last monument to which I
was to own responsibility in the United States for some
years to come. It was most impressive, the bright sun,
the sound of cannon near the lake, the music, the tat-
84

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
tered flags, giving me a sensation which stands out viv
idly, while touching in the last degree was the march
ing by of the veterans of Logan's division. Of course
the great majority of them were probably farmers from
the country. To see them, dressed in their Sunday
frock-coats, browned by age, turn to salute as they
marched past the monument to the sound of the familiar
old military music of the war, was a scene to bring
tears to one's eye. The~ spectacle also had its hopeful
side for those with doubts as to war, since they could
not escape realizing that these men, who had gone forth
from their farms and workshops to fight, had returned
to their occupations when the big job was done with no
more thought of militarism.
After this unveUing, a reception was given to Mrs.
Logan and to me in one of the public buildings of Chi
cago. This in another way I felt to be almost as touch
ing and pathetic as the parade, though it possessed a
sparkle of humor, which wUl allow me to attempt to de
scribe it. It took place in a long haU, I should say
about one hundred feet from end to end. The public
entered at one door, were ushered before Mrs. Logan,
about twenty-five feet away, from there walked over
to me, and then went out df another small door at the
other end of the room. I am told that the great crowd
trying to get in down-stairs was jammed in a compact
mass up to the little door, out of which they were
squeezed very much as ointment is squirted out of a
tube. At first I was exceedingly frightened and alarmed at
85

THE REMINISCENCES OF
it all. Soon, however, I lost sight of the fact that I was
being observed, and became the principal observer.
The interest of the occasion to me lay in the extraor
dinary diversity of types that filed by and shook hands,
since the people were of all classes, sizes, shapes, dimen
sions, and characters. There were tall men, short men,
stout men, thin men, veterans, old maids, boys, fat
women, thin maidens, generals, private soldiers. There
were diffident girls, who approached the Grand Panjan
drum with fear and trembhng. There were assertive
men, just as frightened, but who showed a stiff upper
Up. There were those who became very formal, those
who appeared just the reverse, those who smUed, and
those who remained grave. There were the heads of
families, who introduced their convoy one after another,
blocking the free passage of the column as it went out
of the room. And finally there was the kindly old
woman, so interested that she wanted to have a good
chat with me, while the crowd accumulated behind her
until some one told her to move on. Although I seem
to speak with a touch of levity, that is far from what I
have in mind. I felt profoundly honored, and cer
tainly very unworthy of so much distinction.
I suppose through overwork I had become nervous
and completely disaffected with America. Nothing, it
now seemed to me, would right things but my going
abroad and getting away from the infernal noise, dirt,
and confusion of New York City. Of course my
Thirty-sixth Street studio could not have been worse
situated in that regard, as any one will realize who
86

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
knows the hell that exists on the corner of Thirty-
fourth Street, Broadway, and Sixth Avenue, with the
elevated road discharging oil on the persons beneath,
the maddening electric cars adding their music, the am
bulance-wagons tearing by, jangling their diaboUc
gongs in order that the moribund inside may die in the
full spirit of the surroundings, and the occasional frantic
fire-engine racing through it all, with bells clanging,
fire, smoke, hell, and cinders. So I made up my mind
to sail for Europe in October, 1897, and dragged up by
the roots, so to speak, aU the sculptor's paraphernalia
for its transportation to Paris. I see now that what
brought this about was the beginning of the illness
which ever since has held me more or less in its clutches.
I have a paragraph to add to my father's reminiscences, a
portion of a letter written by him from Chicago, to his niece,
Miss Rose S. Nichols, immediately after the Logan unveiling,
on June 23, 1897.
At one o'clock yesterday Mrs. Deering, Mrs.
French, Mr. French (brother and sister-in-law of Dan
French) and I were placed in one carriage. Mr. Deer
ing, Mrs. St.-G. and the editor of the Chicago
Tribune in another, and in the wake of a lot of other
carriages and foUowed by a procession of them, we
drove to the big stand. A great day it was, with a high
wind and glorious sun! I was put in one of the seats
in the Holy of HoUes alongside of Mrs. Logan, if you
please, and the president of the ceremonies. A lot of
speeches were made, one of which was very good, and
87

THE REMINISCENCES OF
at the right moment the complicated arrangement of
flags dropped, the cannon fired, the band played, Mrs.
Logan wept, and I posed for a thousand snap photo
graphs; "a gleam of triumph passed over my face,"
think of that! (vide Chicago Tribune.)
And now, as of all the work my father completed the
Shaw Memorial held the largest share of his hopes and atten
tion, it is fitting to end this chapter by enlarging upon his ac
count of it in a few directions from which material has come
to my hand.
My father speaks of a number of things not being
"achieved" in the course of the commission. Chief among them
was the matter of satisfactory inscriptions, though he worried
over them for fully five years. Originally they were arranged
in a manner most distasteful to him. So he began devious
tactics to elude the necessity of placing them in permanent
form. Here are three letters written in the course of these
events to Mr. Howells, Mr. Thomas Bailey Aldrich, and Mr.
Gilder. To Mr. Howells j
I 've lost my copy of the draft for the Shaw inscrip
tion I sent you. If you have lost yours, Amen. I like
feUers that lose and forget things. If not (and I '11
like you just the same) will you send it to me? Aid-
rich has promised to try on it too, and so has GUder with
Woodbury. I feel as if I had more cheek than a bull
pup, but I was not always so.
To Aldrich:—
I enclose the various inscriptions suggested. Bad as
they are they contain the material to work from. Mr.
' 88

¦' < i

}

|

Mi ¦*$*'-*• \fj?l

^FdWfr jgMJ

ptt$&'-'-&lm

HI ¦ i Jfl

m^B^-'-'M

fl\i Iw 'nB

¦P^HpM

1 ^Qr ^fJ

I ^H
ifeCi* ""-' £-3
¦¦Mil
1
^P^^^^J^M
Xj»^M
^fl^^n
*;¦% .;•'£*
ttlto fl
¦."¦. .¦' . '¦' ' .. ¦.¦¦ : .:
i: v';i.li. *'-
¦"¦¦
¦ ' j ¦• '
' - 1 ' ¦-¦ - 1
^^^mSBKKMi^S^S^^sW^^^^^SS^BSSB^^^^
" ..... 1
AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS WITHOUT HIS BEARD, 1895
He regrew hia benrd almost immediately after slinving
AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
X  , who is to be assuaged, is the principal stumbhng
block. You can judge that by what he wished to put
on the monument.
I beg that you will throw aU this stuff in the waste-
basket and think no more of the matter if it becomes in
the least irksome. I shall be as grateful for the wish
as for the deed.
And to Mr. Gilder;
148 West Thirty-sixth Street, April 17, 1897.
. . . Damn the pen.
All right; "forward" it shall be; it is easily cor
rected on the stone. Now the blessed committee wish
only two names of officers on the monument instead of
five, so Atkinson telegraphed me last night from Vir
ginia. I telegraphed Col. Lee last night to telegraph
you the names of the two officers which are to remain.
EUsworth said there was still time to make that cor
rection. If Lee does not telegraph you, I should bother
no more about it or them. I suppose it is Russell
and Simpkins that they wish retained; the former was
missing and is supposed to have been killed, and Simp-
kins was kUled during the assault on Wagner.
Thine, A. St.-Gatjdens.
Finally, as it seemed impossible for my father to settle any
thing to his satisfaction, he turned to Charles W. Eliot, then
President of Harvard University, as the man whom above all
91

THE REMINISCENCES OF
others he considered the most able at such work. Here is one
of my father's last letters to him :
Dear Mr. Eliot:
I must ask you to come to my relief in this unending
affair of the inscription. I now fear that unless I can
placate some of the members of the committee, what
you have so kindly composed may fall through, exasper
ating as that would be, and another year's struggle com
mence, resulting perhaps in my complete fatigue and
abandonment of the matter, and the placing of such an
absurdity as was originally proposed on the back of this
work. You are kind enough to say that you wiU try and add
a line to the third section of the inscription. It is for
tunate that as a matter of artistic proportion it will be
of advantage from my point of view. If it is possible
for you, in that added line, to put words that may in a
measure set forth the ideas which Mr. X  wishes, I
beheve I could see my way out of this slough. Mr.
X  insists on the use of the "Oh, fair-headed Nor
thern hero," and, in order to placate as much as I can,
I am going to tell him that I shall use that poem, either
on one of the lateral sides, instead of the lines, "I know
Mr. Commander," etc., or in place of Emerson's "To
day unbind the Captive, etc."
Should all this make you lose patience, and cause you
to dismiss the whole subject, I should not be surprised;
on the contrary, I should consider it a very natural re
sult of what has occurred. 92

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
Mr. Eliot's final effort wholly satisfied my father in the end,
and of the sculptor's ultimate regard for it Mr. Coffin has writ
ten me in a most interesting manner.
"Saint-Gaudens had a great respect for learning and for
literary ability. When I was in his studio in October, 1896, at
the time I was writing an article about his life and his work
for The Century Magazine (published in the June number,
1897), he showed me the inscription for the Shaw Memorial
written by President Eliot, and expressed his great admira
tion for it as a piece of composition. The division, so to speak,
of the inscription into three parts, beginning: 'The White
Officers,' 'The Black Rank and File,' and 'Together,' he said
was 'a fine thought,' and I could see that his artistic sense as a
designer was strongly appealed to by the material form of this
inscription as it would appear cast in bronze on the back of
the monument."
Yet, despite such distracting details as those which centered
upon the inscription, my father's state of mind following the
unveiling was exceptionally happy and optimistic, for through
the "Shaw" more than through any other commission he reaped
his reward. It came to him from many sources. First,
shortly after the unveiling, the mother of the hero Colonel
asked him to visit her and explained that although they had
originally planned only a modest bas-relief he had devoted
infinite labor and money upon the commission, and that there
fore she hoped he would add a personal check from her to the
small sum he had already been paid. It is not hard to imagine
with what feelings my father took the money. Then follow
ing this sincere courtesy, came many other personal congratu
lations from his friends and fellow-artists, and among those
which affected him most was this indirect one sent him by my
mother, in her account of the attitude taken by his friend, Ken- (
yon Cox, whose opinion in matters of art, my father held pre
eminent. My mother wrote: 93

THE REMINISCENCES OF
Dear Gus:
. . . After hitching to a hammock-hook we went to the
front, and found an enchanting view, and Kenyon Cox. He
soon warmed up on the subject of your Shaw Monument, and
finally said, "People say it 's the best thing Saint-Gaudens ever
did. For my part no one anywhere in any country has ever
done any better. I don't say I never anywhere have seen as
good, but never better. Saint-Gaudens has for a long time
done everything with great charm, but in recent years he has
also done them with great force."
So, my dear, here is an artist's praise not given "silently"
according to Mrs. X  's idea, but all the more welcome be
cause it is given strongly and forcibly."
The recognition which the world at large could offer Saint-
Gaudens was now pouring upon him, the most important share
reaching him through the degree of LL.D. given him by Har
vard University. It was then that President Eliot spoke the
few words concerning him that summed up his efforts in a fash
ion that must remain unequaled. He said:
"Augustus Saint-Gaudens — a sculptor whose art follows but
ennobles nature, confers fame and lasting remembrance, and
does not count the mortal years it takes to mold immortal
forms." Not long ago President Eliot was kind enough to send me
an account of the way in which the proceeding affected my
father. Here it is:
"At the time your father received his honorary degree at
Harvard he attended the Commencement Dinner in Memorial
Hall upon the express stipulation that he should not be called
upon to speak. During the dinner and the speeches which fol
lowed it — two or three hours — he sat leaning forward, his
arms resting on the table, and looking about him in a most in
tent manner. After the ceremonies I met him and inquired the
reason for his strange preoccupation, which had seemed to con
centrate itself successively on different parts of the room. Mr.
94

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
Saint-Gaudens' only reply was : 'Great Scott ! those heads !' "
Yet while proud and grateful for such honors, the actual
taking of the degrees badly tormented my father's self-con
sciousness, though he was relieved in a measure by his power to
see the humorous side of things. His attitude, indeed, he well
explained in his often-repeated account of how these affairs
affected him.
His first troubles of this kind, he explained, began at the two
hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Princeton
University, when he was asked if he would receive a degree in
company with President Cleveland. He accepted the honor
with what he considered unusual calmness and dignity. He
left Cornish to go to the College, and on his way stopped to
spend the night at the New York Forty-fifth Street house,
then occupied only by a caretaker. He was always digni
fied when taking a train, for, as he said he realized that
though others were sometimes in a hurry, he, the almighty,
could not be moved by any such insignificant object as a
railroad car. Therefore he washed in a leisurely manner, and
in a leisurely manner he sought his shirt in the top drawer
of the bureau. The top drawer was empty. He was not
quite so leisurely in opening the second drawer. The sec
ond drawer was empty. He was mildly excited when he
pulled open the third drawer. The third drawer was empty.
He was obviously heated on opening the fourth and bottom
drawer. The fourth and bottom drawer was empty. Then his
passion knew no bounds. He damned the caretaker. He
damned the house. He damned the universe. He rushed out of
doors and up and down Sixth Avenue. All was in vain at that
early hour. So at last he departed, dressed in a superb frock
coat and top hat, beneath which peered the disreputable shirt
and collar that had borne the brunt of the trip from Cornish
the day before. He missed his train. He waited. He ar
rived in Princeton, where the railroad station is only about
fifty rods from the college grounds. Not knowing this, he took
95

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
a cab. The driver chose a roundabout route to avoid the fes
tivities, and on his way my father saw crowds of people shout
ing. The degrees had been given out. His turn would come next
year. The next year accordingly he appeared both prompt and
immaculate. Alas ! that was all he remembered of the proceed
ings. He was the only man in the University with a top hat.
Two years later the Harvard degree I have spoken of ar
rived. The clothes to be worn at such a function were branded
upon his mind by the memory of the Princeton affair. To no
purpose ! Top hats there were a plenty in the "Yard," derbies
not a few, straws to several thousands, and of soft "fedoras"
just one — his own.

96

IV
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS
1892-1897
Distractions — Studio Confusion — Studio Annoyances — Irritating
Commissions; Logan, Garfield — Peter Cooper, a Labor of Love —
Outside Activities — Friends — The Death of Bion.
THE previous chapter concludes my father's mention of
the Thirty-sixth Street studio life. But as I prefaced
the account of his work there with a description of his
surroundings during the earlier years of the period, so now I
will add, by way of an epilogue, an attempt to picture the at
mosphere in which he worked during the end of his stay, the
confusion of his studio to which there have been so many al
lusions, the stress and pull of outside engagements naturally
coupled with his success.
Two letters in especial set forth the excitement in which he
was expected to evolve aesthetic ideas. The first is to Dr. Win
chester Donald. Even at that early day the Phillips Brooks
Committee, in Boston, had offered him the commission for the
monument and had asked for his thoughts on the subject. This
was his response. The second letter he sent to the sculptor,
Mr, A. P. Proctor. In this letter the reference to his assist
ant, Mr. Robert Treat Paine, is especially interesting, since
it marks my father's first experience with a pointing-machine.
Previous to this, all sculpture had to be enlarged from the work
ing model to the final size by a series of "points" taken by
hand. Consequently, in order to obtain a result in any time
at all, a number of assistants were necessarily employed and
the factor of personal error crept in to a tremendous extent.
My father had an especially rough experience with the standing
97

THE REMINISCENCES OF
"Lincoln," the "Peter Cooper," and the horse for the "Logan."
After they had been laboriously enlarged by the old system, he
was forced to remodel them entirely free-hand in order to bring
back the effect he desired. But shortly after that time Mr.
Paine solved the problem of mechanical enlargement, and before
long, on such work as the "Sherman" horse, there were being
made as many as four hundred correct points a day.
My father writes of all this:
148 West Thirty-sixth Street, March 21, 1893.
Dear Donald: ,
You are the best fallow in the world, and when I re
ceive such letters as yours I feel smaller than I usually
do, and that 's saying a great deal.
In order to write as appreciatively as possible, I have
taken a quiet hour in my studio torday, Sunday. But
notwithstanding the peace of the day and the place, I
am alone and undisturbed, it is hard for me to express
myself as I ought to. The whirl I am in, the concen
tration of thought necessary for the final emblematic
figure in the Shaw monument, together with the inde
scribable confusion and haste of the completion of the
"Diana" and "Columbus" by ten assistants, and a re
moval in the midst of it all, have put my brains in a con
dition where it is impossible for me to give the Brooks
monument proper thought. For the present I ask you
to believe that I feel greatly honored by the action of the
committee. . . .
The other letter runs as follows: 98

Copt. DoW.O.Wani

DIANA
Madison Square Garden Tower, New York City

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
148 West Thirty-sixth Street, March 1st, 1896.
Dear Proctor:
Your letter of February first is in front of me, and
I feel a little guilty at not replying to it before this,
but I am a bad correspondent and I'd put off writing
to the angel Gabriel. I have had the concert in my
studio to-day that I have once a year in honor of Mr.
WeUs. The crowd has gone, the place is quiet, and I
have a few moments to spare before the dinner-hour.
Paine has finished pointing the big horse and has
started on the figure of Logan. He has also started
enlarging the flag on the same scaffold with the same
kind of machinery, and the confusion that you saw up
there is placid order compared to the intricate mess of
planks, ropes, puUeys, strings, &c, &c, that he is revel
ing in now. I have still half the studio down in Twen
tieth Street. ... So you see life continues about
the same in this lively corner of the earth. . . .
The chaotic state of affairs shown in these letters, like the
greater part of the upsets mentioned in the past chapter, were
to be expected as ever pertinent to a sculptor's studio. But
my father seemed especially victimized by a series of set-backs
from accidents or the clumsiness of those about him. I will
describe one mishap in which I figured as a boy, since it deals
with the failure of the pointing of the "Logan" horse, and in
telling it I am exposing only myself. The absurd needlessness
of it, the time, the money, and the brain-force wasted by it, were
all unfortunately typical.
It came about through my pet goat. The "Logan" horse
had been modeled for my father in Cornish; and, after its
completion, stood in modeling wax in the studio barn, waiting
101

THE REMINISCENCES OF
to be cast in plaster previous to enlargement. During that
summer I had brought to delightful perfection a new game with
my goat. First I would induce him to butt and then, stepping
aside, take joy in his bewildered plunge past me. What could
be more natural than that, one noon hour, while the studio was
deserted, I should play this trick directly before the stand on
which was mounted the Logan model. The result is obvious.
When the goat made his dive and I dodged, he drove his horns
with a crash against the pedestal. For a second of horror the
horse rocked to and fro. But as it did not fall, I never im
agined future consequences and, boy-like, soon forgot the inci
dent. The horse was cast and the pointing up carried on by
hand for over two months, until at last both my father and Mr.
Proctor, who was directing the work, began to notice that the
rear of the animal appeared strangely askew. Careful measure
ments were taken, with only too disastrous proof. The large
model had to be torn down and the small model remade in clay
at the lpss of a summer's work. By that time of year I was
away in school, and far too frightened to volunteer the in
criminating information as to "how it happened." It was not
until long after, when, at the dinner-table, I heard my father
explaining to some friends about the inaccuracy of the old
method of pointing, that I "owned up." By then I was too
large to spank, so my father contented himself with a smile.
Perhaps he knew at the time, anyway.
Many such studio misfortunes as this my father bore calmly.
For, as he often punned, even Michelangelo found it impos
sible to organize a studio that was not a stew. But when there
were added such outside irritations as those furnished by cli
ents who doubted his sincerity or who questioned the artistic
value of the result, as in the case of the Columbian Medal con
troversy, he became bitterly distressed. Of all such disagree
ments, the Logan commission involved perhaps the most
irritating. The friction was developed in this case through
the committee's only too evident distrust of the sculptor, caus-
102

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
ing them to send him letters that would have roused a far calmer
soul than his. One bone of contention, very sweet to them, was
dug up through the difficulty of convincing them that the small
working model, the last which my father's hand actually
touched, was to be regarded as the finished model. I dwell
upon it particularly, for debates on this subject followed him
up to the end of his life.
Here is the first letter on the question to a member of the
Logan Committee: 148 West Thirty-sixth St., New York,
October 12, 1894.
Judge H. W. Blodgett, Chicago, 111.,
Dear Sir:
. . . A misapprehension has no doubt arisen from
my not having made it sufficiently clear that the small
model is the working model on which all the time,
thought, energy, and expense necessary for the artistic
conception and development of the monument are ex
pended; that it is, in sum, the vital part of the work,
and that when it is done the statue is essentially com
pleted. This working model is about half the size that
the bronze will be, and the enlarging from it to the colos
sal model necessary for the bronze-founder is a mechan
ical operation done by assistants, which, as weU as the
bronze-casting and its erection in place, could be car
ried on without me, were I to die or become incapaci
tated after the "working model" is finished. . . .
You are entirely mistaken in your inference that "the
work is no further along than when the last payment
was made," that I have merely "done some work cor-
103

THE REMINISCENCES OF
recting and improving the design," and that "but Uttle
headway has been made" ; inasmuch as I have been in
cessantly at work for more than a year (six months of
which have passed since the last payment) , developing
and completing it, and that, in consequence, this final
working model will be completed and ready for the en
largement at the end of November. . . .
Again : 148 West Thirty-sixth Street, N. Y.,
April 2, 1895.
My dear Mr. Logan:
. . . I can fully understand how from your point
of view all the delay is irritating and incomprehensible,
and I highly appreciate your courtesy and forbearance.
On the other hand, if a sculptor is in earnest and deter
mined to leave nothing undone that can better his work,
you can hardly realize how important an event in his
life the execution of a colossal equestrian statue is, par
ticularly when the monument is of so conspicuous a fig
ure as your father, and is to be so prominently placed.
I have had from four to six assistants constantly at
work for more than a year enlarging my model. This
model was completed six months ago and my personal
work ceased at that time. . . . During the execu
tion of large works in sculpture there are long intervals
when the assistants have entire control. It was during
one of these periods that I made the study you refer to
from Mr. Howland's horse. I beg to assure you that
you are mistaken in thinking that your father's monu-
104

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
ment has been neglected in the slightest degree or set
aside in any way for the prosecution of other work. As
I have before said, the delay arises from my resolution
to prosecute the work to the utmost limit of my abuity
even at the cost of misapprehension of the reasons of my
delay, to say nothing of the serious pecuniary loss and
inconvenience which result from prolongation of the
work. In this respect I am a serious sufferer.
The monument is to last a long while, and I trust
that when it is erected you may feel repaid for the tax
upon your good nature that its execution has en
tailed. . . .
After the lapse of some little time my father received the
following : Chicago, May 21st, 1895.
Mr. Augustus St.-Gaudens,
New York City.
As you will probably recollect, I am the treasurer of the
committee appointed by the Legislature of Illinois for the erec
tion of a monument to the late General John A. Logan. When
the contract for this monument was awarded to you we felt that
the committee would not be complicated by any delay on your
part, but after our experience, I am compelled to express my
disgust at the impossibility of getting any information as to
what you are doing. We ought to know when the work is likely
to be completed or else you should refund the money paid and
let us deal with some other sculptor.
It has required some effort to prevent this matter being
brought up in the Legislature which is still in session; should
the delay be commented on in that body it would be very morti
fying to all the members of the committee.
Very truly yours,
John R. Walsh.
105

THE REMINISCENCES OF
To which my father replied: — May 27th, 1895.
Dear Sir:
The tone of your letter of May twenty-first was a
great surprise. You say it is impossible to get infor
mation of what I am doing. You are entirely mis
taken. When asked for it, I have on three or four oc
casions given a fuU account of the progress of the work.
The letters were written to Judge Blodgett. The
horse was far advanced in life-size, when I thought an
other action better. The rider was finished also, but in
my opinion it would be better three inches larger.
Either was acceptable, but I preferred to spend a large
extra amount of time and money to make it as I thought
best. This causes the delay, and both models life-size
can be seen at my studio which is always open to any
of your committee. I regret very much that they may
be put in a disagreeable position with the Legislature,
but my experience shows me that where delay has oc
curred before, it has been more than compensated for
to the committee by the better monument.
You speak of other sculptors. You may remember
that I did not seek the commission and that work by
other sculptors was submitted to you before I finally
consented to accept it. . . .
So much for the "Logan," but while I am upon this subject of
annoyances suffered at the hands of some clients, let me men
tion another case, regarding the monument to President Gar
field. The difficulty arose here not through the Committee's
having any question of my father's probity, but because of a
106

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
desire on their part to take the matter of the artistic disposi
tion of the lettering into their own hands. This resulted in a
correspondence which continued until my father, at last worn
down, agreed to make the changes they suggested if they were
willing that he should not sign his name to the work. Evi
dently this brought about some sort of compromise, for the
monument was unveiled with little further comment. The al
terations which my father did make in deference to their wishes,
however, never pleased him. On the contrary they rankled in
his mind until ten years later he wrote them this letter char
acteristic of his constant desire to improve what he had done.
Nothing ever came of it.
After seeing the "Garfield" with you the other day, I
wish to make a suggestion to the Park authorities which,
if carried out, would greatly help the appearance of
the monument. Through a misunderstanding the
shield was made for a larger inscription and now seems
bare. I would remodel part of it, so as to remedy that
defect without any expense to the authorities as far as
my work went, if they would bear the cost of the casting
in bronze. Furthermore, to obviate the bad effect of the
black bronze, I should advise gilding the bust and the
figure and toning the gold down lower still than I have
done with the "Sherman" in New York. This would
add immensely to the effect. I would charge nothing
for my time. Should this meet with the approval of the
Park Commission I should be glad to proceed with it at
once in order that it might be completed by Spring.
However, lest it be thought that all my father's work was
accompanied with business difficulties I should explain that
much of what he did was assisted by a limitless patience on the
107

THE REMINISCENCES OF
part of his clients with his tardiness and with his endless de
sire to alter, a patience that brought only happiness to all;
The Shaw committee, which waited fourteen years without a
reproach, is noteworthy in this respect, though of course that
work was in a category by itself. Rather more typical com
missions were those for the Hamilton Fish monument to go in
Garrison-on-the-Hudson, and for the statue of Peter Cooper
to stand before the Cooper Union in New York.
At the outset my father planned the Fish monument to con
tain figures of two women, heavily draped and kneeling, adoring
a cross. Later, in memory of the mother who had died when
her little child was born, he added thereto an infant, kneeling
in the folds of the cloak of one figure, a conception which had
that sense of mystery always so interesting to him. . When
Mr. Fish was asked to see the completed result, however, he
expressed himself as most pleased, except with the child. Ac
cordingly that infant was removed. And last of all, after this
rearrangement had been completed, my father discovered that
the early Christians stood with upraised hands when they
prayed, whereupon he became dissatisfied with the whole group
and started it anew for the fourth time. It is unfortunate
that some record of the earlier composition has not been kept
to meet the discussion among his friends as to whether or no
the first attempt with the kneeling figures was not better than
the final effort with the standing ones.
The monument to Peter Cooper is not quite so good an il
lustration of the occasional client good-naturedly bearing with
this same readiness on my father's part to reconstruct to an
endless extent. For here, as with the Shaw, the Committee
realized that because of his deep gratitude toward the insti
tution which had given him his start he regarded his task as a
labor of love into which he wished to put more effort than
his financial returns would warrant. What caused his de
lay here was that before he even thought of beginning the large
figure, he erected in front of a model of the facade of the Cooper
108

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
Union, which he set up in the studio, as many as twenty-seven
sketches of the figure with various compositions of the hat, coat,
and cane. In this work alone I think my father showed later
some little dislike for the efforts of his faithful collaborator,
Stanford White, because one day, a few years after, on pass
ing the monument with me, he remarked that he was sorry the
canopy had not been further studied, since with his more tran
quil eye he could see that the delicately traced architecture and
fine lettering were not in keeping with the subject of a heavy
and bearded man.
Such instances as these, however, in which my father was
allowed to pursue the natural deviations of his work unmo
lested, were, as I have said, the exception. Nor were the en
tanglements where they did exist confined to the commissions
concerned. His intensely sensitive nature permitted any dis
traction to affect his work at large for days at a time. There
fore, I will dwell even further on this aspect, and turn from
distractions within to those without the studio. I quote a leaf
from my father's weekly calendar beginning Sunday, March
Fourth, 1894, which hints briefly at the demands of his outside
engagements.
4. Sunday
WeUs Concert 3 P. M.
WeUs dinner at Petit Vefour at night.
5. Monday
Architectural League dinner 6:30.
5 P. M. Ward. (Sculptor.)
Jap Lecture. (La Farge.)
6. Tuesday Society of American Artists revision and prize
awarding.
Tom Moore. Ellen Terry. General MUes.
109

THE REMINISCENCES OF
7. Wednesday
Municipal Art Society meeting at 4:45 P. M.
10 West Twenty-third Street.
Typewriter 6 P. M.
Miss Goeghan.
8. Thursday
Boston with McKim and Hunt.
Jap Lecture. (La Farge.)
9. Friday
7 P. M. Society American Artists dinner.
Varnishing day Society American Ar
tists.
10. Saturday
Dr. Wallace Wood.
Mrs. Chapman. 4 P. M. Studio.
As this calendar indicates, my father, during the course of
years, spent more and more time in the center of an active
group of men who were eager, without pose or affectation, to
aid in the artistic development of their land. In especial does
the following letter with its annotation suggest the variety
of considerations to which my father and Mr. Gilder, his chief
fellow-enthusiast, gave thought, and were prepared to give
more when backed by similar attention on the part of others.
New York. April 12, 1892.
Mr. Richard Watson Gilder.
Dear Sir:
I am very much pleased to see the interest you have taken
in the building of the Washington Memorial Arch and other
works of art in our city.
I read with much pleasure the remarks" published in the New
York World last week upon the completion of the Arch.
110

 _ —

Com. DeW.C.Wurd

STATUE OF PETER COOPER

This statue Btands iu front of Cooper Union, New York City. The pedestal and architectural
background were designed by Stanford White (Messrs. McKim, Mead and White)

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
I would like to call your attention to one point in the city
which has been neglected, and where I think a great improve
ment could be made.
I refer to the unfinished tops of the two towers of the Brook
lyn Bridge. By adding a few courses of stone and placing a
balustrade or bronze railing on the top enclosing a colossal
group of statuary they could be made the most striking objects
along our river front and bay of New York.
A group on the New York tower representing an Indian, a
Hollander, and an American citizen would be very appropriate.
Or a group composed of John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and
deWitt Clinton, all New Yorkers, would do.
Allegorical groups would also be very appropriate — Com
merce, Agriculture, and Manufactures.
I hope you will use your influence to have this work carried
out sometime in the near future.
Yours respectfully, Citizen.
On the envelope of this letter is written, "How would it look?
R. W. G." and beneath, in my father's handwriting, "It 's hard
to tell without seeing the Bridge. But from a rough pencil
sketch I have just made it seems to me worthy of considera
tion. A. St.-G."
Again, in 1887, Walt Whitman was even poorer than usual.
Also the photographer, Mr. George C. Cox, was producing re
sults far ahead of his decade, to the delight of New York art
ists, though not to that of the public. So under the leadership
of Mr. Gilder and my father, who were friends of the aged poet
and the photographer, the admirers of Whitman and of Cox
combined forces. Cox took a limited number of photographs
of Whitman, who signed them, and the results were sold at
fancy prices for the benefit of both.
From such examples of comparatively foreign considerations,
I turn again to one much nearer my father's path of life, the de
velopment of the Boston Public Library building. The groups
113

THE REMINISCENCES OF
to go in front of it, which my father was unable to finish before
his death, he probably held more at heart than any other work
he ever undertook. But beside his interest in this actual sculp
ture, he displayed great activity in the development of the
building. For instance, though Stanford White, during the
course of this work, seemed chiefly anxious to allot the deco
rating of the interior wholly to European painters, my father.
on the other hand, strenuously insisted that there were strong
men of American fiber who should be employed. So it was in a
measure due to him that Sargent and Abbey were given their
opportunity. The letter which he wrote Mr. McKim regarding these Ameri
can painters, I have already inserted in the chapter on his fel
low-artists. But here is another he sent later to the same
friend, which shows his enthusiastic state of mind towards the
whole undertaking. 148 West Thirty-sixth Street, Nov. 29, 1894.
Dear Charles:
I was in Boston the other day with my brother
Louis, and saw for the first time the staircase finished.
I write to teU you that we were both completely bowled
over by it ; it is a splendid piece of work and even as it
is, without the painting of Puvis, I know nothing to
equal it. The oiling of Louis's Uons, and the placing
of the inscription under them, has entirely changed their
character too. They now seem to me to have a very
swell look, and a big "raison d'etre." They certainly
have completely changed in character from what they
were; and, now that everything is "cleaned up," they
fall completely in harmony with the rest. But it was
not about them that I started to write. It was simply
114

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
to congratulate you on the splendid work you have pro
duced. It has fired me all up to get at the groups and
make as swell a thing as possible; although it will be
hard to compete with the nobility of the staircase.
All I have said may seem wordy, which is very likely
the case; it may also seem fulsome, which is not the
case; for I am simply expressing what I feel.
Yours, Gus.
Yet though in his efforts for the public good, it must be ob
vious that my father was ever ready to work and to work hard
behind the scenes, any personal appearance in public was ex
tremely distasteful to him, as the following letter to Mr. Ham
ilton Bell will confirm.
147 West Thirty-sixth Street, Oct. 7th, 1895.
Dear Bell:
I fear my silence with regard to the Presidency of the
Municipal Art Society may have appeared discourteous.
Please forgive me. It has been on my mind and I
hoped to see you at "The Players" on several occasions
and speak to you, but you were "non est." You will
have to leave me out of that very honorable position. I
am totally unfit. I should be a helpless man, and on the
one or two occasions where my presence might be neces
sary I should not only be frightened to death, but I
should demoraUze everything within sight and hearing.
Yours faithfully, A. St.-Gatjdens.
Throughout such interests outside as well as inside the studio,
my father clung tenaciously to his original body of friends.
115

THE REMINISCENCES OF
White was still the rock to fall back on, though the personal in
timacy of the two was slowly growing less, while McKim, on the
other hand, came more and more close. Strangely enough, aside
from Herbert Adams, my father had few sculptors close in his
confidence. But among the painters there were as ever Dew
ing, Thayer, Brush, Cox, H. 0. Walker, and many others, as
well as a few whom he saw less frequently, like Edwin Abbey,
John Sargent, and Andreas Zorn. I remember how Sargent
entertained Saint-Gaudens by his efforts to have him undertake
something ugly. "Don't be afraid," Sargent would say. "Why
I 've got a sitter down in my studio who looks as though he 'd
been fished up from the bottom of the sea." Zorn, too, who
made an etching of Saint-Gaudens and was always a favorite
with my father, furnished many anecdotes which the sculptor
recounted in after life. The last of them was especially liked
because of its illustration of the casual way Zorn took himself.
The artist appeared at the studio one morning to sit silent
for some minutes, as was his custom while my father worked.
"What are you doing next?" said my father, finally breaking
the pause without turning around.
"Going back to Europe in twenty minutes," breathed Zorn
without looking up.
And he went.
For the most part, I think my father influenced his friends
more than they did him. But one change in especial which they
brought about during these years was the making of my father
into a club-man, so that before he left New York, he belonged
to an endless succession of organizations from "The Lambs" to
"The Metropolitan." Chief of these, the one which he re
garded most seriously was "The Century Club." But even
closer to his affection stood "The Players," where he became
early a member, and where his delight in the "round table
group" never ceased. The men of this little clique, especially
those who called themselves members of the "Saturday Night
Club," which habitually clustered before the rarebit with oys-
116

ETCHING OF AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS BY ANDERS ZORN

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
ters, made by Dewing or White, comprised many of those I have
already mentioned. But in addition there were other such
cronies as Edward Simmons, Robert Reid, Willard Metcalf,
Cooper Hewitt, Charles S. Reinhart, with later William Smed-
ley, Charles F. McKiin, and James Wall Finn, and always for
some mysterious reason on the night after Thanksgiving,
William Gedney Bunce. Here again, as with the first body
of men whom I mentioned awhile back, my father was in his
prime story-telling mood. The anecdotes in themselves were
not unusual, but few were immune to the charm in the man
ner of the telling, the Irish wit, and energy, the trick of ris
ing from his chair to illustrate his discourse with irresistible
gestures, the varying tones of voice, the magnetic enjoyment
both of the humor of the anecdote and of the appreciation
of his listeners. One source of pleasure alone he never really
shared with his friends, tobacco. He always had a wist
ful longing to appreciate a smoke as he saw his friends ap
preciating it. But up to the last ten years of his life he could
never make a success of his attempts, and even after that it
w'as with no real relish that he handled his after-dinner cigar.
Finally on leaving this period I quote a letter which my father
wrote to his niece, Miss Rose Nichols, not long after the death
of his friend Bion who had remained so intimate with him
through all his life. Bion had given up sculpture and was de
voting himself to his friendships and his philosophy. With in
finite leisure on his hands he had fallen more and more into the
habit of writing my father long weekly letters in which he spoke
of the actions of his acquaintances and of the events of the
art world. My father's lengthy replies were unfortunately de- • / j
stroyed according to a request in Bion's will. On his death,'
my father wrote :
148 West Thirty-sixth St., Feb. 17th, 1897.
Of course the one thing on my mind, the terrible
specter that looms up, is poor Bion's death; night and
119

THE REMINISCENCES OF
day, at aU moments, it comes over me like a wave that
overwhelms me, and it takes away all heart that I may
have in anything. To-day, however, I have had a kind
of sad feeling of companionship with him that seems to
bring him to me, in working over the head of the flying
figure of the "Shaw." The bronze-founders are not
ready for it yet. I have had a stamp made of the figure,
and I am sure you will think I have helped it a great
deal. You know that Thayer told me he thought an idea
I once had of turning the head more in profile, was a bet
ter one than that I had evolved, and I 've always wished
to do it. It is done, and it 's the f eeUng of death and
mystery and love, in the making of it, that brought my
friend back to me so much to-day. . . . The
young, thank Heaven, do not feel these blows so pro
foundly as do older people. In one of my blue fits the
other day I felt the end of aU things, and, reasoning
from one thing to the other and about the hopelessness
of trying to fathom what it aU means, I reached this;
we know nothing (of course), but a deep conviction
came over me like a flash that at the bottom of it aU,
whatever it is, the mystery must be beneficent; it does
not seem as if the bottom of all were something malev
olent. And the thought was a great comfort.
I shaU be all the week at the figure. I 've made an
olive-branch instead of the palm, — it looks less "Chris
tian martyr-like," — and I have lightened and simpUfied
the drapery a great deal. I had not seen it for two or
three months and I had a fresh impression.
At Twenty-seventh Street I 've finished the nude of
120

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
the "Sherman," and next week I begin to put his clothes
on him. I had another day with the model for the
"Victory" last Sunday, and that, too, is progressing
rapidly. Zorn, the Swedish artist, was with me all day
Sunday, making an etching of me while the model
rested; it is an admirable thing and I will send you a
copy of it.
The studio is once more in a fearful condition with
the casting of the "Logan," and the getting of the
"Puritan" ready to photograph and cast for the Boston
Museum and to send abroad to have the reductions
made. This letter is no good, but it must go; the clatter of
seven molders and sculptors does not help to the expres
sion or the development of thought, confusion
only. . . ,

121

(f

V
THE LAST TRIP ABROAD
1897-1900
A Sick Man — To Paris — Paris Work, Sherman, Library Figures,
Brimmer, Lowell, Dana, Stevenson — Scotland — "Amor Caritas" —
Sherman — Depression — To the Midi with Gamier — Aspect — Saint-
Gaudens — Garnier's Narrative.
THE previous chapter ended the account of my father's
life in New York. He never returned there again as
a resident. He had paid the city its price. From the
"Farragut" to the "Shaw" he had given it his prime, his health.
He left it a sick man, crippled for the remainder of his life by
the ardor of his work. He had but ten years to live, ten years
which he contrived through an extraordinary strength of will
and body to spend wholly upon his art. When he returned to
this land in 1900 he returned to the surgical ward of the Mas
sachusetts General Hospital. Twice in the succeeding seven
years he visited such places, and in the interims he lived for the
most part in Cornish, New Hampshire, where the outdoor ex
istence he had learned to appreciate helped, above all else, to
keep him at his work until the month of his death. Let it not
be thought, however, either from what I have said or from his
own reminiscences that Saint-Gaudens' sickness had taken him
abroad. Quite on the contrary, it was his knowledge that his
art had reached its strength that, for the last few years, had
given him his desire to visit France. For in Paris alone he
could measure himself with his contemporaries, place his work
before the world's most critical audience, and learn, once for all,
wherein it was good and wherein bad.
With this foreword I turn to the laconic four paragraphs
122

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
which my father gives to his arrival in France and his work
there, before I attempt to substitute for his omissions the let
ters and notes which I have gathered. He writes:
As I have said, as a result of all this turmoil, and sick
ness, and discontent, I resolved finally to face the prob
lem of uprooting my American studio paraphernalia
and of betaking myself and it to Paris for a stay of un
known length.
From the dock at Liverpool we went straight to Lon
don. From London we went on the following day to
Paris. The country between Calais and Paris seemed
very grand; great roUing lands with immense fields be
ing plowed in the waning day. The peace, sim
plicity, and calm of it all was profoundly impressive;
just a plowman and a boy, alone in the country on a
hillside following the horses and the plow along the
deep, straight furrows; no fences, a clear sky with the
half -moon, and only a small clump or two of trees=-all
so orderly and grand.
On arriving in Paris, after the usual inevitable agony
of a dreary, maddening, and hopeless search for a studio,
racing from one side of the city to the other, and back
and forth, I found a place in a charming little garden
like passage in the Rue de Bagneux, of which there are
so many in out-of-the-way corners of Paris, the mere
existence of which makes life worth living. There I
began by remodeling the figure of the Sherman Vic
tory and some studies of the groups I have stiU to do
for the Boston Public Library. When I reflect on the
number of years that has elapsed since the latter com-
123

THE REMINISCENCES OF
mission was given me I feel as if I should hide my face.
The reason of the delay is that I am determined that I
shaU do everything that lies in my power to make them
as good as anything I have ever executed, and they
are somewhat in a category, considering the number of
figures, as far as compensation goes, with the Shaw
monument. The bust of Martin Brimmer I also did in
Paris at that time for the Boston Museum of Fine
Arts, and the medaUion of Mrs. Josephine Shaw
Lowell, who was then visiting Paris.
First of aU, however, stood my work upon the "Sher
man," and while I was at it the days came and went
rapidly because of my steady and enthusiastic toil.
The head of the General on the statue was virtuaUy a
copy of the bust I had already made from him, without
any modification other than the change of a detail or
so. But the rest was far from being so simple a matter.
That is all my father has to say. Yet in addition to the
orders he has mentioned, while in Paris he modeled a medallion
of Charles A. Dana for the New York Sun, altered the Stev
enson relief, once more created a new variation of his "Angel
with the Tablet" from the Smith tomb figure, and made re
ductions of a large number of his medallions, as well as the
"Puritan" and the "Diana."
The Dana relief was completed first for Mr. Lafan, though
later the Dana family desired and obtained it. Otherwise
it was sent home without involving Saint-Gaudens in any fur
ther complications during the course of its construction. But
the other work, the "Stevenson," the "Angel with the Tablet,"
and the medallion reductions, were produced under circumstances
so close to his intimate life that they should be dwelt upon.
124

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
The second commission I mentioned, the large variation of
his Stevenson relief, was remodeled for the church of St. Giles,
Edinburgh, Scotland. Beside increasing the size, my father
changed many details, in addition to those already mentioned
of replacing Stevenson's bed with a lounge, and his cigarette
with a pen. Among them it is a matter of amusing record in
the studio that the one thousand and fifty-two letters of the
inscription, which contain quotations from Stevenson's poetry,
were modeled — not stamped — twelve consecutive times. For my
father was worried as to whether he should insist that Steven
son's poem, "Lines to Will H. Low" be inserted, or should
yield to the Committee's desire that a Stevenson prayer be
placed upon the plaque. Furthermore, the emblematical heather
and hibiscus garland seemed to cause him much trouble in pro
curing proper models.
On the other hand the commission gave him occasion to
make two trips to England, where he felt most happy over the
cordiality with which he was received by the English artists
and sculptors, who ultimately made him a member of the Royal
Academy. For example, a dinner was given him at Earl's
Court, a sort of London Coney Island, whereat that serious
body of men, Sargent, Abbey, Sir Alma-Tadema and the rest,
with their serious group of women-folk, behaved as all serious
people should upon such an occasion. From that dinner, not so
very serious, they went to see the Javanese dancers, in whom
Sargent had become so interested that as a relief it was needful
to cap the evening by indulging in such Scenic Railway excite
ment as the land and the law allowed. These portions of two
letters to Miss Rose S. Nichols show his interest in the matter
and the pleasure brought him especially by his last visit while
negotiations were in progress.
He writes: Ainslee Place, Edinburgh, January 7, 1899.
I left Paris Wednesday morning and found, when I
125

THE REMINISCENCES OF
got to London, that a meeting with the Stevenson
memorial committee was absolutely necessary and that
they could not be got together till to-morrow, Monday,
morning. All this after much telegraphing, and con
ferences with Sidney Colvin, the "Keeper of Prints" of
the British Museum and the intimate friend of Steven
son. I therefore had two days of it in London, two of
the most miserable days of my Ufe. Sargent I saw for
a few hours ; he was very busy with a crucifixion for the
Boston Library, a remarkable thing. I had lunch with
Colvin, and then I roamed around the streets under the
gloomy sky.
The one thing that made a great impression on me
Swas an exhibition of almost the entire Ufe-work of
Burne-Jones. He certainly was a very big man, but
his work contributed to the intense melancholy that
seemed to seize me. I have felt it somewhat in Paris
with the gloomy weather we have had of late there, but
here it has been unbearable; moments of feeling that
which I have never felt before, indifference to achieve
ment of any kind, and an utter absence of ambition in
myself. However, I am away from London now and
the two nights of baUet spectacles there were a relief.
Then also, after great hunting around, I succeeded in
finding a great friend of Joe Evans, Robert Tabor, an
actor who had been with Irving and has had great
success here in "Macbeth." He played with Forbes
Robertson. Yesterday, Saturday, I journeyed aU day in the mist
to this place, and all to-day I have been tramping round
126

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
Edinburgh, first with Mr. BeU, then this afternoon with
General Chapman, commander-in-chief of the British
forces in Scotland, and Mr. Blaikie, the printer of the
great Edinburgh edition of Stevenson. I lunched at
the General's ; and he took me to the castle, and the en
tire day has been spent in the mist. It is certainly a re
markable city, and I did not have much time to indulge
in melancholy, but I should have enjoyed it more keenly
had I been in another mood, or if there had been sun
shine. That may be the reason of it aU. Not a ray of
sun for ten days now*
We had Professor Masson, Professor of Rhetoric and
Languages at the University here, and Mr. Blaikie at
dinner last night. They cracked ecclesiastical jokes
which were absolutely mysterious to me, but provoked
great hilarity in them. They talked with that rich
Scotch brogue I like so much, and were altogether very
kindly disposed.
To-night they have the President of the Royal Acad
emy, besides some great literary swell, whose name you
know, but for the life of me I can't remember; and then
there 's an artist of the Glasgow School, a man of tal
ent. It seems as if all the eUte and nobility of England are
associated with the Stevenson monument, beginning
with Lord Rosebery, who was the originator of the
idea and is the president of the committee. I shall
probably make the "Stevenson" full length, in gilded
bronze with a pen in his hand instead of the cigarette,
with perhaps the name of his works or some selections
127

THE REMINISCENCES OF
from his writings that they may choose, aU very simple,
on some red marble, with perhaps a Greek lyre in the
middle, under him. Or I may make it in some yellow
ish stone on a gilded slab.
Again : 3 Rue de Bagneux, Paris, Jan. 15th, 1899.
. . . Edinburgh is a great place, and I 'm sorry I
did n't see it in fine weather. Coming back I became
very chummy with Gerald Balfour, General Secretary
of Ireland, brother of the noted Balfour of ParUament,
and nephew of Salisbury; a nice fellow, who told me of
some black draught that prevented his being sick on his
frequent trips to Ireland during gales. The result was
that, although in crossing the Channel the steamer
turned somersaults, I remained god-like and superior
whUe the other mortals were in the usual throes. As
Louis wrote, "Life is full of surprises, mostly benef
icent." . . . A. St.-G.
Allied with work on the Stevenson came work on the other
medallions, the "Angel with the Tablet," and the reduced bas-
reliefs, which, together with the larger work in two exhibitions,
had much to do with the French Government's creating my
father an Officer of The Legion of Honor, with their making
him a Corresponding Member of the Societe des Beaux Arts,
and with their offering to purchase certain of his bronzes for
the Luxembourg Museum.
What led my father to consider altering once more the ideal
figure which he had developed from the Morgan tomb angel
into the Smith tomb form, was that John S. Sargent had be
come interested in the composition of the Smith tomb figure and
128

SKETCH FOR ALTERATIONS OF STEVENSON RELIEF FOR EDINBURGH

SKETCH OF ORIGINAL IDEA FOR BAS-RELIEF OF WAYNE MACVEAGH
AND HIS WIFE

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
had desired to make a painting of it. Therefore, since my
father had the greatest admiration for Sargent, he began to | J |
believe in a piece of his own work that could be paid so high
a compliment. Also, beside this consideration, the Smith tomb
figure had originally been modeled in the studio with the knowl
edge that it was to go to the stone-cutters, and consequently the
technique was not over carefully rendered ; so that now, realiz
ing that the most skilful sculptors in the world would see it in
bronze, my father felt it needful to give his attention to each
and every detail. As a result, though he made only the fewest
changes in the general composition, he modeled the wings in
a more formal fashion and simplified the drapery with the great- -.-
est care. Indeed this process of conventionalization went even
to the inscription, where the pains he took to substitute the
present result shows anew his anxiety over even the smallest
trifles. It is pleasant to remember that the composition
achieved such a success in the large that my father decided to
reduce it to the small size now so frequently seen. He often
announced his intention of producing this reduced figure in
marble inlaid with gold and ivory and precious stones. Un
fortunately he never found the time or the proper occasion.
Here are two letters he wrote to Miss Rose S. Nichols con
cerning the figure : September 14th.
. . . I have had a good reduction made of the
"Angel with the Tablet" that came out very well, some
changes that I could accomplish in the shape helping it
a great deal. This also I am going to put on the
market, and the question is what inscription I shaU put
on the tablet. Can you think of any? The figure^
means so much that a wide range of device is possible. '
"To know is to forgive," "Peace on Earth," "God is
Love," "Good will towards men," "Amor Caritas," are
131

THE REMINISCENCES OF
those that have occurred to me. Of course I would
only use one on the tablet. You can imagine the figure
with her hands upholding the tablet with the inscrip
tion. Either of the four are appropriate, but a longer
one would be better. If any occurs to you let me know.
December 16th.
Since my last letter I have seen the Director of the
Luxembourg. He called to see me and I went to see
him. It is now settled that the Government is to pur
chase the "Angel with the Tablet," for which I will ask
them a nominal sum, as I wished it clearly understood
that it was solicited and bought, not offered by me to
them. They said that Burne-Jones had given them a
painting when they asked to purchase one for a smaU
sum, as he felt the honor of being solicited. I said,
"That 's the way I feel, too, and I would do likewise,
but I do not wish to have it thought in France that I
offered my work to museums." * Yesterday the gentle
man, a government official, who was the intermediary
between the Director and me in the affair at first, came
to tell me that my name had been inscribed for the
Legion of Honor and that, if it were not officially put
through in January, it would be in the spring certainly.
He also took me to see two of the most distinguished of
the new men here, and I have been loaded down with
praise and attention by him and them; all of which is
very pleasant, "n'est-ce pas?" . . .
* Ultimately my father acted as did Burne-Jones, and refunded the pur
chase money.
132

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
But if the "Amor Caritas" did much towards establishing
my father's reputation abroad, the "Sherman" did more. Let
me turn now to his mention of the equestrian monument, which
I have held until the last in this account because, as he him
self says, "it was far from a simple matter."
To bring the statue to a point where it could be properly
exhibited in the French Champ-de-Mars of 1899, my father had c
knocked into one studio three of the ateliers in his little alley
way, and had gone at his work with his usual energy. Through
out its progress, the state of turmoil reminiscent of New York
days remained only too Uke and too constant. I recall one
typical incident of the time. An accident happened to the
cast of one of the hind legs of the "Sherman" horse. As my
father was in urgent need of a duplicate he sent a man to the
United States especially to pack it and to bring it back. Three
weeks later the man returned — with the wrong hind leg.
That hind leg had a vindictive manner of agitating my
father anyway. Later, when the horse was enlarged, the leg
constantly sagged, and the assistants as constantly plugged up
the cracks in it without his realizing what they were doing.
Then, just before the monument was to go to the exhibition of
1899, in taking his final examination my father noticed that the
limb seemed out of proportion, though every one assured him it
was correct. He persisted, nevertheless, and at the last moment
requested Mr. Henry Hering, his assistant, to measure it, only III
to find it three inches too long. So again useless work was en
tailed. Results, however, justified the pains spent on the monument,
and, best of all, my father realized it. His state of mind as
to the Sherman is further told in these letters, one to his old
assistant Mr. A. P. Proctor, two to Miss Rose S. Nichols, one
to Mr. Louis Saint-Gaudens, and one to me.
To Mr. Proctor: 133

THE REMINISCENCES OF
3 Bis Rue de Bagneux, Saturday, 6:30 p. m.
Dear Proctor:
. . . I should like very much to pass to-morrow
with you, but I have a job in front of me that I have de
voted the day to, i. e., looking for the measurements of
General Sherman. It seems impossible to get at them.
I want them "right now" and I suppose, after I have
looked at every scrap of paper, rag, wood, clay, photo
graph or drawing I possess, and there are miUions of
'em, I '11 find the durn thing under my nose. . . .
To Miss Nichols:-
. . . I have been arranging drapery on four
copies I have made of the nude of the "Victory," and
one of the four has come out remarkably weU, so all I
have to do is to copy it, and I am consequently much
elated. In a day or two I shall have the "Sherman"
cast, and the enlargement to the full size begun. While
that is being done, I shall model the smaU "Victory,"
which wUl be ready for the Salon in the spring. My
idea is to exhibit the full-size "Sherman" on the horse,
and alongside! of it the smaU model of the entire
group. . . .
The reason I have felt so elated over this drapery
business, is that it makes the drapery on the Library
figures, and the Angel with the Brooks,* child's play,
as far as the always complicated and terrible question
of how to arrange flowing draperies goes. It 's a ques-
* Compare page 327.
134

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
tion that each fellow has to dig out for himself. I
have been two weeks arranging these four models with
the greatest care, and now I am ready to pro
ceed. . . .
Later :
I think I told you that my "Victory" is getting on
well. It 's the grandest "Victory" anybody ever made.
Hooraah! and I shaU have the model done in a month
or so. On the other hand, I do not know whether I
have told you that the cloak has been the sticking-point
on the "Sherman." Well, I pointed and cast it with re
luctance ; and now, after a good rest, I went at it again
to-day with a rush and with a new and simpler ar
rangement which I was able to make on the manikin.
I worked like the devil until Antonio, my handsome
ItaUan boy, brought in the lighted lamp because it was
so dark, and to-night I feel I have that cloak now, just
as I have the "Victorv."
To Louis Saint-Gaudens he wrote a year after, this time on
the occasion of the statue being exhibited in the French Ex
hibition of 1900:
I 'm very cocky about the "Sherman," which has
turned out well, particularly the "Victory." It has cost
me about two thousand dollars, though, getting all these
things together and in the Salon, and many, many gray
hairs; and I have often wished that I could be the
Egyptian-like philosopher that you are, instead of the
red-headed monkey that I am, jumping from branch
135

THE REMINISCENCES OF
to branch apropos of nothing, hanging on by my tad,
and throwing cocoanuts at the other apes, also "a propos
de rien." . . .
Lastly, perhaps after all this letter to me expresses best his
state of mind: 3 Bis Rue de Bagneux, May 2nd, 1899.
Dear Homer:
At last I have a free moment to send you a line.
Talk of insane weather in Cornish, that 's nothing to
the insane asylum at the above address for the last
eleven days. Eleven molders, some of them working
all night with the boss lunatic, your Ulustrious father,
at their head! Whew!!! Sometimes I 'd cry, then I 'd
laugh, then I 'd do both together, then I 'd rush out
into the street and howl, and so on. Now it 's as peace
ful as the ocean in a dead calm. Only I have got a
swelled head for the first time in my life, for the "Sher
man" really looks buUy and is smashingly fine. It 's
in the place of honor at the Champ-de-Mars, and from
a screeching maniac I have become a harmless, drool
ing, gibbering idiot, sitting all day long looking at the
statue. Occasionally I fall on my knees and adore it.
And there you are !
With the account of the "Sherman" complete, I may shift
from my father's work to consideration of his state of mind
while he produced it. The gloom of which he speaks in the
letters to come, together with the note of introspection that
accompanied it, was a phase of life brought about by his illness,
and very different from his usual condition in his healthy and
136

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
active years. Of this unhappy neurasthenic state Mr. William
A. Coffin has spoken in a letter written to me sometime since.
He says:
"Paris nauseated him. He explained that in the streets the
men and women he met seemed to him 'to be thinking about sex
all the time,' and he found Paris changed. I remember that in
that talk we were inclined to lay the blame for certain changes
in life and manners on the back of the Republic, though neither
of us had monarchical sympathies. We noted changes, that
was all."
But perhaps my father himself best describes his own mood in
a letter to my mother:
. . . I have been so depressed and blue that I
have felt, as I have only felt once before, a complete
absence of ambition, a carelessness about aU that I have
cared so much about before, and desire to be ended with
life. The feeling has been uncontrollably strong and I
can sympathize with you when you have that terrible
depression that makes you wish to cry. That is what
I have wanted to do frequently since I 've been gone.
There is too much misery and unhappiness in the world,
and aU this struggle for beauty seems so vain and hope
less. This letter, then, explains my father's true state of mind,
which he so lightly touches on in the reminiscences, a state of
mind that caused him to seek anxiously, for distraction and so
to take to Italy the trip he so vividly describes. He writes :
Since it was October, I at once found that I was to
experience one of those dark French winters, so terri
ble in comparison with the bright skies in America, and
137

THE REMINISCENCES OF
this knowledge did not contribute to alter the deplor
able mental condition I was in when I left America.
Therefore, shortly after my arrival in Paris, I started
off for a trip to the old beloved haunts in Italy, plan
ning to make on the way a visit to my father's village
and to do that for which dear old LeBrethon had put
one hundred francs under my plate at the dinner to
me thirty years before. I had invited to accompany
me Alfred Garnier; be it remembered that he was one
of the friends with me on that trip to Switzerland,
which I began by tumbling down stairs. So one fine
day we met by appointment in the Gare d'Orleans,
very much as we had met in the days of our youth and
hopefulness. It was a shock, as I entered the station
and recalled that first departure, to see there in the dis
tance the little man with white hair and beard, for his
had been black at the previous appointment and mine
reddish. Nevertheless our hearts were just as Ught as
we got in and the train moved off.
It is impossible for me to describe my emotions upon
arriving at the village I had heard my father speak of
so frequently and at seeing my name over a door at
the head of a little narrow street, where a cousin of
mine conducted a shoe-trade and also dealt in wines.
It is that singular sense of being at home where one
has never been before which I am sure is the result of
inherited memory. We inherit all kinds of strange
things — why should we not inherit memory? This is
no uncommon feeling I have had, but one I hear con
stantly spoken of; for instance the love of England,
138

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS WITH HIS COUSIN HECTOR SAINT-GAUDENS AT SALIES DU SALAT

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
that so many of my friends of Anglo-Saxon origin
have when they go there for the first time. I have not
a trace of it for England, though a great lover of its
dignity and beauty, but I have it in a singular way in
France, and what was much more extraordinary, I
possessed it in Spain, during a visit I am going to tell
about later on. I suppose the vicinity of my father's
birth-place to the Spanish frontier, which is only about
twenty miles away, must account for that.
From this little village of Salies du Salat, which I
spoke of in the beginning of my narrative, a cousin of
mine drove us over to Aspet, my father's birth-place.
On that drive the gorgeous scenery of the Pyrenees,
the orderly look of the country, well-cultivated, well
attended to, the thrifty look, so common in France, and
Jhe jangUng of the bells on the horses, gave a first hint
of Spain that can only be appreciated by those who
have had experiences of a similar nature. The vUlage
of Aspet is about three hundred feet above the plain
and you come into it suddenly. You enter the princi
pal street and, directly at the head of it, which is as
picturesque as the winding streets are in all those
towns, is the snow-capped Pic du Cahire of which I
had heard my father speak so often.
"It is a beautiful country I come from, my boy," he
had frequently explained, and I had just as frequently
taken his remarks with a grain of salt. But I have
found now, so many years after he has gone, that what
he said was Uterally true.
From Aspet my friend and I resumed our old habit
141

THE REMINISCENCES OF
of long before, and decided to walk to the town of
Saint-Gaudens. We left in the early morning to the
cheerful cUnk of the vUlage blacksmith's anvU, as no
doubt Father had heard it in his youth. We walked
down into the vaUey of the Garonne, across that river;
and beyond, rising on a gentle slope, we entered the
town. We rested at a little cafe on an open plaza so
placed that from it, as you looked south, you saw the
range of the Pyrenees; and a noble one it is too, not
enough realized by us in America, snow-capped, ex
tending from the horizon on the extreme right. The
location of this public square at this spot shows the
unconscious love of beauty that pervades the people of
the country even in so small a vUlage. I wish I could
say as much for their love of cleanliness. In this town
also there is a Roman Church, small but very beautiful,
which an archaeologist friend tells me is quite remark
able, for some reason too deep for me to fathom. We
roamed around for two or three hours and finally took
train for Toulouse and our beloved Italy.
On the way from Saint-Gaudens to Italy we stopped
at Nice over night and were assigned a room in a hotel
that recalled the stately days of the periwig and min
uet, an enormously tall place with high windows and
everything on a scale which made us feel lost in space.
I had had a little experience with my friend on the
jtwo or three previous nights of our journey, but what
(follows was the first thorough revelation of a charac-
; teristic of his which lent singular diversity to our jour
ney. 142

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
First, I became dimly aware, in the middle of the
night, that something strange was occurring. This
took place two or three times. On each occasion, when
I half awoke, the strangeness grew on me, until with
a final effort I sat up in the dark to listen. I shall not
be believed, but for a moment it seemed to me as if
some one was moving furniture in the next room, the
moving of heavy furniture up and down the floor by
wild men and lunatics is the only way of giving the im
pression of this terrific sound. Presently, however,
the rhythmic character of the noise revealed the extra
ordinary snore of my friend.
I shouted "Garnier!"
The sounds kept on.
Again I called and louder, "Garnier!"
StiU the furniture moved.
My third shout followed, but the impassive Garnier
kept at his work. At that moment I saw it was early
dawn, whUe from a belfry that ran up on the other end
of the court, chimes began to ring, and I understood
the reason we were given so beautiful a room for so
small a price. There was a sounding-board character
to the four-sided court that made the bells seem at that
hour as if they were swung by fiends instead of angels.
Moreover it was Christmas morning, which we had not
realized. I went over and pulled up the curtain. The bells
mounted in their peal. "Ding-Dong! Ding-Dong!"
Then Garnier's snore out-topped that. Then the beUs
reasserted themselves, some high-keyed, others low,
143

THE REMINISCENCES OF
but no less strenuous. "Dong, Dong, Dong!" they
continued, broken only by my shoutings and Garnier's
trumpeting. It was incredible. It seemed as if the
bells would wake the dead in their kneUing paroxysm,
f but Garnier kept at it until I seized him by the feet
i and shook the sleep out of him.
"Snore," said he, "I never snore. I have been mar-
j ried thirty years and my wife has never said anything
I about it."
"I replied: Your wife is either a saint and bears all
this, and in order not to hurt your feehngs, does not
tell what is true, or she must sleep in a way that is
beyond my belief.' "
Then I remembered my father and Dr. McCosh!
From Nice we walked along the Italian coast to
VentimigUa where we took the train for Rome. It was
one o'clock in the morning when we reached there.
But on our arrival, I was so excited, for it is the city
of all cities I would prefer to live in, that I insisted
on our sallying out from the hotel in order that I could
go to the Cafe Greco and climb up the Spanish steps,
and Garnier followed me with patient toleration.
Why should one go out at the hour of the night when
one might be in bed? In the old Cafe it was strange
to see the same waiter who had helped me to my coffee,
now a comparatively aged man. This return to the
places of earlier days invariably brings to me a touch
of alluring sadness, a singularly sweet melancholy.
This meeting of the waiter, grown old in the years of
my absence, recalled again to me the almost daily im-
144

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
pressions I had received during my stay in France; it
was the shock, so to speak, of seeing my hilarious,
shouting comrades of '67 become old men, bald, white-
bearded, and grave.
After Rome we visited Naples and Paestum, and,
coming back from the latter place, we walked from
Salerno to Amalfi on a day and a moonlit evening
which were beautiful and poetic beyond beUef. Then
we returned to Rome and I was for going to Florence
and Venice. But by this time, although it was only ten
days since our departure from Paris, Garnier had
grown homesick for his sacred city habits, and despite
the fact that here was the opportunity of his life, the
first time he had visited Italy and certainly the last
time he would have the chance, he preferred sacrificing
those wonderful places to prolonging for another day
his absence from his beloved Rue de Couesnon. He
was of the type of essentially reasonable Frenchman
of whom I have spoken, cultivating their Uttle gardens
in MacMonnies' Court. I was a wild American who
had come in one fine day and dragged him on journeys
afar off, dragging him away from his studio, his be
loved wife, and all the habits of the wise Frenchman
who has settled down to a peaceful life with his
"dejeuner" under his little vine, amid the peaceful and
orderly making of his Uttle errands.
Thus my father ends his account of his trip. As I filled out
his description of his first walking trip with Garnier by a letter
from that old friend, so now I add to my father's story of their
145

THE REMINISCENCES OF
later voyage, a translation of what his comrade wrote of it in
French to my uncle, Louis Saint-Gaudens.
My dear Fellow:
What I told you yesterday is nothing alongside of what I
think and know about Augustus. They are trifling things, if
you will, but I remember so many. It would take days and
days to write it all. It would be like recommencing "A Thou
sand and One Nights."
Our trip in Switzerland years before was like a merry dance.
In it we were like escaped colts ; we came upon such beautiful
things, buildings, sculpture, paintings, but the greatest of all
was continually to look, look, look. We swallowed road after
road. We saw valleys and mountains, one after another, and
constantly said to ourselves, "What is still behind them? I
wonder what is above and what is below?" Never satisfied,
never satiated, we were like children emptying a sack, stopping
only when we had got to the bottom of it. We were intoxi
cated with the air and with the sky. The far-away horizons
attracted us. We absorbed all nature. It was a marvelous
life which we imagined would last forever, for at our age we
thought of nothing except of living.
But when we went toTJ^y we looked at things through other
eyes. I was very happy to have Gus come at the time of the
Exposition of 1900, as I had not seen him since 1889. What
a surprise it was when he said to me, "I am going to Italy,
and you must accompany me."
"But, my dear friend," I said, "I can't do it. I have neither
time nor money."
"Don't let that trouble you," he replied. "You will give me
pleasure by coming with me and you will help me to save money.
For on the railroad we will go second class. Traveling alone,
I would go first class, and in the hotels you will know how to
keep the people from cheating me."
Well, at any rate, he said a lot of things to prove to me that
146

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
I was doing him a service instead of the other way, that he would
really be very much obliged to me. There again he showed his
good heart, saying, to himself of course, "If I do not get Gar
nier to go with me to Italy, he will never have the means to go
himself, so I will try and make him believe that he is obliging
me, and that will decide him." Of course you understand I saw
through it all, but it was so tempting that I said, "All right."
We began our trip by going to the Pyrenees. He wanted
to see the country and the village where your father was born.
We arrived at night at Aspet by a carryall, passing through
an interminable road which zig-zagged up the side of the moun
tains. It was a beautiful country, and the town had the air
of a prosperous village. Everybody seemed polite and well-
bred. We went to an old hotel which was well known in the
place, kept by two old-maid sisters who had an extraordinary
sweet-sugared air, middle-class, important, and polite, yet al
most humble. While they were preparing supper we were out
hunting what we could find about the Saint-Gaudens family.
"Oh, yes," some one said to us, "Mr. Saint-Gaudens, we know
him well. He is the mail-carrier. You will find him there in
that street living with his mother and his brother who is a shoe
maker." We noticed by the way that he spoke of Mr. Saint-
Gaudens that the mail-carrier had a reputation, that he
amounted to something in this country. And in fact we found
a man with an intelligent aspect, very frank and putting on no
airs, but conscious of his own worth. We were surprised in this
mountainous region to discover people with such open counte
nances. They are a hundred times more intelligent than the
natives of the suburbs of Paris. Augustus asked a great many
questions about the family, and it was arranged that the next
morning they would take us around to find the houses of their
grandparents. So we went back to dinner and then upstairs to bed in a great
room with two beds, damp and cold in spite of a little fire in
the chimneyplace. When we had slept at Toulouse Augustus
147

THE REMINISCENCES OF
had accused me of snoring to such an extent that he could not
close an eye. But here at Aspet I seem to have been even worse.
so in the morning he gave me an awful scolding; in fact, in
Nice, he decided never to have me sleep in the same room with
him again. Of course I could not appreciate this, never having
heard myself snore.
The next morning we had a better chance to see the inhabi
tants of this country and were very much charmed. Then we
found the old house and the room where probably your father
was born. I am sure that Augustus said to himself, "What a
happiness it would be to have father living now, to be with us
here." We had a charming time in this place.
From Aspet we went through all the South on a railroad as
far as Marseilles, where we spent a fine day. Augustus re
minded me that he had passed through this city on his way to
Rome thirty years before, in 1870. How beautiful it was from
Marseilles to Pisa ! What marvelous art, sculpture, and paint
ing, not real but better than the reality ! It was the most deli
cate sensation an artist could have, and I often think of all that
work. I do not know why I speak about all this, because he
himself, our dear friend, must have told you of it when he re
turned. He was happy and jubilant to witness my pleasure
in admiring all that he saw.
From Pisa we went to Rome, where we arrived very late at
night. It was eleven o'clock and we carried our bags to the
hotel intending to go to bed. But instead Gus said to me,
"Let 's take a walk first. Then you will see Rome at night."
So we walked as far as the Place d'Espagne, through streets
where there was no one, but where there were magnificent foun
tains splashing in the night air. The next day we found
Defelice, and Augustus took me all around the city. Those
were great days. Defelice went with us through the Roman
Campagna where we remained a whole night, it was so beautiful.
What surprises me is that neither Augustus nor I ever thought
of going to visit his old studio or his lodging.
148

HOUSE WHERE AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS LIVED
AT SALIES DU SALAT

< R.IUV vjj„ Lfcj, t„.l * SfcUjji.l jj. ivii ,. J ¦*!.„ i/ Jj|< (jW ^ lb (W v^JV fc.^lvJVU "«.<. vri/L-
'te a--.-.1~,^ ia* tJMtH-. .~1E^ vw %J«.. (.,<*=- w^, - r-L/f

i.^.u- L- w.

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
When speaking of continuing on to Naples, Augustus tried
to persuade Defelice to accompany us. Defelice did not wish
to go, but said that if he could he would come to see us at
Pompeii. So we started, the two of us, and the day that we
were to take the train from Naples to Pompeii, while it was still
so early that the dawn had not broken, Defelice arrived from
Rome. What pleasure it was to find the three of us together
after thirty years. It is impossible to describe the sensation,
at least mine, on seeing Pompeii. Augustus was happy in
showing me everything there. The next morning we three
went to Paestum. I do not know what adjectives to employ to
describe all we saw, so I stop, stupefied. Defelice left us, or at
least he returned to Naples and Rome while we went to Salerno.
Thence we followed the road along the sea in a carriage, from
Salerno to Castellamare. What a marvelous country! We
slept at Amalfi, but did not stay there long enough, which I
have ever since regretted. Very often since that time, when
writing to Augustus, I have finished my letters to him by say
ing, "Great goodness! Why did we not remain at Amalfi for
ever !"
At Sorrento, on our arrival, we had a dispute with a stupid
coachman who wished to take us to Naples against our will.
We had just missed a train through the fault of another coach
man and Augustus was furious, and the coachman pursued us
and blocked the way across the street with his carriage. Our
scolding was of no use, so Augustus was going to throw himself
on the man to strike him with his cane. But I, on seeing this,
said to myself, "If he gets into a fight it will be most unpleasant
for him as we shall be arrested. What a misfortune to be ar
rested for fighting with a coachman ! If it was only I it would
be all right." So I jumped in front of him, and I do not know
exactly what happened, but soon the coachman decamped. We
were both of us so much worked up over this that we had to go
and lounge on the seashore for a little while to get over it,
after which we looked around for some place for luncheon.
151

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
We soon discovered a kind of cafe or restaurant where we en
tered and found a beautiful young girl there who was sur
rounded by three or four young men. They seemed to be an
noying her, but on our arrival they disappeared. After we
were served, a big cat jumped on to the bench and the girl
came and sat alongside, showing us the cat. "What do you
call it?" Augustus asked in Italian. I told Augustus to ask
her to take luncheon with us, to which she answered "Si Signor."
And now we were in society. She told us she was a contralto
singer and evidently had a very beautiful voice. She also cer
tainly had a big appetite. She was very much surprised to be
invited to kincheon, and after a while we shook hands like old
friends and left her to return to Rome.
Later we saw marvelous Florence. Then Augustus wished
still further to surprise me by pushing on to Venice. But as
he did not seem to be very well I decided we had best return to
Paris immediately. This journey was for me a great joy,
especially for us two to be alone together. For it gave us time
to talk together of many things, as we saw each other so rarely.
From the point of view of art, of intellectual art, it filled up
a void in my understanding, and you do not know how much
I have been able to repair my knowledge as a result of this trip.
But in all this I give you only a sketch of what I might possibly
tell you. For I remember everything, and I see it all again as
though I were there. Now I have to say to myself that my
dear old companion is no more. It is very sad for me. Finally
all this may be of some interest to Homer, this scribbling of
mine. But yes or no, it is all the same to me. For as I have
said to you, I have had the sad pleasure of going back to the
pleasant past with my dear friend.

152

VI
SPAIN 1899
The Cirque de Gavarnie — Across the Pyrenees on Mule-back — Cata
lonia the Magnificent — The Spanish Male — Saragossa — Madrid —
Toledo — The Alhambra — The Bull-Fight.
UNDOUBTEDLY my father's health and spirits prof
ited greatly by the vacation with Garnier. More
over he learned through this experience that he
had reached a time in his life when a certain amount of re
laxation had become vital for the success of his work. Con
sequently, it was not long before he prepared to leave Paris
again, this time on a trip to Spain. At first glance, he seems
to devote unusual detail to this journey and to an ensuing
one like it, quite in contrast to his former brevity. Spain,
however, was a place to which he had ever constantly referred
and desired to visit, just as he always longed to go to Greece,
though the opportunity never came to him. Of course there is
nothing new in what he describes of Spain. But the reflection
of his character, so inherent in his sculpture, is much more
distinct in all he relates here than when he devotes himself spe
cifically to words about his work.
For a time after this trip with Garnier aU went weU
and I felt more cheerful than I had for many months.
But at the end of that period my depression returned
again.' In my attempt to shake it off I pulled myself
away, and in company with my wife started once more
for a place in the Pyrenees called the Cirque de
153

THE REMINISCENCES OF
Gavarnie, not far from my father's vUlage; for I had
taken up golf, and was told that an English colonel
had established golf links at that region.
I found Gavarnie lying at the foot of an enormous
amphitheater in the mountains, about three mUes
across, an ideal situation for a golf links. But golf
links there was none. My English colonel, who had
gone there in distress at the loss of his wife, had mar
ried again within a year and Gavarnie had seen him
no more. We approached the town after a long and
toilsome journey upward through a narrow gorge, un
til from a sudden turn in the road we emerged on this
almost semicircular plain, and the great sight burst
upon us. The stream we had been following up the
gorge, came toward us over the plain from the tremen
dous cliffs which faced us. They resembled the PaU-
sades on the Hudson, only on a far greater scale, form
ing a colossal semicircle, capped with snow and ice.
It was too much for me. By looking up at any mo
ment I was face to face with eternity and infinity.
What interested me profoundly, however, was that
Spain lay immediately on the other side of the snowy
ridge that topped the cliffs before me, and that from
the ridge Spain could be viewed. We therefore de
termined to get away from the overpowering character
of this barrier by passing across it. We hired a guide
and pack-mule, tied what we would need for a short
trip in bags on each side of the mule, mounted our
horses, and started up the narrow path along precip
itous sides of the mountain until we reached the top,
154

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
and the snow, and Spain was at last under our feet.
As we had been told, we found no difficulty in know
ing the boundary line, for the path, bad as it was in
France— though in France all those things are cared
for even in the smallest places — became an almost im
possible one on the descent into Spain. Down we
went, however, on the other side, and were soon out of
the snow. What struck us forcibly was the transition
from the comparatively bleak northern French side to
the warmth of the southern slope, fragrant with enor
mous wild boxwood bushes that surrounded us con
tinually and through which we wound our way in and
out. The descent of this path in the great heat was ex
hausting to the last degree. It seemed as if we never
would arrive at the bottom. But, finally, we were de
lighted to reach signs of life, though our joy was far
beyond what that life justified; a miserable hovel ad
joining, of all things in this deserted spot, a kind of
diminutive campanile, around which were loitering a
few Spanish soldiers, dressed in miserable rags but
handling the most advanced and deadly Mauser rifle,
or whatever the crack gun of the period was that they
used with such effect on the American troops in Cuba.
Along with these, who turned out to be Custom-house
guards, was a Spanish mother with a horde of children
groveling in the dirt ; while, moving around, lord of the
manor, strode a magnificent Catalonian, in the full
costume of his country, strutting for all the world like
a magnificent winged king of the barnyard.
155

THE REMINISCENCES OF
We remained in this dirty place only long enough to
eat a pretended omelette, in a room over the cows.
Yet notwithstanding its distance from anything ap
proaching civilization, sophistication had penetrated
the vicinity far enough to make the noble bandit charge
us outrageously for what cost him but a penny or two.
Then we started on from there with one of the Span
ish carbineers added to the procession. He was to ac
company us to the first vUlage to fulfil some formahty
about sending our horses into Spain, registering them
and taking them out again. We soon left the little
open valley where the hamlet lay and entered a wind
ing gorge that led downward through wonderful
scenery. There was not a trace of civiUzation of any
kind, man or beast, no cultivation or sign of it, past
or present, only bare hills and formidable granite peaks
in the distance, the sensation being entirely different
here from what it is in Switzerland, with all the sur
rounding life and humanity. Here was nothing but
desolation. The journey we took is one that has been written
about frequently and remarkably, and on it we were
promptly infected with what Sargent had told me we
would be taken by, namely the fever of Spain, — "La
Fievre Espagnole." The main impression of the trip,
as I write five years afterward on a pleasant day in
the New England country, is that of the masculinity
of Spain. It seemed to me to be decidedly a man's
country, distinctly more so than Italy. This male
quaUty really embodies Spain as we have read about it,
156

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
a romantic figure, tragic, ruthless, courageous, with a
grand pride dominating it all. The pride of the North
American Indian is the only thing that resembles it,
the Indian who sits unmoved in Barnum's, with his
blanket wrapped around him, and shows not the slight
est surprise at the man walking with his feet on the
ceUing. I suppose the village we finally arrived at has
not been visited by ten Americans in a hundred years,
and there was no question about its being unspoUed by
the modern tourist and his civilized accompaniments.
Yet though children followed us about the streets of the
viUage as we roamed here and there for an hour before
nightfall, and though the women, seated in the dirt at
their door-sUls, with babies at their breasts, turned their
heads lazUy to see us, never a man would give a sign
that he was conscious of our existence. Even at the
blacksmith shop, where we remained several minutes
looking at the extraordinarily picturesque scene of
these men in costume hammering at the anvil, not for
a moment did any one show the slightest interest in us.
We lodged that night in what was evidently the do
main of the lord of the village and the surrounding
country. The architecture was most picturesque, the
large room having a baronial character, and the little
room in which we slept being an insignificant one with
a gorgeously embroidered bedspread on the baronial
bed. A wash-basin, about the size of a large tea-cup
for the two of us, gives the key as to the comforts of
the place.
To this vUlage there was no wagon road, the only
157

THE REMINISCENCES OF
means of approach being on horse- or mule-back. Yet
the church in this out-of-the-way corner of the world
was crammed with gilded rococo ornaments that made
one feel how in every corner of the earth, no matter
what the civilization, the same conditions, heartburn
ings, and passions move the poor human.
We started from here in the early dawn, long before
the sun rose, on our journey to the first town where a
vehicle could be hired. We descended into an open
vaUey and kept on for hours, the grand scenery stiU
continuing, for we found that, far from being down on
the plains of Spain as we had imagined the night be
fore, we were still high up in the Pyrenees. After
another tedious trudge we reached a vUlage where
there were evidences of civilization. We lunched,
rested, and in the afternoon took the regular diligence
to the railroad station some fifteen or twenty miles
away. This ride was Spanish to the last degree. In
the mixture of the few passengers were the usual priest,
a woman, a nurse and some children, a mysterious
esthetic man, and ourselves. We tore right off as if
shot out of a cannon from the hotel yard, and gal
loped for miles without a break or change of steeds.
The jangling bells, the hot sun, and the cracking of
the whip of the muleteer, all intermingled with the wild
Spanish songs he and his friends sang during most of
the drive, continued the impression of picturesque and
vigorous Spain.
We arrived at the railroad station, and there, after
an interminable wait while the ticket-man endeavored
158

STREET IN ASPET, FRANCE
Drawn by Mrs. Homer Saint-Gaudens

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
to swindle us by charging us twice the fare, we started
on our way to Saragossa. They aU seemed to be rob
bers thereabout, but they were robbers with such a
grand and noble air that one felt mean in protesting.
The trip to Saragossa occupied many, many hours.
At the stations the trains stopped in the most familiar
way as if to relieve the monotony of Ufe of the en
gineer by providing him with entertainment, for the
whole train crew got out, shook hands with the em
ployees at the station, smoked cigarettes, and then,
with great dignity and quiet, started off again. And
aU this time, from the moment we left the hovel at the
foot of the mountains to Saragossa, we traveled
through a wUd country, austere, and with virtually no
vegetation, that resembled in a striking way Southern
New Mexico. No wonder the Spaniard felt at home
in Mexico!
It was at Saragossa that I saw the first of their
cathedrals which impressed me so deeply. This one
in especial gave me the feeling that it was the place
of worship of royalty, of the great ones of the earth;
distinctly above the herd, it seemed to say. It was a
new association with a place of worship. Human
grandeur seemed the dominating note, not the rever
ence of God. There does not appear to be that em
bracing of aU humanity which is the feeling that I have
had of the cathedrals of France, England, and Italy,
and which came over me more in St. Paul's in New
York than ever elsewhere in my life.
From Saragossa we went to Madrid, near which an-
161

THE REMINISCENCES OF
other extraordinarily vivid impression was made on me
by my visit to the monastery of the Escurial, a colossal,
appalling, and terrible monument, I call it, to neuras
thenia, built by a neurasthenic, PhUip II. To me, in
my condition, it was overpowering, so we left by the
first train. We were there long enough, however, to
hear the mass sung, as it has been sung at the same
hour every day for three hundred years, for the repose
of the souls of Charles V and Philip II. There was
no one there but those who sang and ourselves, the
priest and acolytes officiating at the mass to absolutely
nothing but the gray stone walls of the church; nothing
that seemed to tell of humanity and its gentler, or let
us say weaker, aspect. It is strange that in this place,
on each waU of the choir, should be two of perhaps the
most remarkable groups of the sculpture of the Re
naissance. I speak of those by Pompe Leoni, in niches.
They represent Charles V with his two or three wives
and other feminine members of his famUy on one side,
and on the other side Philip II with a wife or two and
other figures of the same sex. Again I received the
same feeling as at Saragossa, as of a place of worship
for royalty and the grandees.
Then at last, as the finishing touch, I found that
under the choir of the church in this awful place is
the sexagonal chamber where, piled on top of one an
other, are the sarcophagi which hold the bones of
Charles V, and the PhUips, and so on down in grim
succession. Good-by, Escurial!
From Madrid we went to Toledo. None of these
162

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
places I shall try to describe. "There are others" who
have done this in a way to check my attempt. But I
cannot help speaking of the almost incredible appear
ance of the town as we entered Toledo. Passing under
the Roman, Moorish, Lombard, and what-not-else
waUs, we emerged into a Seventeenth Century, delight
ful, triangular, court-like piazza, with its low houses,
awnings, comfortable little cafes, where, lolling around
for aU the world Uke the drone in Maeterlinck's "Bee,"
were the usual proud "male" Spaniards that I have de
scribed as my first vision on descending from the
Pyrenees. The cathedral at Saragossa brought me one of the
profound moments of my life. But in addition to the
regal character of the Saragossa church, the one in
Toledo possessed what the former seemed to have to
a very small extent, the embodiments, so to speak, of
Spain, its history, its traditions, its character, its cli
mate, in fact everything. There were the tragic signs
about it aU, intense love and hatred, the passions of
blood and jealousy, all virile and powerful, no half
measures, no hesitancy, no introspection. The archi
tecture, which I had regarded with indifference from
the photographs, shows this virility and its independ
ence of the traditions of the Gothic architecture of
Italy, England, and France. In fact, it seemed to me
so full of the seed of life that it made the sister
churches of the other countries seem pale and almost
emasculated in comparison.
One feels in looking at the architecture in Spain that
163

THE REMINISCENCES OF
all the wonderful Gothic creations in the North and
East are the result of an advanced civilization, where
certain traditions and rules had to be observed and fol
lowed, where there was a community with other artists
whose opinions had to be taken into consideration,
which led to the well-governed, inspiring, and noble
productions we know of, but that Spain retained sturdy
and virile indifference as to what the other men
thought. Of course their great cathedrals, as this one
at Toledo, are barbaric, yet they are vital beyond meas
ure. The picturesque quality I will not dwell upon.
It goes without saying. The great flood of light that
threw itself across the wonderful nave, the tragic cor
ners in contrast, all this was Spain, the Spain one reads
of and knows about, the Spain of the Inquisition, of
the Armada, of Columbus. It was all there, throb
bing within us, as it had been within the thousands and
thousands who had prayed in the past where now we
stood as spectators.
From Toledo we journeyed to Biarritz and from
there back to my "Sherman" and the accompanying fig
ure. My trip had filled me with such enthusiasm, how
ever, that the following summer, with my friend Colin,
I started on another journey to the same land. For I
have become insatiable about that fascinating country
and my interest in it never flags.
It is useless for me to attempt any description of
the ecstasy I felt the first morning I awakened to a
vision of Granada. As we looked down on it from the
parapet of the Alhambra its peacefulness, as weU as
164

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
its beauty and an indefinable something which we could
not describe, took a profound hold on us. I have not
as yet seen the Parthenon, but there is no doubt that
at the Alhambra you feel as you do at the Parthenon,
that you are in the presence of one of the highest of
human achievements, one of the two or three great
pearls of beauty on this globe. It was to me all the
more extraordinary in that I had shrunk from it be
cause of the photographs which gave not the faintest
idea of the fascination of the place, and also because of
the abominable little plaster and stearine imitations of
the ornaments and what not that one finds "ad
nauseam" in the big cities. Those who have not seen
that divine spot must divest themselves of any idea that
these rephcas reveal its beauty in the slightest degree.
What this grace is I cannot define, except that it
shows a refinement of mentaUty that is very different
in its way from that which created the Parthenon.
Greek things strike me, always, as masculine. The
beauty of the Alhambra seems in comparison, extraor
dinarily feminine. Yet one feels it is not the crea
tion of a feminine mind, but is the result of infinite deli
cacy and restraint in a strong masculine mind. There
is a hngering charm about it that holds the visitor in a
wonderful way. The delicacy and love of beauty of
the past seem to hang about it as they do about no
other form of achievement with which I have been
brought in contact.
The following day we went to a bull-fight. What
struck me forcibly here was the festal character of the
165

THE REMINISCENCES OF
occasion. The winding street leading to the arena
was crowded with the Spanish women; every one of
these daughters of Eve, with their mantUlas, and car
nations in their hair, making eternal love with the
Spanish male, in the midst of the pell-mell of all kinds
of vehicles and of animals of high and low degree sur
rounding them in the rising dust and blazing sun. It
was a picture which made me realize Spain and the
South, the real Spain of the novelist, a tincture of life
and hving with no retrospection; just as when, in the
evening in Toledo, as we sauntered around, it seemed
incredible to find the lovers in the narrow streets, under
balconies, whispering to the sefioritas above on the bal
conies with the fluttering curtains, for all the world
Uke the romantic Spanish songs.
Eventually we reached the arena. Although the
walk had been interminable, it was intensely interest
ing, for all the city was there. The people not only
filled the sidewalks, but crowded among the carriages
in the roadway, and about a gorgeous cavalry troop on
splendid black horses. They were magnificent, and
on great occasions are always very much in evidence,,
I am told. By us also some in carriages, some on
horseback, rode the matadors, the picadors, the tor
eadors and so on, in all the gorgeousness of their cos
tumes. Virility, and pride, and the very essence of
life swelled out of them, as weU as out of everybody
else, in extraordinary fullness. The arena is at the
edge of the city, and beyond it I could see the bald
fields that reminded me of the Roman Campagna,
166

NINE PORTRAIT RELIEFS AND BUSTS
Charles C. Beaman General Sherman "William M. Evarts
Francis D. Millet Mies Page Homer Saint-Gaudens
D. Maitland Armstrong William A. Chanler George W. Maynard

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
while the same sense came over me that I often felt in
Rome, that the reason of its uninhabitableness was be
cause one might be murdered there at any moment. I
do not say that one would be, but it has that look; the
look I imagine the country must have had when the
marauders of the Middle Ages were at large. It
seemed as if the people lived in towns for protection
as much as anything else. The dribbling, sordid
suburbs that disfigure Paris, New York, and London
were not present. The arena reminded me in a meas
ure of the Coliseum of Rome, being built of brick with
a recall of Moorish architecture. I suppose it is com
paratively recent, however; probably erected within the
last fifty years.
After the usual trouble a stranger has in buying his
ticket in foreign lands at places of amusement, we en
tered, and as we were quite early we saw the spectacle
from the beginning. The arena was first compara
tively empty, the stone seats bare, and whatever peo
ple there were, were standing in the ring itself. We
loitered through this, and, crossing, entered a little
yard where the inevitable guide led us into a chapel
with the usual picture of the Madonna, the Mother,
the Woman, the Eve, whom we all of the other sex
adore! To her the bull-fighters pray before the fight.
Adjoining this little chapel is the hospital, which we
had to pay an extra fee to see. It was a room about
thirty feet long by fifteen feet wide, with half a dozen
beds or so prepared to receive those that might be
wounded in encountering the bulls. It was really
169

THE REMINISCENCES OF
strange for us from Paris and New York to think that
all this was going on in a city with its locomotives,
electricity, telephone, and what not. As we came out
we found the yard well crowded with spectators, and in
among them some of the picadors in fuU costume on
their horses, which did not seem, by the way, like the
miserable Rosinantes generally described. There was
a post in the corner of the yard, and every now and
then one of the gorgeous cavaliers would go right
through the crowd at a rapid gait and strike the post
with his heavy lance, as practice for what was to come
later in the morning.
All this in the briUiant sunshine was extraordinarUy
strange. It seemed as if it should be in a dream, a
dream of the seventeenth century, not in the days of
base-ball, football, and automobUes. We reentered the
arena, that by this time was black with the crowd
which made a great contrast with the empty sunht
seats above. Presently a bugle sounded and the crowd
began to crawl up to the seats like so many ants, grad
ually darkening what was bright, the black arena
graduaUy turning light. Then this open, spotless
space became singularly impressive to us, because of
the suffering and death that was presently to be ram
pant there.
There were some moments of quiet. Again the
bugle sounded. The doors at the end by which we had
entered, were thrown open, and out in stately line came
all of those who were to take part in the fight. They
were preceded by a man in black on horseback, look-
170

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
ing like the sad tenor in Lucia di Lammermoor. He
was followed by a staff of four or five other tenors in
simUar costumes. Then came the cocky little toreador,
the picadors, the matador and the espadors, lithe of
body and energetic of manner. They went directly
across the space to the royal box, where, after having
saluted and hailed the grandees occupying it, they
marched in procession around the ring, finally distrib
uting themselves in the places they were to occupy dur
ing the fight: in one direction the picadors with their
horses, in another the matadors, in stUl another the
toreadors, and so on, spotting the clean white sand
with the brilliance of their color and personality. The
gaUy caparisoned mules that were to drag out the
dead animals later, and the sadly beplumed and be-
caped tenors, disappearing through the door before
mentioned. During aU this gorgeousness, I noticed an insignif
icant assistant, ostentatiously modest, in a corner.
But he had his part to play. In another moment the
bugle sounded again. The first door was opened and
our black Roland dashed out once more on his beautiful
horse, seeming even more noble than before. He gal
loped over to the royal box, where, after a sweep of
his plumed hat, a great key was dropped in it by the
most honored person in the box. He then whirled to
the other side of the arena, where stood my tramp in
front of a large closed door, and disappeared again.
The tramp put this key into the great door after much
fussing and in evident appreciation that this was his
171

THE REMINISCENCES OF
moment, the extraordinary moment of expectancy be
fore things are going to happen. But at last he
opened it and vanished between it and the wall.
There was an instant of tragic expectation. A low
hum pervaded the audience. Then out rushed a mag
nificent bull, head erect. He stood for a moment
within a few feet from the door, evidently taking in
the spectacle, facing all these men in their brilliant
colors with the antagonistic red at ;every turn. Then
suddenly, with a succession of short steps, as if to ob
tain good headway, he rushed at one of the fighters,
head down. The man had a purple cloak which he
held directly in front of him. At the moment the bull
lunged, he stepped lightly aside, and the animal help
lessly thrust his head into the cloth, and then turned
about at another cloak, and so on. Then the espador
came up with a queer little running approach and with
his dart extended straight at the dazed animal. The
bull hesitated a moment, pawed the ground in the
noblest manner, lowered his great head and shoulders,
and rushed at his tormentor, who, stepping forward
and planting the banderillos in each side of the ani
mal's neck, skipped lightly aside. Again the buU
rushed as before, wasting more of his tremendous
power. This was repeated a number of times until he
tore about distracted, with bleeding flanks.
I can tell but little of the massacre of the horses by
the infuriated beast. This was so sickening that I
turned my head aside. They would lead the horse, one
eye covered with a cloth, toward the bull. The picador,
172

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
having a great lance, moved clumsily as if he were
cased in armor, although covered with his gorgeous
colored clothes. I am told that underneath there was
a cork suit to protect him from the horns of the bull
and the faU of the horse. The horse would go for
ward, and then suddenly the bull would rush at him.
As the buU lowered his head to lunge, the picador
would lower his lance and thrust it into the bull's shoul
ders. Sometimes the force of the bull would lift the
horse, picador, and everything into the air, all rolling
over in the dust together. The other fighters would
then rush over and distract the bull from his victim.
But even by the time they reached him, he would have
gored the horse in a most appalling way, and the
picador was frequently in great danger, unable to rise
from the entanglement.
I remember that after this had occurred a dozen
times there was evidently somewhat more confusion
than usual. Either the picador had not directed his
lance just in the right manner at the bull or had not
acted in proper form at the proper moment, I know not
which; for the entire crowd shouted in derision at the
man as he was pulled out of the dust, the bull goring
and hacking at the horse. They finally got the mad
dened animal away, and as the picador walked awk
wardly from the scene, they hissed and howled and
threw objects at him in derision, shouting to him to
"Go to Paris!" This was said in scorn, because a
month or two before there had been bull-fights in
Paris which were performed with padded spikes,
173

THE REMINISCENCES OF
padded swords, and everything that was merciful and
uncharacteristic. It was evident then, as always, that where we saw
nothing more refined or complicated than the rushes
of the bull and the dextrous stepping-aside of the
matadors, this crowd who hissed the fighters and the
bull indiscriminately — the bull as if he were human and
the man as if he were an animal — possessed a knowledge
of the various intricacies of the fight, just as the player
detects the slightest move in a game of chess, or as the
boy on the bleachers at home detects the slightest error
when to the unaccustomed observer nothing of import
seems to have happened.
But at last, after all these efforts, when the power
of the bull was visibly weakened, when he was dazed,
mad with pain and worry, the great act came, that of
the espador, the hero of the day, the man with the
sword and the handkerchief.
There were dead and disemboweled horses lying
around the arena, which had been so orderly and clean
but was now spotted with blood. There were men mov
ing cautiously in various directions. Then, with the au
dience hushed, the espador approached the bull. He
stepped forward, with a bright red cloth held over the
sword, until he had come quite close to the animal, whom
he irritated by waving the cloth to and fro. The bull
hesitated, suddenly lunged forward, his head down as
usual. Then, very much as the picadors thrust their
aggravating darts in his shoulders, the man drew his
sword slowly from the cloth to the accompaniment of
174

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
the expectant hum of the audience and plunged it into
the neck of the bull at the head of the spine.
Sometimes it penetrates to the hilt, which brings up
roarious applause from the audience at the espador's
success and valor. If he fails, and the sword does not
go in at aU, there are shouts of derision, as at the failure
of the picador. Sometimes it goes half way in and
breaks, and then it has to be pulled out again and
thrust in once more, the poor animal running about
from one tormentor to the other until he receives his
death stroke.
There it is. This is what I saw of the buU-fight.
And this was repeated again and again untU the day
was over. It was as Colin described it, "superbe et
immonde," superb and ignoble.
A strange sense of fatigue and boredom came over
me at the end; but I fully understand how, like drink,
notwithstanding the disgust, a man goes to it again
and again. We came out, our hearts still beating vio
lently, and walked along to a peaceful part of the
town where we entered into conversation with a Span
iard, teUing him of our experience. He explained to
us the feeling of shame with which a large number of
the Spaniards look on the savagery and ignominy of it
all. But none the less there is some deep, underlying,
elemental principle about it that attracts the human
animal, let shame say what it will. Subjection to it
reveals a nearer relation to our primitive ancestors.
This, I think, is the secret of its continued existence.
At Granada, too, I came upon something else which
175

THE REMINISCENCES OF
interested me profoundly. Whether it will interest
the reader or not is another affair, but I do not care,
I am going to set it down and he can toss it out of the
window or back of the bureau, as the impulse leads.
We had visited the cathedral, naturally, but after those
of Saragossa and Toledo we were not particularly im
pressed. The only part that struck us as beautiful as
we approached it from the side, and before passing
around to the front to enter, was the exquisite Gothic
architecture of a part of a chapel which seemed of
much more ancient and infinitely greater charm than
the rest of the church. We were about to leave when
the snuffy and dusty old sacristan, who looked as if
he had cobwebs on him, asked if we would like to go
into this chapel. Of course we accepted the opportu
nity eagerly, and entering we found, instead of the
ecclesiastical character of the usual , chapel with its
columns, etc., that we were in a taU, four- walled, un
cared-for, unkempt room, dusty and cobwebby, and as
snuffy-looking as our guide. I may be all wrong in
this description, but I am recording my impressions and
memories, not "what things is."
On the left as we entered from the body of the ca
thedral, on a little elevation that crossed the entire
chapel, barred off as I recall it by some excellent iron
work and apparently covered with dust, were the tombs
of Ferdinand and Isabella. The entire absence of
dignity of surroundings and the evident inattention
to these historical tombs, was a surprise and a shock.
The sacristan then asked if we wished to see some
176

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
of the paraphernalia belonging to the royal couple, and
we assenting, he shuffled to the other side of the room,
which really seemed to be the only name to give it, and
turning a large key which creaked in a rusty lock,
opened a tall cupboard. The door groaning and mov
ing awkwardly on its hinges, made it appear as if we
were disturbing the spiders who had woven their webs
inside. On swinging back the doors, the sword and
scepter of Ferdinand and IsabeUa, their robes, and
other things of their regal paraphernalia were revealed
to us, hung up, so to speak, any old way, with a look
of battered theatrical properties sadly in need of a
thrifty housekeeper. Perhaps they were not what I
believed, but the guide said so, and that made an im
pressive moment. To think that from those who bore
these things, the development of this great continent
resulted! I am not given to sentimentalizing in mat
ters of this kind, but, as in the case of my friend
X  's wedding, the absence of dignity gave me an
ugly impression.
From Granada we went to Seville and paid our rev
erence to the Campanile and to the Alcazar, and then
to Cordova where we visited the bewildering mosque.
But we were tired. We were traveling too rapidly,
and, like my friend Garnier, we were glad to get back
to Paris, which, in comparison to Spain, as we entered
it on the gray, dismal day of our return, resembled a
cemetery.

177

VII
PARIS LIFE
1897-1900
Paris Life — MacMonnies and Whistler — Dubois — The Salons — Suc
cess — Daily Friends and Pleasures — Philosophies.
ONCE more in his autobiography Saint-Gaudens is
abrupt and cursory. He had planned here as else
where an amplification which he was never to accom
plish. But again I am fortunate in being able to fill out his
text with pertinent and illuminating letters which show how,
aided by the excursions south, his virile mind had drawn him
out of his depression, so that since he now entered with energy
into the life about him, the remaining account of his stay in
Paris proves a comparatively happy one. He writes in his
reminiscences :
There does not seem to be much to mention concern
ing this period other than these journeys, except that
slowly I had come to appreciate Paris in a way I never
dreamed of in the heyday of my youth. Paris in the
spring is wonderful. There are two or three weeks
when the pride and joy of life is at its full there as it
is nowhere else. The people appreciate life more than
we do. In fact, as has been said a thousand times be
fore, they enjoy living in a million ways that we do
not. I do not mean that they are actually happier
at aU times. On the contrary, I think the tug of life
there is so terrific that they are more inclined to skepti
cism than we are in this heaven-blest country. But I
178

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
am digging too deep for a narrative of this kind and
I shaU go back to my experiences before my last re
turn to America.
Not long after my arrival in Paris, MacMonnies,
who was quite intimate with Whistler, brought us to
gether. So from that day, more and more frequently
as time went on, Whistler would come to my studio-*
at dusk on his way home from work. And in my
studio he would sit and chat in his extraordinary, witty
fashion. He was certainly a remarkable man. If he
liked you at all, he would take you at once into his con
fidence in a most attractive manner, telling his adven
tures and stories with a verve and wit that are inde
scribable. At times, he, MacMonnies, and I, and
occasionaUy an old French friend of Whistler's stu
dent days, dined at Foyot's, opposite the Luxembourg;
and a duU moment was impossible with his extraordi
nary character descriptions of people and his biting
irony. We formed a strange, lantern- jawed trio, he,
MacMonnies, and I; he dark, MacMonnies blonde and
curly, and I red, where time had left the original color.
He was smaU, but lithe and thin and active. His
studio, at the top of a long flight of stairs, was very
high; and his paintings, which were numberless and
which he was chary of showing, were piled in stacks
against the wall. I was there several times, and I re
gret, as was the case with General Sherman, that I
made no note of his talk. But I was sick, and very
busy, and saw much less of him than I should have
otherwise. 179

THE REMINISCENCES OF
The foUowing incident, however, describes what I
think an interesting side of Whistler's character. I
was crossing the Pont des Saints Peres in a cab and
he was walking in the same direction. As I overtook
him I called, and he jumped in and sat alongside of
me. On that day I was experiencing a sense of elation
which comes to every artist, be he of high or low de
gree; and when, the moment after he sat down, he
asked, "Well, Saint-Gaudens, how are you, how are
you?" I replied that I had just stuck up one of my
things in the exhibition and that I was feeling some
what cocky about it.
"That's the way to feel!" he suddenly jerked out.
"That's the way!" and, seizing me by the thigh with
a firm grip, he shook it, and continued with great en
ergy, "If you ever feel otherwise, never admit it.
Never admit it!"
It seems to me that this reveals something of the
quality of the man, the bravery of his attitude toward
Ufe. One had but to see his portrait of his mother,
his "Carlyle," "Piano," and one or two other canvases,
to realize that, though covered by his extraordinary
wit, there was in his nature a deep substratum of true
feeling. In a letter written November 16, 1897, Saint-Gaudens
said :
Mac and I made a short call on Whistler, whom I
found much more human than I imagined him to be,
and to-day I went to the Court of Appeals where a
180

^

/K^*-<Z.

-

CARICATURES, BY AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS, OF STANFORD WHITE, WILLIAM
GEDNEY BUNCE, CHARLES F. McKIM, HENRY HERING, AUGUSTUS SAINT-
GAUDENS, JAMES EARLE FRASER, AND WILLIAM MACMONNIES

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
trial of his was to come off. It did n't, but I had a
delightful chat with him. He is a very attractive man
with very queer clothes, a kind of 1830 coat with an
enormous collar greater even than those of that period,
a monocle, a strong jaw, very frizzly hair with a white
mesh in it, and an extraordinary hat.
Two years later he wrote again:
Sunday Whistler called, because I " never called on
him," he said. He wanted me to lunch with him, but I
wanted to work.
The reminiscences continue:
Afterwards our relations were cut short by my ill
ness and departure for America. I regretted not hav
ing seen more of. him.
Among the other men of my acquaintance at that
time there stand out most vividly Paul Dubois and
Auguste Rodin. Paul Dubois held a higher place in
my esteem than any of the others, for his "Joan of Arc"
is, to my thinking, one of the greatest statues in the
world. I know of but one or two that I would rank
higher. For elevation, distinction, and nervousness of
style it is extraordinary. It is one of the works that
makes a man wish to strive higher and higher, and to
criticize his own results to a degree which would not
be possible if Dubois and his productions did not exist.
The first of his sculpture I remember was the little
" St. John the Baptist," which at the long-past time it
183

THE REMINISCENCES OF
was exhibited seemed extraordinary to me, though of
course at this writing it faUs far below his final achieve
ment. Then came his " Chanteur Florentin," which
still remains a lovely masterpiece.
Though a man of rather austere countenance, Dubois
had a kindhness underneath, and the " young eye "
which a French friend of mine said was the distinctive
quality of an artist's face. I came in personal contact
with him only between 1898 and 1900, when I saw him
at his studio, and he was good enough to invite me to
dine at his house. He was amiabihty and kindness it
self, and that is saying a great deal when one considers
the continued and constant calls that were made on
him by young men, his admirers. At that time he had
begun his sketch for a great monument to the Franco-
Prussian War. His work meant the modeling of
many figures, and, although seventy-two years old, he
said to me "You see I expect to live forever." He
had the groups set up in his studio, and I was particu
larly taken by the kindness with which he asked me if
I would really tell him what I thought of his sculpture.
He has made as profound an impression on me as any
living artist. Especially I remember the time when
he told me with amused irony of his experiences with
the Committee concerning the statue of Joan of Arc.
This had cost him, outside of what he had received,
thirty thousand, or fifty thousand francs, I forget
which, probably the latter, yet the Committee acted
with him as if he had been trying to deceive them.
This is a common experience, but to think that it oc-
184

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
curred with him, and that, despite all his labor and toil
and the extraordinary beauty of his creation, he should
submit to experiences of that kind, shows us how we are
all, big and little, in the same box.
At the end of this time came the Paris Exposition of
1900, when I was on the jury. Such a collection of
sculpture, rammed together ignominiously, has never
been seen nor ever can occur again. The space was so
limited that in the foreign collection all the statues
were crowded peU-mell, helter-skelter on top of one an
other, in a bewildering and phenomenal maze of ex
tended and distorted arms, legs, faces, and torsos in
every conceivable posture. It took very great patience
and calmness of spirit to discern the many very remark
able things that were there shown.
So much for the autobiography. Here I take up the let
ters concerning this period, beginning with Saint-Gaudens'
brief and vivid comment on the comparative merits of the
French Salons two years before the Exposition just mentioned.
I think if the Champs-FJlysees were sifted there
would be more good work found in it, or as much as at
the Champ-de-Mars. It is remarkable how much
good work is done in Paris. The first impression is
bad, as the good is concealed in such a mountain of
trash; but it 's like gold in a mountain.
On May 14, 1898, he wrote to Miss Helen Mears, the sculp
tor, his pupil, assistant, and close friend:
. . . My things are all well placed at the Champ-
185

THE REMINISCENCES OF
de-Mars, and seem to be liked. I have had a very inter
esting and amusing experience there which I wUl teU
you of if you return here. It is too bad that you
should have missed the Salon, for, although there are
very few good things, there is much food for thought
in the failures and semi-failures, as well as in the suc
cesses and semi-successes. There are two things that
rise about the rest, however, in my opinion. Puvis de
Chavannes' painting, and an adorable statue by Gus-
tave Michel caUed "Dans le Reve." Otherwise it
seems as if there were miUions of statues each more vio
lent and more uninteresting than the next. But it all
forms the rich soil from which the rare flower
springs. . . .
The next letters are to Miss Rose S. Nichols:
3 Rue de Bagneux, Paris, May 10th, 1898.
This Paris experience, as far as my art goes, has
been a great thing for me. I never felt sure of myself
before, I groped ahead. AU blindness seems to have
been washed away. I see my place clearly now; I
know*, or think I know, just where I stand. A great
self-confidence has come over me, and a tremendous
desire and wiU to achieve high things, with a confidence
that I shall, has taken possession of me. I exhibited
at the Champ-de-Mars and the papers have spoken
weU, and it seems as if I were having what they call a
"success" here. I send you some of the extracts from
several of the principal artistic papers here, the Gazette
des Beaux Arts, Art et Decoration, and from the Dic-
186

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
tionnaire Encyclopedique Larousse; four of these have
asked permission to reproduce my work. . . .
My father makes reference to Paul Leprieur's article in
"Art et Decoration." Here is a translation of the criticism,
beginning at a point where the author turns to Saint-Gaudens
after an attack on the "Balzac" of Rodin.
"The more completely to forget this sinister vision, one may
well linger before the work of a great sculptor, almost un
known among us, who reveals himself to us, so to speak, for
the first time, with an altogether remarkable collection of monu
mental sculpture and photographs of monuments previously
executed. We refer to M. Saint-Gaudens, an Irishman by
birth, who has worked mainly for America, and who was, if I
mistake not, the teacher of Mr. MacMonnies, a teacher far
superior to his pupil. His exhibit is one of the surprises and
delights of the Champ-de-Mars.
"Had we only the photographs which he shows us, whether
of his 'Peter Cooper,' his 'President Lincoln,' the noble and
serious allegorical figure for a tomb, called 'The Peace of God,'
or the charming caryatid for the Vanderbilt house, we could
already perceive the grasp of composition, the decision of the
contours, the depth of the sentiment expressed without any
splurge or noise. This sculpture, in its acceptance, or in
genious reshaping, of traditions from ancient sources, as well
as in its modern inventiveness, imparts a savor of intimate
charm, of dignity without parade, which are rare indeed in
our day.
"The actual work exhibited simply confirms the impression
of the photographs. To say nothing of the plaques and me
dallions, models of a fine bas-relief, and the highly entertaining
and picturesque statue of the 'Puritan,' the large high-relief
dedicated to the memory of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw may
well be esteemed as a model of intelligent decoration. The idea
187

THE REMINISCENCES OF
of representing, not the death scene itself, but the moment pre
ceding it, and of showing the army of blacks, led by the white
officer, filing by as if in a march to death, grave of mien, sol
emn, and heroic, is as novel as it is boldly treated. While pre
senting prodigies of skill (absolutely without triviality or
pettiness in matters of detail), and modeled with a great free
dom and understanding of how to arrange the various groups
of lines in perspective, which all men of his profession will ad
mire, everything is kept subordinate to the ensemble and to
the predetermined unity of motion. Upon each of the faces
one feels more or less the reflection of the motto of self-sacrifice
and enthusiastic faith inscribed on a flat surface in the back
ground (Omnia relinquit servare rem publicam), and the su
perb figure of a woman with flying drapery, symbolical of
glory or of death, comparable to the loveliest creations in this
style by Watts or Gustave Moreau, succeeds in giving to this
very sculpturesque composition a distinguished moral signif
icance." The general reception, of which this review gives an example,
had an effect on Saint-Gaudens which, related in the foregoing
note to Miss Nichols, receives farther and rather more interest
ing comment in the following letter to Mr. Will H. Low.
3 Bis Rue de Bagneux, Sept. 2, 1898.
Dear Old FeUow (or Young Buck, as you now prob
ably prefer to be caUed) :
I received your letter yesterday to my great and
joyous surprise, surprise as great as you will experience
on receiving this prompt response, but absence from
home makes frequent correspondence with home a "sine
qua non," and Fridays are the days I devote to that
(to me) laborious task. To-day is Friday, and what is
more it 's a wonderful American autumn day, one of
188

PORTRAIT IN BAS-RELIEF OF THE CHILDREN OF JACOB H. SCHIFF

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
those languorous, sumptuous, golden days we have at
home, and it recalls the other side so much that this
business of writing has for once turned into an orgy of
correspondence with old friends.
With the exception of a week of real New York heat,
the weather here this summer has been glorious and I
have revelled in it after a winter dark and miserable be
yond description. It rained steadily for eight months,
and I have come to the conclusion that I am made of
stiff er and better stuff than I thought, to have held out
here through it aU. I was miserably blue and home
sick in the beginning of my stay, beyond reason in fact.
Finding so much that I disliked intensely, which I had
expected to like immensely, I plunged into work mood-
Uy, and with set teeth, the only relief coming at the
end of the day when I emerged from the street to the
river; for the quays, the bridges, and the big open sky
with the great effects of clouds, are always fine, rain or
shine, and a contradiction to the dark thoughts.
But coming here has been a wonderful experience,
surprising in many respects, one of them being to find
how much of an American I am. I always thought I
was a kind of a cosmopolitan, gelatinous fish that be
longed here, there, and anywhere. "Pas du tout," I
belong in America, that is my home, that is where I
want to be and to remain, with the Elevated Road
dropping oil and ashes on the idiot below, the cable
cars, the telegraph poles, the skyline, and aU that have
become dear to me; to say nothing of attractive friends,
the scenery, the smell of the earth — the peculiar smell
191

THE REMINISCENCES OF
• of America, just as peculiar as the smell of Italy or
•""France — and the days like to-day.
Another thing (I 'm rattling on about myself, but
I know it will interest you) is the view I now have of
my productions. Up to my visit here I felt as if I
was working in a fog. I knew not "where I was at."
That is dispelled, and now I see my ground clearly. I
feel well-planted and know where tp strike. I have ac
quired a strange feeling of confidence that I never have
felt before (and which, oh, irony, may mean that I 'm
losing ground), together with a respect for what we
are doing at home. In fact, I shaU return a burning,
hot-headed patriot.
What a place this is over here, though, seductive as
a beautiful woman with her smile. I suppose when I
get back I shall want to return here again! "on est
jamais content," as I have previously remarked. . .
On the following letters I need make no comment. To Miss
Nichols : Sept. 12th, 1898.
My work for the last three or four days has been
progressing well, and I suppose in a month I shall have
the figure of the "Sherman" entirely finished "for better
or for worse." I 'm somewhat blue to-day and have a
feeling of weariness at this life of work between four
walls that I have led. Of course a life of work is the
happiest one, but a fellow gets tired sometimes. I
have been having a desire lately to do a nude, suggested
192

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
by a man in the street; a working-man coming home
from work carrying his child (who had rushed out to
meet him) astride his shoulders. I want to make a
Venus carrying a winged figure of Love on her
shoulders in some such fashion, and the little God of
FeUcity and Misery shooting his bow. Sept. 23rd, 1898.
I have worked quite late in the gloom; I often do
that, as the half-light suggests things in one's work that
cannot occur in the blaze of day. . . .
Now I shall go out, it 's too sad in this big studio
with the lamp flinging great shadows on the walls.
. . . I suppose my despondency is helped by the
first autumn chill to-day, the faUing leaves, and what
X  writes me of the death of Capitaine Nicolas, my
fencing master; he fell unconscious while fencing.
The masks we used together, and the foils and gloves,
are hanging on the waU beside me, and it is gruesome
to look at them and remember the ghostUke look of his
face behind the wire mask; ghostlike as my face ap
peared no doubt to him. . . . Jan. 3, 1899.
. . . The reason that I 'm pleased at the angel
going to the Luxembourg, and the possibility of the
cross of honor, is, I assure you (I see you smiling, but
what I say is the gospel truth just the same) not from
vanity (I see you smile again) ; I don't think I have
much of that in me (the smile continues) ; but on ac-
193

THE REMINISCENCES OF
count of some of the good friends I have at home to
whom it is said, "Oh, he 's all right over here; but let
him go abroad, and then we '11 see." *
April 12th, 1899.
Sargent has been here recently, and I saw a good
deal of him during his visit as he came to see me about
the enlargement of his crucifixion for the Boston Li
brary. It is in sculpture and is to go directly opposite
the Moses. He has done a masterpiece. He is a big
feUow and what is, I 'm inclined to think, a great deal
more, a good fellow. . . .
Then the other day I called on Rodin, who it seems
felt hurt that I had not been to see him. There is no
doubt the doors he is doing are very fine, very fine, and
I am deeply impressed.
Yesterday afternoon I had a visit from Messrs.
Simon and Mesnard, both men of very great talent
whom I have known through Saglio. They were most
complimentary. I had passed a charming evening with one of them,
a "petite soiree en famille" that was delightful in its
simplicity and unaff ectedness, in the simple homelike
character so unlike the general idea of French life and
manners. Saglio says that represents the real French,
and not what the general novel shows. . . .
Last night I went to see Coquelin represent Napol
eon admirably in a stupid play that I enjoyed a great
* Doubtless Saint-Gaudens was thinking of a proverb his father,
Bernard, was fond of repeating—" Dans le pays des aveugles les borgnes
sont rois"— which is translated: "In the country of the blind the one-
eyed man is king."
194

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
deal. I dine every night with Shiff . We have our
constant talk about morals. Grandibert, a young
French friend of Shiff, a student who is studying to
enter the financial bureau, says there is no such thing
as morals! And there you are!
To Miss Mears:
. . . Frequently I go to that cheap circus at
Montmartre where I laugh at the same jokes and the
idiotic farces I have laughed at twenty times before.
It 's an old-fashioned circus with one ring where I can
sit close to the ring and see the beauty in tights and
spangles on the white horse, just as in my youth when
I wondered if I loved such a goddess would she ever
love me!
. . . Also the other day I saw a fine new play,
based on the relation of religion and modern life and
science to one another, which is very profound and
touches on all that we think of so much, "La Nouvelle
Idole." I 'U Send it to you and your dear sister.
. . . Shiff is constantly taking me to just the
kind of places that would have delighted your heart.
Do you remember the restaurant on the right-hand side
of the Boul. St. Michel, a Uttle below the cafe? You
and I looked in at it one night, but were frightened at
the lot of men and did not go in. Well, it 's the most
characteristic students' dining-salon there is in the
quarter. Shiff took me there. It was simply packed
with medical, legal, and School of Mines students.
They had an unusually good lot of faces and I thought
195

THE REMINISCENCES OF
of you a thousand times. Then again he took me to
a "brasserie" at Montmartre where he is in the habit of
meeting a charming woman, a young and ardent social
ist who earns her living by doing massage. Again we
went to a workman's ball near the College de France,
and again to a purely workman's cafe, a charming
place, in the quarter St. Antoine. Also he has shown
me houses and places of interest galore, for he knows
Paris like a book. Oh, you must come right back and
trot around with him. He has very anarchistic views
of things, although, dear old selfish Jew that he is, he
takes the greatest care to get everything in his power
that will contribute to his comfort. He is optimistic,
however, and his company is cheerful and encouraging,
unlike that of the author of the following Uttle scene
produced at one of the "cafes chantants." The action
runs thus.
A room is shown with a door leading into another
room where there is evidently a sufferer, nurses going
in and out anxiously. Finally one of the nurses brings
out a new-born babe who has a belt around his waist in
wliich is thrust a dagger. The nurse very formally,
rigidly, and slowly, brings the child down to the foot
lights, holds him up to face the audience, turning him
slowly first in one direction and then in the other. The
child opens its eyes widely, solemnly, evidently taking
its first look at the world as it gazes at the audience.
After a moment, with a terrible disgust he exclaims,
"Oh, quelles tetes. Oh, quel sale monde." Then he
draws the dagger, and plunges it into his heart say-
196

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
ing, " Je rentre dans le Neant!" That 's pessimism
with a vengeance.
To my mother: 3 Bis Rue de Bagneux, August 3, 1899.
. . . It's been hotter than forty hells here for
the last two or three days, and if you should miss this
letter, it would be hotter stiU in the studio. For in
stead of finding letters easier to write as I progress in
years, I find them more and more of a burden, and I 'm
jealous beside of every minute that I give to them.
If I could write at night, well and good, but I can't do
that as you know. It 's so hot in the middle of the day
that I only commence work at four in the afternoon
after a hearty noon meal. I stay at the studio very
late. I eat a light supper and go to bed and to sleep
early, and get up at six o'clock.
The Luxembourg matter is officially settled. Since
then Benedite has shown me the splendid place he has
set apart for my work, and he has assured me that the
red ribbon would be determined certainly before 1900.
For I told him that if it did not come tiU then it would
be valueless to me, as I did not wish to be mixed up in
the crowd of perfunctory honors that will be distributed
at that time.
I 'm working away hard, although I think I will go to
Boulogne as I did last summer for a couple of weeks.
Thierry is going to be there then. Just a year ago I
was on the field of Waterloo with Homer, and I have
a suspicion that I enjoyed that more and felt less
197

THE REMINISCENCES OF
blase about the whole business than Homer. How
ever, when I was his age I don't suppose I should have
enjoyed those things as I do now.
By all means get him a horse, for I suspect he may
have a malarial tendency from us. Damn heredity!
What angels we should be if it were n't for the vices,
mental and physical, which, given us by our parents,
we pass on to those we beget and love most.
I 've been tearing up a lot of copies of my old letters
lately and they all seem inane. Those I thought the
best at the time were the most inane, so you can under
stand why I don't want ever to write another letter.
The only parts of them that were readable were in
your handwriting. Evidently I must content myself
with expression in bronze. That makes me mad for
we always wish for what is around the corner out of
reach. To Mr. Low: 8 September, 1899.
. . . It was a great treat, old boy, to get your
letter. Somehow or other it seemed like a real whiff
from home, a real talk with a living friend, unlike the
character of telephonic messages from behind a blank
wall that most letters one gets from America have,
no matter how kindly or affectionate they may be.
One day not long ago I lunched with Harrison and
with de Monvel, whose acquaintance I made only a
month past. Then de Monvel asked me to lunch at his
house. What a delightful man he is! He has a great
198

Copr.DaW.C.WnrU

AMOR : CARITAS
In the Museum ofthe Luxembourg, Paris

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
English-looking son, and he has all the charming side
of the French with apparently none of that which is
unpleasant; the clearness of vision, the thoroughness
and conscientiousness of work, and, withal, the power of
enjoying life, "la joie de vivre," a quality of the
French which custom has not staled for me in the two
years I have been here.
Indeed, many of the nation's unpleasant traits I see
no more of, whereas many attractive ones have ap
peared in their stead. I have grown to Uke it very-
much here. "Reste a voir" how I will enjoy the com
ing winter, as the last eighteen months have been a long
period of sunshine which made me forget the six
months of rain and gloom that prevailed during the
first winter here. I propose staying until after the ex
hibition opens, and then I shall go home with a glad
heart. For, after all, we are creatures of habit, and
my twenty-year habit of New York and New Yorkers
cannot be broken by two years of alluring Paris. The
Esquimau hies back to his ice-hut in the Arctic Circle
with a glad heart, why shouldn't I go to the place
where I have such bully friends who are such bully
men? They have done well by me here, as you know. *I
was elected by an almost unanimous vote, member of
the Societe des Beaux Arts. The "Sherman" was stuck
up bang in the center of the garden at the last Salon,
and I was so cocky I made myself sick of myself for
three days. For the first time in my life I had the
swelled head. Finally, Benedite, the Director of the
201

THE REMINISCENCES OF
Luxembourg, asked me if I would sell him a bronze
copy bf the "Angel with the Tablet" to go in the Lux
embourg, and a series of the medaUions, which I agreed
to do "con amore" as you can imagine.
"Voila, mon ami" — alongside of all the rose-color
view of life that I 've given you, there has been the re
verse. I have been very sick. I 'm all right after it
all, thank God, but I know now what nervous prostra
tion is. It 's fearful, and I pity from the bottom of
my heart many whom I had looked upon before as pos
sessing a "maladie imaginaire."
You have no doubt been in good health, at least so
I suppose from what I know of you and from your
sUence on the subject. And your good wife, how is she
and how has she been? I think of her so often when I
see the charming side of the French women, who are
such absolute mates to the man, such companions, such
real wives.
In reading your letter, you speak of the weak over
rating of the importance of Paris as regards art, which
prevails so much with us at home. WeU, my visit here
has made me feel that we can stand on our own legs
and that that other time has gone by forever. I could
give a great many reasons for this which you can think
out better than I can set them down in writing, but we
have much to be proud of and nothing to fear. . . .
There have been hints of my father's fondness for intellectual
and philosophical discussions with Shiff and others. Accord
ingly, to further emphasize this marked characteristic of
his, I will conclude the chapter with the following paragraphs
202

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
from some letters to Miss Nichols which will reflect, somewhat,
his frame of mind in these more abstract matters.
You have often wondered what I think about things.
I wonder myself. I think anything and everything.
This seeing a subject so that I can take either side with
equal sympathy and equal conviction I sometimes think
a weakness. Then again I 'm thinking it a strength.
. . . Five thousand different points of view are
possible. After aU, we are like lots of microscopical
microbes on this infinitesimal ball in space, and all these
discussions seem humorous at times. I suppose that
every earnest effort toward great sincerity, or honesty,
or beauty, in one's production is a drop added to the
ocean of evolution, to the something higher that I sup
pose we are rising slowly (damned slowly) to, and all
other discussions upon the subject seem simply one way
of helping the seriousness of it all. . . .
. . . I once told Shiff that at times I thought
"beauty must mean at least some goodness."
You speak of Browning — I shall read the "Ring and
the Book," but unless a man's style is clear I am too
lazy and I have too little time to devote to digging gold
out of the rocks, fine as it may be. On the other hand
I got the Schopenhauer that Shiff spoke about, with the
intention of sending it to you, but it is so deadly in its
pessimism, judging from the ten or eleven lines that I
read, that I flung it away. It was terribly true from
his point of view, but what 's the use of taking that
point of view? We can't remedy matters by weeping
203

THE REMINISCENCES OF
and gnashing our teeth over the misery of things.
"That 's the way things is" and although I have been
told all my life it 's best to put on a brave face and bear
all cheerfully, it 's only lately that it is reaUy coming
into my philosophy.
It seems as if we are all in one open boat on the
ocean, abandoned and drifting, no one knows where;
and whUe doing all we can to get somewhere, it is bet
ter to be cheerful than to be melancholy; the latter does
not help the situation, and the former cheers up one's
comrades. . . .
A Russian professor at one of the universities here
has sent me his translation of Tolstoi's last work,
"What is Art?" and has asked me (with highly eulo
gistic terms about what I have done, in an inscription
on the fly leaf) , to give my opinion, which he wishes to
publish with those of other men of note. So I am in
for reading it.
Lately I have been finishing Tolstoi's Art book to
see if I should reply. I will not. He goes a great
deal too far. It would take too much time and I would
say some damnphool thing. It has given me, however,
a great admiration for Tolstoi's character, his sincerity
and kindness of heart. But there are things in heaven
and earth not dreamed of in his or anybody's philoso
phy, and the meaning of art is one of them.
The prevaiUng thought in my life is that we are on a
planet going no one knows where — probably to some
thing higher (Darwin, evolution). But whatever it
204

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
is, the passage is terribly sad and tragic, and to bear up
against what seems at times the great doom that is over
us, love and courage are the great things. I try to ex
press it without entering into any philosophy or defini
tion of art. I care nothing for the thousand philoso
phies about art, the intricacies of which seem too com
plex for me to delve into. The thing to do is to try
and do good, and any serious and earnest effort seems
to me to be, to our limited vision, a drop in the ocean
of evolution to something better.

205

VIII
THE RETURN TO CORNISH
1900-1907
American Art as Saint-Gaudens Left It — The End of the Remin
iscences — America with Fresh Eyes — The Hospital — A Eailroad
Accident — Cornish Winters — Cornish Friends — Letters Here
and There — Illness.
DURING the last fifteen years of my father's life, that
is on from 1892, it became increasingly evident that
he had attained an uncontested position as leader of
American sculpture. In the midst of this period he made his
three-years' sojourn in Europe, chiefly that he might compare
his work with what was being created on the other side of the
Atlantic. The trip, however, was valuable to him not only for
this, but as well because, on his return, he found himself able
to look upon American art with a fresh eye and to see therein
qualities which would compare honorably with those of any
other art then being created in any land.
Indeed, during the' span of Saint-Gaudens' days the art of
this nation had taken swift steps forward. At the time of his
birth artistic movement was irresponsible and unshaped; the
foreign dying, the archaic recognized as such, but the new
not yet ready. Through his boyhood continued a growing,
but still unsatisfied, desire for new departures. During his
student days abroad these instincts began to assume vague
form in the minds of such leaders as J. Q. A. Ward. Yet,
upon his return, life still presented scant attractions to the
struggling artist. A young man's sympathetic friends of the
Latin Quarter with their easy manner of existence were re-
206

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS ABOUT 1901

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
placed by the nervous exactions of American surroundings.
His pet work was either often idiotically blamed or quite as
idiotically praised. His expenses for studios and models
proved outrageously high. And, to cap the climax, just at
that instant it was the habit of father and uncle to draw in
their purse-strings.
Soon after Saint Gaudens entered upon his struggle for
mature recognition, however, better things began to shape
themselves, chiefly through the formation of the Society of
American Artists. The result was that within the next ten
years, or up to the time of the Columbian Exposition, came a
wholesome development of sincerity and characteristic pro-
gressiveness which, at last, succeeded in establishing itself
sanely enough to curb any rash impulses towards eccentrici
ties, to look only for the joy and beauty in life, and to admire
that sentiment which, when expressed by the unskilful, might
become mawkish, but beneath hands of growing dexterity at
tained rather to beauty. Then, at last, through the strongest
period of Saint-Gaudens' life there rose in this land a final
understanding of the presence of a recognized national art.
Of course even now the average American can hardly be said
to have developed into a satisfactory critic, but from the time
of the Chicago Fair he became anxious to learn, and moreover
succeeded in learning both to take greater enjoyment in beauty
and to give greater time to that enjoyment. Municipal Art
Societies, the result of a sense of care in the design and elabo
ration of public buildings and places, sprang up in city after
city. Great corporations began to put real art into their edi- <
fices, not through altruistic notions about the need for them
to join in educational movements, but because they appreci
ated that civic enthusiasm was shifting from pride in the size
of its street signs to a pride in true municipal decoration. So
it was that my father came finally to see throughout this land
an art dealing with the life of the day after the manner of the
209

THE REMINISCENCES OF
day, a glory to its own age and a firm foundation for the gen
erations to come.
In this movement sculpture has progressed more distinctly
in channels determined by American surroundings than has
painting. The technique of both arts came equally from
abroad. But the sculptor's commissions, on his return, grew
chiefly from incidents or persons conspicuous in the life of this
land. He did not feel hampered as much as the painter by the
beck and call of individual taste and fashion in his efforts to
set forth the nobility of the national spirit. He had no oppor
tunity to wander away from actual life. From Saint-Gau
dens' point of view this was lucky, for he felt that the greatest
ideals lay in life itself, and that the greatest art was to show
to the world the truth of this condition by a representation of
life filled with these ideals.
Throughout this onward advance of sculpture Saint-Gau
dens continued to regard J. Q. A. Ward as the dean of the
school. Up to the year of his death, Ward, as President of
the National Sculpture Society, maintained his independence
and intellectual preeminence, strong in the understanding of
the technique of his art, free from the clap-trap of over-clev
erness or appeal to sentimentality, truly a sculptor both in
conceptions and training. Among those about him another
pioneer, Olin Waner, remained prominent in his sober strength
up to the time of his sudden death in 1896. Daniel Chester
French, with such figures as those from the John Boyle
O'Reilly work to the "Alma Mater" for Columbia College,
continued to show so well the reticence of the New Englander,
intellectual comprehension, distinctive training, faithfulness to
little things, and respect for the whole. Frederick William
MacMonnies steadily exhibited his dexterity, his lightness
of touch, and his instant ability to bring character to the
fore in the "Winged Victory" for West Point and the "Sir
Harry Vane" for the Boston Public Library; though, as time
210

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
went by, he made evident in his "Bacchante" and "Shake
speare" that the versatile joy of youth was giving place to
greater technical proficiency. Herbert Adams carried out his
early promise of creating distinctive busts and figures such as
those of William EUery Channing, and the Pratt Memorial
Angels. George, Gray Barnard continued to bring forth such
fresh and creative nudes as that lazy, healthy animal, "The
Great God Pan," or "The Hewer," an example of the sculp
tor's understanding of masculine strength, or the "Maiden
hood," which demonstrated his power to reproduce the grace
of woman.
Close on the heels of these sculptors also, came a number of
other young men who made themselves known in the last five
years with which this book deals, men such as A. P. Proctor,
James E. Fraser, H. A. MacNeill, Adolph Weinman and Al
bert Jaegers. At the date of my father's death his interest in
them was probably as vital as in any other members of his
craft, because in them, he believed, lay the immediate future
of American sculpture. Here are four letters he wrote con
cerning them which show so well his regard in this direction.
The first he sent to his brother, Louis Saint-Gaudens concern
ing the latter's figures for the Pennsylvania Railroad Station
in Washington.
I wrote a line or two on your ensemble drawing the
other day, but as I was feeling miserably I said as little
as possible and failed to tell you how well the thing
looked as a whole, how the figures carried together har
moniously and yet were diversified. They made a bully
impression on me, sick as I was, and those you had modi
fied since you sent me the larger drawings were a dis
tinct improvement and left no thought in the back of
my head that I wished they were different.
211

THE REMINISCENCES OF
As I remember, the "Fire" was changed and a great
deal better. The "Electricity" struck me as a fine idea,
with the electricity at his feet and behind his head; aU
over, as it were. I Uked your last "Fire" better than
the "Prometheus." Perhaps I would make the flame a
still bigger one, that's all. . . . There is no doubt
that the work cannot be too direct, that large simple lines
and planes with strong dark shadows are the essentials.
The next letter is to Mr. A. P. Proctor, for a long time my
father's assistant, especially on the "Sherman" and "Logan"
horses.
May 27, 1906.
Dear Proctor:
I return to you to-day the sketch of the lion which
I received in good condition and which, if you receive
it in bad condition, will be the result of bad packing
by my men, or a smash-up on the railroad. I think it
is excellent as all your work is. I only feel that for
architectural work it should be more in planes, more
formal. I do not know why I say that to you, as you
say the same thing yourself in your letter.
You will forgive me for speaking just as frankly as
I always have about your work, and as I wish people to
do with me. I think you have not insisted enough on
the nobility and force and power of the manes of the
lion and have perhaps insisted a little too much on the
ape-like character (that is putting it rather strong) of
the face. Some of the photographs of those British
lions in that famous book on animals that I have, show
they can have a nobUity which is extraordinary. This
212

A CARICATURE LETTER FROM AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
TO JAMES WALL FINN

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
one looks a little too much like the lions in the menagerie
and distinctly the head does not bear the importance
to the rest of the body=-the overpowering importance
— that one generally feels with a lion. . . .
In the following letter my father speaks of Mr. Albert
Jaegers, a younger sculptor in whom he took an unusually
deep interest, though Mr. Jaegers was never his assistant.
The competition referred to in this letter was one for the Von
Steuben monument for Washington.
. . . I may have been prejudiced in the character
of Jaeger's work but it appealed to me in a singular way
and it really taught me a lesson in my own work. I
certainly wish that I could have done that figure in its
dignity, directness, and simpUcity. I think also that
the poetry of the groups on the side is very fine. The
pedestal is weak, of course, but they will fix that. Cass
GUbert will get at it personally and will arrange it. I
think that later on you wUl agree with me that my choice
was wise. When I look back at the only competition
I have been in, and in which I was defeated, I thank
God that I was not fired out of the window. Of course
what you have done in this competition is a million times
ahead of what I did in that.
Last of all, this letter to Mr. White on May 27, 1904,
contains his enthusiastic praise of a relief modeled by his old
friend and pupil, Mr. John Flanagan. The relief is now set
into the wall of one of the dining-rooms of the Knickerbocker
Hotel. . . . Flanagan has made a beautiful Venus in
bas-rehef that I thought you would like to see. I think
215

THE REMINISCENCES OF
it really very fine and I volunteered to write to you to
go and see it. You might find a chance to place it in
some of your houses. In marble or gUded bronze I
think it would be sweU.
In painting, as in sculpture, the art of this land established
itself and progressed. Beginning with mural decoration, that
craft especially like sculpture became American in its execu
tion. For though in a general way the painters learned their
trade in France, they readapted it, after their return, to meet
our national requirements in such problems as those offered
by the rotunda of the new addition to the Boston State House,
for Sargent in the completion of the Boston Public Library,
for Edwin H. Blashfield, Henry Siddons, Mowbray and Ken
yon Cox, in such buildings as the Appellate Courts Build
ing in New York, the Baltimore Court House, and the State
Capitols in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for La Farge at St.
Paul, Minnesota, and Des Moines, Iowa, and for John W.
Alexander in the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh. It is hard
to speak of these men as a body. No fundamental rules were
laid down for their craft. Each continued to progress ac
cording to his own conception of what was needed. La Farge
in one direction, Sargent in another, Blashfield in a third,
Mowbray in a fourth, and Cox in a fifth.
Closely allied to these mural decorators, especially in the
sense that they have furthered their own development irre
spective of what has been happening abroad, appeared a group
of figure painters. They sought beauty in beautiful persons
and things. They knew their drawings. They knew their
colors. They respected both their own individuality and that
of their fellow workers. Abbott Thayer developed into the
painter of the essential spirit of womankind by means of his
power to infuse concrete human beauty with a most elusive
quality of divine significance. George de Forest Brush, gently,
216

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
thoughtfully, and with ever increasing force, continued to
express to the world the most fundamental of human emotions,
the love of mother for child. Thomas Dewing mastered the
external fascination of delicate forms. His results seemed
the product of peaceful but untiring effort, without a hint
of undue struggle on the one hand, or difficulties avoided on
the other.
Nor may this domain of figure-painting be left without in
cluding one other school which reached a respected rank in their
company, the school of Illustrators. In a speech before the So
ciety of American Artists I once heard Howard Pyle say in part
approximately as follows : "You can never succeed in any at
tempt to uplift or educate the public of this country to any stan
dard above them which you may fancy that you have attained by
offering them that for which they have not asked. To create
great art it is necessary to take what the people want and
then, by infusing into this desire the strength of your genius,
make it a masterpiece. In the time of Raphael, let us say,
Madonnas were in vogue. It is possible that certain esthetes
considered Madonnas as not being fit subjects for art. But
Raphael was a painter who could meet the world squarely
and satisfy its demands. Therefore, as his neighbors desired
Madonnas, he set himself both to paint Madonnas and to
permeate these figures so thoroughly with his power of senti
ment and imagination, that their reputation would be beyond
criticism for all time. To-day I often find that the word
'illustrator' is regarded with contempt by a few who claim
a higher position as being 'painters.' Such an attitude I
cannot see, cannot respect. The world to-day for one thing
wants illustration, and I, as an illustrator, believe that by
nobly satisfying their wants there can be created from them
another and vital art."
The words of Pyle's speech, so filled with nobility and sin
cerity and honesty, have proved true of him, the first of
217

THE REMINISCENCES OF
American illustrators, and of others such as Maxfield Parrish
and Frederick Remington. Moreover he has led the painters
in this land into a new and vital field which, as time progresses,
has come to be more and more respected. And though these
words were spoken some time after my father's death, yet I
am certain that nothing ever said on the subject could have
more fitted in with Saint-Gaudens' understanding of the situa
tion, which was that no masterpiece of art could be produced
except when a great artist was in full accord with all intense
popular demand. Here, for example, is the way my father
expressed his admiration for such illustrations in a letter to
Maxfield Parrish:
. . . The three drawings for Milton's "AUegro"
you have done for The Century are superb, and I want
to tell ydu how they impressed me. They are big, and
on looking at them I felt that choking sensation that
one has only in the presence of the really swell thing.
The shepherds on the hill, the poet in the valley, are
great in composition, and with the blithesome maid are
among the most beautiful things I have ever seen.
It is always an astonishment to me how, after all the
fine things seem to have been done and after aU the pos
sibilities of beauty seem to have been exhausted, some
man like you will come along and strike another note
just as distinctive and just as fine. It is encouraging
and stimulating.
To turn now to the landscape painters, who again were
making an independent American name, with them craftsman
ship was not so much at a premium as was genuineness, while
a desire for strength seemed more to the fore than any sensi
tiveness to subtlety. That the crisp clean air and colors of
218

A CARICATURE LETTER FROM AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
TO MAXFIELD PARRISH

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
this land formed other problems than those of Europe became
appreciated at about the time of the World's Fair, and at last
essentially the same list of men as that which has been mentioned
before, such men as Twachtmann, Hassam, Metcalf, Bunce,
Coffin and Harrison, mastered the situation. Their school
increased in strength with their confidence in their technique
rather than in their imagination or varying points of view.
It became no longer the school of the daring innovator. It
was the school of assured craftsmen with, as their leader,
Winslow Homer, who personified the cleanest type of fresh
American virility. Sober, earnest, and full of movement, his
pictures went direct "to the point with originality of vision
and with that strange power of the big man who does sub
consciously the thing so often felt though never expressed.
Finally portraiture, making no especial change ' from its
condition as last spoken of, continued its normal progress
with Sargent ever the head, and followingvcl8se in his company,
Cecilia Beaux, Alexander Chase, and others^
This, then, may present some, slight idea of the atmosphere
which my father found about h|ftt*\vhen in 1900 he came back
to work once more in this country, an atmosphere of health
and vigor and vitality. No wonder he returned with the con
viction more than ever firmly established that he was an Ameri
can with his home in America, his work in America. No
wonder he felt pride in the projects of this land and at last
remained firm in his conviction that whoever could stand pre
eminent in art on this side of the Atlantic need fear no com
petition from the art on the other.
The closing pages of my father's reminiscences are sadly
incomplete, and even my best efforts can give only a
ragged presentation of the final busy period of his life, a
description of which would have come so vividly from his
pen if only a few more months of health had permitted
him to finish this account with his own hand. His text
221

THE REMINISCENCES OF
ends, as will be seen, with light-hearted references to his
last play-days here in the country around him. Such an
ending is characteristic. For, whatever caused him anger
or worry or pain, he invariably attempted to make over
into a jest; and these few years were full of pain. His
remarks show also the unwonted turn of his mind toward open-
air pleasures. It was strange to us about him to see the man
of the city alter at his age to one of the country. But that
is what occurred. He showed a marked concern one spring
because a heavy snow, falling after the robins appeared, killed
many of these. He took the habit of throwing bits of apple
on the studio stoves in order that he might smell them burning
while he worked. He built and graded. He entered with
zest into landscape gardening and the construction of a golf
course. And finally he explained to us one day that, next to
opening the mail-bag, looking out of the window in the morning
was the first enjoyment of life.
His own words explain what brought him back:
In the midst of this Paris Exposition I was suddenly
told that I was a sick man and that I could not get to
a surgeon any too quickly. So I dropped everything
and took the first steamer home.
Though in a misery of mind beyond description, the
impression of New York, of America and Americans,
after a three-years' absence, was memorable. I was but
a day in New York and a day in Boston before entering
the hospital. The note which struck me in the people,
and a distinctive note at that, one about which I had no
doubt, was that the general look of the faces was one
of keenness and kindness.
There is enough misery in the world without adding
to it by a tale of my experiences in the hospital. Grati-
222

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
tude for the great kindness I experienced there and to
the men of medicine I was under, only added to my ad
miration for the generosity of that profession.
I found also my usual comedy, this time in a male
nurse who took charge of me nights. I needed the most
constant care and upbuilding and, in the course of it,
this chap discovered a bottle of rare wine which he
thought no doubt too good to waste on an unapprecia-
tive and ill-tempered invalid. In short, he emptied it,
and, as a result, handled me in a Louis Fourteenth style
hardly in keeping with the gentle treatment I required.
He was discharged, but without my knowledge. Later
I met him going out of the corridor and, in answer to
my inquiry as to what he was about, he said, "I 'm leav
ing the place. I don't like it here at all."
In due time I left the hospital, and with Mrs. Saint-
Gaudens was driven to the Fitchburg station to take
the train for Windsor. We occupied a stateroom, I ly
ing on a couch and she sitting opposite me. The day
and the scenery were beautiful, and as we traveled I
looked forward with pleasant anticipation to seeing
Cornish again after a three-years' absence. Suddenly a
series of repeated locomotive whistles, and the putting
on of the brakes with violence, revealed something
wrong. I was not mistaken. In another moment there
was a tremendous crash. Great splinters of cars flew
past the window. I was thrown forward on the floor,
and although nobody was hurt, the children began to
scream unmercifully and we were enveloped in a cloud
of dust and smoke. 223

THE REMINISCENCES OF
Presently we got out of the car and found ourselves
in a beautiful winding gorge, a peaceful brook purhng
along, the birds singing, a delightful breeze blowing, and
the white clouds flying gaily across the blue sky. As we
looked forward, we could see what had been our locomo
tive, a confused mass of wreckage, wood, and twisted
iron. On the other side from where I was, they told me
that the engineer lay under the locomotive, his legs
pinned down by the wheels.
After we had left Winchendon, Massachusetts, a gang
of men at State Line, the next station higher up in the
hUls, began shunting some box cars a short distance away
from the station which we were approaching. Sud
denly they lost control of four of the cars which started
down the steep decline up which we were traveling.
Fortunately, of the four cars that escaped the two that
were toward our train were empty and formed a kind
of buffer to our locomotive, which tore through them
before reaching the heavy cars laden with sand.
It was a singular accident, with the usual contrasts of
life: the peaceful gentle country, the passengers sitting
around on the green banks, the beauty of the weather,
and in the midst of it aU the poor man in terrible agony.
He died in the night. At State Line, after the box cars
had escaped from them, but before the accident hap
pened, they had telegraphed for a wrecking train. In
consequence it was but a few minutes after the colhsion
that men came armed with the iron paraphernalia of
rescue. The rest of the story of this adventure, until
my arrival in Windsor the following day, is one of un-
224

WM/' V 0 v .L wi-L. 5*« <1 E. HA(> Py AN (i • » vti tyi S • To • M <VK.E - ,

ffflM

f

f:'\

y/i_W

^

CARICATURE ILLUSTRATIONS
The top and bottom pirtures are signatures at the end of letters to Mrs. Thomas Hastings and to Miss Frances
Grimes. The middle pictures, describing winter life in Cornish, were sent to Alfred Garnier

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
pleasant experiences with the underlings and the rail
road employees, who treated us with no more considera
tion than they would have given a car full of horses —
probably less.
Then, through the delightful New Hampshire
autumn followed the pleasure of convalescence, com
bined with further work upon the statue of General
Sherman. For while the principal bronze casting was
being made in Paris, I was carrying out alterations
later sent to the founders; with the wings which did
not please me, with parts of the cloak of the General,
with the mane of the horse and the pine branch on the
base, which I placed there to typify Georgia.
Meanwhile when the bronze of the "Stevenson" ar
rived, which I had wished to see before it was erected
in position in Edinburgh, I was dissatisfied with it, and
remodeled it almost entirely. So the "Sherman" and
the "Stevenson," both at their beginnings and at their
completion, hung together.
The winter was well on by this time and I soon
learned that this season in the North Country, instead
of being one of gloom and slush so dreaded by the in
habitants of large cities, was one of cheerfulness and
lightness of 'spirit. Cornish is not perfect any more
than Mount Olympus, and the Cornish imperfection
comes with a vengeance in the spring. Then there is
the mischief to pay. The river breaks up and floods
the roads, the snow melts, and mud is everywhere. So,
notwithstanding an occasional divine day, the desire at
this time to escape, and to escape South, develops into
227

THE REMINISCENCES OF
an obsession. But for my first winter in Cornish I was
deeply impressed and delighted by its exhilaration and
briUiancy, its unexpected joyousness, the sleigh-riding,
the skating, and what not. I was as happy as a chUd.
I threw myself into the northern life and reveled in it
as keenly as I did in the dancing in the moonlight in
Lispenard Street when I was a boy; especiaUy when,
skating once more after thirty-five years and playing
hockey like a boy, I was knocked down twice, receiving
a magnificent black eye the first time and a sweUed
and cut forehead the second. In these I took great
pride. But without my work, assistants and congenial neigh
bors I could not have borne a winter in the cold country.
To me, after aU, Nature, no matter how superb, when it
lacks the human element lacks the vital thing.
The oldest among Saint-Gaudens' Cornish friends were Ken
yon Cox, Herbert Adams, and Charles A. Piatt. Mr. Dewing
had "trekked north" early in the period, as he had long
threatened to do, that he might escape the constantly in
creasing sophistication of the region, the blot of the picture-
hat upon the landscape. But there had arrived other congenial
spirits such as Norman Hapgood, my aunt, Mrs. Nichols'
family, Mr. Stephen Parrish, Mr. and Mrs. Maxfield Parrish,
and Mr. and Mrs. Louis Evan Shipman.
Besides these "city-folks" there were also certain of the
country people for whom my father come to care genuinely,
though their ways had been strange to him in the beginning.
First among them was Mr. John Freeman, "Uncle John Free
man," as he is called, a man of the older New England type
and stock, gentle in manner, philosophical, frugal, generous
228

.\V -

JaSaVS

¦KTV?

RELIEF
CARICATURE OF
JAMES WALL FINN

RELIEF
CARICATURE OF
CHARLES A. PLATT

' J

*fc^C^~-fa*'J2

i -J-\-.|
I,.
™._«*.-,
AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
in thought. Each time he came with a couple of trout for
my father's luncheon, or dropped in for a chat, his appearance
was welcomed and remembered. Great was the rejoicing when
once, in "The Snuff Box," the tiny house then occupied by
Mr. Percy MacKaye, they induced "Uncle John" to join in a
birthday party which they gave him.
Yet perhaps even more vital to my father's happiness than
these friends about him, aside from the members of his own
family, were his studio assistants. Mr. James Earle Fraser,
Mr. Henry Hering, Miss Elsie Ward, Miss Frances Grimes,
all shared in his play as well as in his work, golfed with him,
tobogganed with him, tipped over in sleighs with him, laughed
at his desperate efforts at manipulating the flute, or at Fraser's
equally futile attempts at correct spelling, made caricatures
of each other in the evenings, or slaved for the love of it upon
such of his elaborately concocted jokes as his cartoon sent
to Mr. James Wall Finn at the time of Mr. Finn's wedding.
"Play, play !" my father would say to them. "I wish I 'd
played more when I was young. I took things too seriously."
Whereupon, if some one asked him if he was not satisfied
with the result of taking things seriously, he would say half
in fun:
"No. Look at these awful bronzes all over the country.
The thing to do is to play more and to flirt more !"
My father had always been in close touch with assistants
such as these. Of course in one way he had employed them
as refined tools with which to develop his schemes, appreciating
the qualities in each personality, were it a poetic grasp, a
power of virile creation, or an ability to model surfaces.
Aside from that, however, he felt the most sincere interest in
their futures, in the work they might obtain both in and out
of the studio. So, now, while his sickness increased, instead
of the customary egotism of the invalid growing with it, quite
the opposite took place. As he hoped more for his own com-
231

THE REMINISCENCES OF
fort he seemed more anxious for the happiness of others,
and consequently there developed in him a deeper and deeper
desire to forward their opportunities. Gratefully he recog
nized not only in them, but in all those others about the
studio — such as Mr. Gaetan Ardisson, molder, who had
worked for him for twenty years — an untiring skill, self-
effacement, and loyalty to his desires in the days when his
failing strength made more and more difficult his task and
theirs. As usual, probably the most vivid picture of his life in the
country is conveyed by his letters written at the time, a
number of which I will give. The topics in them jump back
and forth from the serious to the frivolous. This, however, has
been seen by now to be characteristic of my father's mind.
A letter to Mr. Low and three translations of letters to
Garnier show how America appeared to him upon his return.
In the letter to M. Garnier it is interesting to realize what
pains my father took to accommodate his description of life
in this land to the European point of view. The attempt is
extremely characteristic, for my father, even when talking with
a man for but five minutes, would do his best to look at things
from his listener's standpoint.
To Low he writes :
Windsor, Vermont, January 19, 1901.
Dear old Feller:
I commenced a letter to you a year ago, one six
months later, and one a month ago, all of which were to
tell you that I had the Stevenson letters from you;
while the two last in especial were to add that my silence
did not show lack of appreciation or affection. I ap
preciate the gift deeply, believe me, as well for what it
is as for the associations it recalls. Through you came
232

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
one of the most delightful experiences of my life, and
to have a genius like Stevenson say what he did of me
proves that my friend Low must have said more good
things to him.
I did not finish the first two letters because of my
terrible mental condition, no doubt the prelude to the
deeper depths of Hell I have been in since. I will not
dwell on that which, thank God, is now a horrible
dream of the past. The third letter I did not continue,
as on the little Christmas card you sent me from Paris,
with a negligence which went to my heart, you omitted
your address. Of course I could have sent it to some
one's care, but that (through a negligence that must
go to your heart) did not occur to me. Enfin, me
void! I will not attempt a buUy long letter such as yours,
or you wUl not get this either. I'll simply tell you
that it was a delight to read yours "comme tout-jour."
Your description of the drip, drip of the Paris winter
recaUed the misery of the winters in that delightful
city. But you wUl have a gorgeous and smiling
spring. Like a beautiful bride it will appear and wiU
make you forget at once the old hag who has driven
you wild with her slush and mud and gloom. Paris is
wonderful in the spring. Tell that to dear Mrs. Low,
although I 'm afraid I 'm at odds with her as to the de-
Ught of the winter months there. I would never have
believed it nor do I suppose you will believe me now,
but I am enjoying the rigorous young winter up here
keenly, snow all over, sun brilliant and supreme, sleighs,
233

THE REMINISCENCES OF
sleighbells galore, and a cheerfulness that brings back
visions of the halcyon winter days of my boyhood.
Last night the thermometer was fourteen degrees below
zero and I slept with my windows open, and now at
noon it has grown colder. But withal one suffers in
finitely less from cold than in hellish, torn-up but dear
old New York, or in slush-ridden ParisM^Forgive me,
Mme. Low. . . .
To Garnier he sent the following: 16 Nov., 1903.
My dear Old Man:
I have the photographs of that dear country of
France for which I have a love, despite my education
and my experience, too hereditary and too firmly fixed
to be effaced by the cosmopolitanism which goes on
here. Your reminder sends an appeal directly to my
heart, an appeal of which those who have not visited
the United States have not the least idea. There is
nothing with flavor in it here, with age. Everything
is new, brilliant, or Jhin. One feels that everywhere.
There is no past. There is no association. And when
a man has got beyond the fiftieth year, he has drawn
away from the desire for novelty he had at the age when
we marched through the Jura mountains with our
knapsacks on our backs. Nevertheless, I regret noth
ing. I believe that as we advance in life there are joys
more keen (in any case for my nature) than when we
were young. That proves that I am like a monkey
jumping from tree to tree, always thinking there is
happiness in the branches of the other tree.
234

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS 12th of December.
It is a month since I wrote you what you have just
read. Since then I have made two visits to New York,
and I have not had the time to write leisurely. We
have been having regular winter for three weeks.
We skate and I play games upon the ice as I played
them thirty-seven years ago, a little more stiffly, but
that does not make any difference since I am still feel
ing young. Now, above all, the clear and joyous
weather gives a gaiety of a singular fashion, a fashion
of which those who have not experienced the cold dry
ness of the North can have no idea. It is far from
the terrible, black, sad days of the winters of London,
and Paris, and even New York, where rain and clouds
are dominant. Although it is very cold here, I in
variably suffer a great deal more from cold on my
journeys to New York.
Louis lives about half an hour's walk away, virtually
five hundred feet above me. He has a house that was
formerly a species of Protestant church, belonging to a
sect, the Shakers, whose religion was no love and no
children. Louis' wife bought this from two old sur
vivors twenty-five miles away from here. It is of wood,
so they took it to pieces, put it on the raUroad, trans
ported it and reconstructed it here. It is a house a
hundred years old. Mine also is one hundred years
old, only it is in brick. It formerly used to be a house
with a very bad reputation. You can see the droll
things in life. 235

THE REMINISCENCES OF
Aspet, Windsor, Vermont, 1st August, 1905.
Dear Old Man:
... I hope that everything is going weU with
you and your wife. I see by the newspapers that it has
been very hot with you. Here it has been an adorable
summer, except this unfortunate condition which keeps
me from standing for long and in consequence from
working regularly. However, all is for the best in
this best of worlds. It is the only manner of looking
at things. We amused ourselves very much on our
trip to Southern France and Italy and we shall enjoy
life together again. The older I get the more I see
of things to take pleasure in, and the more youth seems
good to contemplate. However, I don't regret the
march of years. There 's philosophy for you, in any
case enough for six o'clock in the morning, the hour at
which I am writing you. I have acquired this habit
and there is one joy more in the day, the ineffable, I
do not know what, in the air of daybreak. Stevenson,
the poet, often said to me, "The person who does not
appreciate the dawn does not understand life."
Homer has been married two months to a blonde,
blonde, blonde. He is dark, naturally he must have
some one who is the color of wheat. They have taken
up housekeeping in New York. I suppose I shall
become a grandfather. Eh? That 's funny, is n't it,
when one thinks of the Rue Jacob !
Next follow three letters which dwell upon the outdoor
pleasures already alluded to and show the healthy way my
father's mind turned to them. The first is to Low:
236

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
Aspet, Windsor, Vermont. 1901.
My dear old Feller:
. . . Your letter of July twenty-sixth is on the desk
before me and it is unnecessary to tell you how pleasant
it is "to read you," as they say in French commercial
parlance. The race of charming letter-writers will not
be extinct so long as you tread on top of this curious
planet. As I look out of the window on the hills oppo
site, I wish I had your power of description, for the
whole burst of autumn glory is at its fuU now, only
more beautiful than ever, for some reason or other.
There is more harmony in it all than usual. It 's per
fectly glorious, and the weather is too, and I wish you
were here that we might have a long chat over the past,
present and future. As you know I have had an awful
time. We all seem to have it in one form or other
sooner or later. But I 'm out of it, thanks I suppose
in a great measure to the change in my manner of ex
istence, which from my point of view now has always
been that of a damn fool. I stop work at one o'clock
and I devote the rest of the day to out-of-door things,
golf, walking, driving, cutting trees, and all that makes
one see there is something else in life besides the four
waUs of an ill-ventilated studio — not that I renounce
for a moment my love of the charm of that life too — I
speak of this because I see so many of the "confrerie"
living the life I led for thirty years, and I wish to drag
them by the hair to where they would find other
"jouissances" that would not undermine their health. —
Health — is the thing! That's my conclusion.
237

THE REMINISCENCES OF
Following this are two letters to me written while I was in
college :
. . . Billy almost stands up alone on his hind-legs
and the "Admiral" I have dubbed "flubdub." Finn has
been and gone, but either he or Fraser returns in a few
days. I had a pretty tumble off "Admiral" the other
day, and I speculated while I was in the air as to
whether I was going to be kiUed by having my skull
smashed or my ribs caved in. I have also been very
sick but I am all right again. I. thought I was up the
spout for a few hours. . . .
A collar-button was discovered in the stomach of a
cow. The question is how did the cow get under the
bureau??? Again :
. . . You have by this time received your third
check and are happy.
The toboggan will soon be forthcoming, I hope.
The slide is erected about ten feet higher than the other,
and has an alarming look. I think it would be well
to buy a couple of small toboggans also and send them
along. Apropos of sport, I had a surprise the other
day while playing hockey, with G. F. on the opposite
side. I was skating in front of him without touching
him in order to prevent his getting at the puck when
he deliberately bucked me and knocked me down, which
created mixed feelings of anger and pleasure, pleasure
at being considered youthful enough to be handled in
that way, and anger at the absence of proper respect
238

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
shown for maturer years! He said he had a right to
do that when a person interfered. Fraser and Jaegers
say he doesn't know that what I was doing was all
right, but that he would have been put out of a regular
game for such a proceeding. Rather a comphmentary
shock on the whole. I was sorry you were n't around
to have given him a little shock too, The day before
he had tried that game on Fraser, and the result was
that on striking Fraser he shot straight into the air
about ten feet and landed all over the ice. . . .
The first of the next two letters refers to the construction
of the "Small Studio" here which Mr. Babb designed. The
completion of this studio became the jest of the family as its
ramifications and complications were endless, though indeed we
might have become used to such a state of affairs, as there was
hardly a week in all the time my father spent on this place dur
ing twenty-two years that he did not have something rebuilt or
regraded, to his intense enjoyment. Among the developments
of the studio, however, it became especially interesting to
watch the manner in which he applied his sense of color. For
during at least four years he made endless experiments on
combinations of paint upon the interior wall of the pergola
and on the columns and the trellis which supports the vines,
while the portion of the Parthenon frieze along the upper edge
of the wall was three times laboriously and delicately tinted
before he obtained the result he desired. He writes :
Aspet, Windsor, Vermont. Tuesday.
Dear Babb:
I think if you could come up here for twenty-four
hours it would be a great help in the settling of things.
Now that the studio is gone, the field has taken such a
239

THE REMINISCENCES OF
grand look that I regret I did not see it before they
started work on the foundation. I should certainly
have changed the whole scheme and moved the studio
to the east. However, the mound of earth dug out of
the cellar of the studio is as high as the hedge on the
east side of the wooden seat, about a thousand times
the amount necessary to smooth, level and heighten the
ground where you suggested.
It is not possible to see the vista through the woods
which reveals the extreme N. W. corner of the place
as you thought from where you proposed putting a seat
something like this. (Sketch.)
Could n't you come right up for a day? Take the 9
A. M. train. You get here at four, and you can take
the noon or three P. M. train back the next day if you
wish. Please do.
Again :
Dear Babb:
Angel !
Gussie wants the bay windows on the house and wants
you to do 'em. That 's- no reason why you should
though, if it is to cause you nervous prostitution or sea
sickness, or give you "insomania" which a servant girl
once told Louis she was troubled with! So hesitate
not to say nay if you are disincUned. She wants the
bay windows on the south side of the house both in the
dining-room and the parlor, and would like them to run
up both stories. 240

THE HOUSE IN CORNISH AS IT STANDS

*D

•v

2Hfc> -

¦-'¦"- By* ¦
- -

;, j
i
Copr. Augusta H. Saint-Qaudons
AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS IN THE PERGOLA OUTSIDE HIS STUDIO IN CORNISH
This photograph, made in August, MOO, is probably the Inst taken ot" him
AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
Will you give us some drawings for that? In five
minutes! Say ten or even fifteen minutes!!
Now besides what she wishes, I want to replace the
roof and have three dormer windows and the east and
west ends treated as on this sketch, and I want a red
roof. I won't pester you any more, but I should like to
have you do this. Nevertheless, notwithstanding, fur
thermore, I can perfectly understand how you may
send me to BaUyhack, having troubles enough of your
own. To give a glimpse of the humorous fashion in which my
father regarded the turmoil which all this activity developed
around him, let me conclude this group of letters with one
written to Mr. Charles 0. Brewster. Mr. Brewster had become
my father's intimate friend first through their common love of
music at the studio concerts. This friendship had been made
more firm on my father's part as the years went by through
his appreciation of Mr. Brewster's unfailing generosity of
spirit. Therefore his appearance at any time was an event
to be welcomed. My father writes:
You hold forth a prospect of your coming up here.
It goes without saying that both Gussie and I would
be dehghted to see you. So come along when oppor
tunity offers. You wiU receive a warm welcome, and
I think I can have the tank filled in time so that you
can have your usual plunge. It is a new tank, by the
way, and a new studio since you have been here. You
will see much change anyway, the place has spread to
be such an estabhshment that it requires a general,
243

THE REMINISCENCES OF
aides-de-camp, commissariat, wagon-trains, and what
not to run the affair. I am beginning to appreciate
why it is that when men are discipUned in the army
they are shot for not obeying.
As a natural accompaniment of this love of the country,
there developed in my father's nature two new pleasures, an
interest in the development and prolongation of healthy life
and an appreciation of youth in the freedom of its spirit.
For the first he became absorbed in the work of specialists like
Metchnikof and Fletcher, the latter of whom came to visit
him in Cornish. For the second he dwelt again and again
upon his own younger and athletic days and attempted to
repeat them. As he has hinted, in the winter he kept a patch
of ice cleared of snow, no easy task in this latitude, and was
indefatigable in organizing "hockey" parties. He also
erected perilous toboggan chutes and through a glorious acci
dent, one of our family wearing its scars to this day, he
established thereon an eminent reputation for recklessness. In
the summer he employed all manner of labor both to furnish
himself with his own golf-course and to rebuild his swimming-
pool; since, though he might no longer swim himself, he could
obtain endless delight in watching youth at the sport.
And of that same youth Saint-Gaudens constantly remin
isced. For example, one evening at the The Players Club, as
my friend Witter Bynner and I were going from the entrance
down to the billiard-room, we met my father coming up the
steps bravely supporting himself on the plush rope.
"Hello, Bynner!" he exclaimed. "Where are you heading?"
"To see Lillian Russell, the friend of my youth," answered
Bynner. "The friend of all our youths," my father smiled back at us.
Such was my father's rejuvenation of spirit. Many of his
friends noticed and commented upon it, and one of these com-
244

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
ments, at least, I would include here. It comes from Mr.
William A. Coffin, who not long ago wrote me:
"Physical strength and action elicited Saint-Gaudens' ad
miration. We were members of a jury of three one year, John
Alexander being the third, for the award of the Winchester
Scholarship at the Yale School of Fine Arts, and went to New
Haven. It was in June, 1902. After we had judged the
competition, Prof. Niemeyer, who was acting director of the
School in the absence of Prof. Weir in Europe, had a carriage
ready and told us he wanted to take us out to see the Yale-
Princeton baseball game. When we reached the gates, the
fakirs surrounded us offering Yale and Princeton buttons,
badges, flags, etc. Niemeyer and I put on Yale buttons.
Alexander was for Princeton and put on the orange and
black. Saint-Gaudens, conscientious as usual, first accepted
the blue, but then reflected and decided that as he had received
an honorary degree from Princeton as well, he would have an
orange and black button, too. As soon as we were inside and
seated he began to notice the movement and action of the
players. He was too much absorbed in his own work to have
made himself well acquainted with the rules of the game and
only knew in a general way what it was all about. A Yale
batter sent a grounder to the Princeton short-stop which he
picked up as it bounded. Saint-Gaudens exclaimed in a low
tone, 'What was that, out on the bound?' quickly followed by
'Look at that ! Look at that chap !' as the first basemen
jumped in the air to catch the ball which the short-stop had
thrown to him too high. Then he spoke again and again of
the pitchers whose 'movements' offered continual changes of
pose and action in all of which he noted strength or grace, as
the case might be."
It was lucky indeed that my father did develop this love
of the out-of-doors and of the pursuits of youth. Had it not
been for that he surely never would have accomplished what
245

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
he did, nor could he otherwise have stored sufficient energy
to keep his mind active through the last days. Because it
must be remembered that during the final seven years of his
life he bore suffering from various troubles which would have
kept most men in a condition of perpetual break-down. Upon
his return to America in 1900 he went to the Massachusetts
General Hospital where he remained for July and August.
Then in the fall he returned to Boston to spend five weeks in
St. Margaret's Hospital on Louisberg Square. Subsequent to
this, he enjoyed a few comparatively painless years, though
at times even then he suffered acutely and was experimenting
with one physician after another, taking often an electrical
treatment which seemed for awhile to relieve him; to the oc
casional visitors to his studio the bulky static appliances were
a strange sight. Late in 1905 his condition was such that
he had a trained nurse always by him, and in February, 1906,
he went to the Corey Hill Hospital in Brookline, Massachu
setts. The following summer a special physician came to
Windsor, but by August my father was so ill that he was
unable to leave his room for weeks at a time. During the
winter of 1906-7 we feared he could not live. In the spring
of 1907, however, he was much better. He could sit sketching
directions for his assistants on a pad and was carried from
place to place in an improvised sedan-chair, even coming oc
casionally to meals at my house, nearly a quarter of a mile
from his. By July, however, he was back in his room once
more, never to leave it. Knowing that he was not the man
to dwell on sickness or misery, I tell of this side of his life as
briefly as possible, and only that it may be understood what
he had to fight against during those last days.

246

IX
FINAL OUTSIDE INTERESTS
The Studio Fire — The Death of White: — Outside Interests — The
Roman Academy — The Artistic Development of Washington —
Impressions of Washington — Honors.
HERE in Cornish my father spent the last seven years
of his life. For the most part they were as happy
as his health would allow, though with them came
two shocks which affected him deeply. The first was brought
by the fire that burned his largest studio in October, 1904, the
second by the murder of Stanford White in June, 1906.
At the time of the fire I was with my father witnessing a
performance of "Letty" at the Hudson Theater in New York
City. We learned of the loss of the studio on returning to
the hotel. Though my father took the news with a self-
possession that showed that, despite his ill-health, the years
had brought him a share of mental peace, neverthe
less I am sure it caused him great distress. The destruc
tion was almost total, probably because the one man who
would have understood how to save what was valuable, Mr.
Henry Hering, was also enjoying a well-earned vacation; and
on that evening, curiously enough, unknown to us, was sitting
in another part of the Hudson Theater.
The fire started in a stable adjoining the studio about nine
o'clock at night, when, as it happened, there was not a man
on the place. The two maid-servants noticed it only after it
had got well under way; so that before they could summon
aid the flames were pouring straight upward into the still
night air. Then, though our neighbors gave their best as-
247

THE REMINISCENCES OF
sistance, little could be done because of their natural ignorance
of the value of various bits of work, or of how to handle
sculpture. For instance, the Parnell statue was held to the
floor by a few hasps, which might easily have been torn up
with any bit of iron but which made it impossible to move
the work by pressure against its side, so that the best of
unskilled efforts to save it were in vain. While, again, many
precious moments were spent dragging out an iron stove,
despite the fact that a quantity of important casts lay loose
at hand. As a result almost all of four years' work perished,
a number of bas-reliefs, the Parnell, the nearly finished seated
Lincoln, and a statue of Marcus Daly which sank into the
embers with flakes of plastoline bursting from it as if from
some tortured body.
But not only did my father's sculpture receive a severe set
back, he lost as well what he regarded as even more valuable,
the stored furniture of his New York house, most of his
treasured papers and letters, such as those from Robert Louis
Stevenson, all of his portfolios containing records of twenty
years, many photographs of commissions then on hand which
he was unable to reproduce, his own drawing of his mother,
the portrait of him by Kenyon Cox, the sketch of him by
Bastien-Lepage, the Sargent sketch of him and a water color
of a Capri girl, paintings by Winslow Homer, William M.
Chase, and William Gedney Bunce, and many other pictures
arid objects reminiscent of his life. The one bit of good
fortune in the whole affair lay in my father's owning a second
studio; so that this, with other buildings and adaptable barns
in the vicinity, allowed the work to progress again immediately
while he comforted himself with the thought that the monu
ments would improve because of the imposed recreation.
The second shock, that caused by the death of Stanford
White, would not, at first glance, appear to have affected the
sculptor so closely, since for some years he had scarcely seen
248

THE SEATED LINCOLN STATUE FOR THE CHICAGO LAKE FRONT

Ever 6ince the standing Lincoln was erected in Lincoln Park, Chicago, some twenty-three years ago, Saint- Gaudene
had desired to create a seated Lincoln. The one here shown is from the clay model, before being cast in
plaster. Slight alterations were made later. The commission came from the Creerar Fund

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
the architect. However, my father had a big heart for old
friendships. Wherefore, understanding that the details of
personal tastes frequently lead men into widely different paths
of life though their fundamental ties remain firm, he still
counted White not only a master in his art, but one of the
few men of his younger days on whom he could depend for
intimate sympathy and advice. The next two letters which I
include show how their friendship held true to the end. My
father writes:
May 7, 1906.
Dear Stan:
. . . As to your visit here, I have been trying to get
you up here for twenty years and no signs of you and
Charles. Yet now when we are having the worst
spring that ever occurred (the roads are in awful con
dition) you want to come up in five minutes. You
hold off a little while and I will let you know, perhaps
in a couple of weeks from now.
To which White replied: May 11, 1906.
Beloved! ! ! >
''"Why do you explode so at the idea of Charlie and myself
coming up to Windsor! If you think our desire came from
any wish to see a fine spring or fine roads, you are not only
mistaken but one of the most modest and unassuming men with
so 'beetly' a brow, and so large a nose 'wot is.' We are com
ing up to bow down before the sage and seer we admire and
venerate so. Weather be damned; and roads, too! Of course
when it comes to a question of Charlie and myself doing any
thing, large grains of salt have got to be shaken all over the
"puddin'." I am a pretty hard bird to snare, and, as for
Charlie, he varies ten thousand times more than a compass
does from the magnetic pole, so all this may end in smoke.
251

THE REMINISCENCES OF
, Such, then, were the relations of the two men at the time of
' White's murder. Therefore it is to be imagined how deeply
the news of his death shocked my father. For a time the
catastrophe left little for my father to say or do. But at
last, when the public clamor had died out in some measure,
and certain of White's friends had asked him to write a word
in praise of the architect, he gladly began making attempts.
At first his ill-health seemed to render the task impossible.
Finally, however, an article upon White by Richard Harding
Davis which appeared in Collier's Weekly gave him the needed
strength to produce the following letter which the magazine
printed : August 6, 1906.
The Editor of Collier's Weekly,
420 West Thirteenth St., New York City.
Dear Sirs: I thank you for the remarkable article
by Richard Harding Davis about Stanford White in
your issue of August 4th. It is, to those who knew
him, the living portrait of the man, his character and
his life. As the weeks pass the horror of the miserable
taking-away of this bjg_f riend looms up more and more.
It is unbelievable that we shall never see him again
going about among us with his astonishing vitality,
enthusiasm and force. In the thirty years that the
friendship between him and me endured, his almost
[feminine tenderness to his friends in suffering and his
generosity to those in trouble or want, stand out most
prominently. That such a man should be taken away
in such a manner in the full flush of his extraordinary
power is pitiable beyond measure.
Sincerely yours,
Augustus Saint-Gaudens.
252

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
To return again from such sad happenings to my father's
mode of living, it must not be thought that he spent his whole
time in Cornish. On the contrary, both his work and his
outside interests frequently took him elsewhere.
These outside interests were many and scattered, and he
fled to them as a relief from his own troubles. He had to do,
for instance, with the regulation of American Sculpture Com
petitions, the founding of an American School of Fine Arts
in Rome, and the beautifying of the National Capitol in Wash
ington. The first of these I have already mentioned. The
other two I shall take up with some detail after I have given
a few scattered letters showing how generous he was of time
and energy in lesser ways towards the development of the art
of his country, such impulses and activities dating, it will be
remembered, from the days of the Thirty-sixth Street studio.
First I give a draft of two letters dealing with the Roosevelt
Inaugural Medal wherein he once, at least, succeeded in bringing
such an object out of the commonplace rut. He writes to Mr.
Roosevelt : Jan. 20, 1905.
Dear Mr. President:
If the inauguration medal is to be ready for March
the first, there is not a moment to lose. I cannot do it,
but I have arranged with the man best fitted to execute
it in this country (Mr. Adolph Weinman). He has a
most artistic nature, extremely diffident. He would
do an admirable thing. He is also supple and takes
suggestion intelligently. He has made one of the great
Indian groups at St. Louis that would have interested
you if brought to your attention. He is so interested
that he begged me to fix a price. I named two hun
dred and fifty dollars. . . .
253

THE REMINISCENCES OF
And again:
Dear Mr. President:
General Wilson showed me the inauguration medal,
which is so deadly that I had Weinman go down to
Philadelphia. The man there who has charge of the
bulk of the ordinary medals already contracted for can
not possibly do an artistic work. He is a commercial
medallist with neither the means nor the power to rise
above such an average. Mr. Weinman writes to Gen
eral Wilson to-night that our rehefs must be put into
other hands and this is to beg you to insist that the
work be entrusted to Messrs. Tiffany or Gorham.
Otherwise I would not answer for its not being botched.
... I made studies on the train on my way up from
Washington and I have struck a composition which I
hope will come out well. Mr. Weinman is enthusiastic
about it and I am certain would execute it admirably.
You know that the disposition of the design on the
medal is nine-tenths of the battle.
In other matters my composition caUs for the simplest
form of inscription and here also I wish your support,
of course provided you think well of the idea. On the
side of your portrait I propose placing nothing more
than the words,
"Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United
States,"
and on the reverse, under the emblematic design, the
words, "Washington, D. C, March 4, 1905."
The simplicity of inscription greatly aids the dignity
254

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS IN THE TOWN OF ASPET, FRANCE
Enlarged from kodak

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
of the arrangement; but if you believe that more is
needed, I wUl add it with pleasure.
A second example of my father's gratuitous efforts to aid
in such ways appeared in his desire to help Mr. Daniel H.
Burnham obtain fitting sculpture for the Pennsylvania Rail
road Station in Washington, D. C. In the course of the cor
respondence over the question he wrote :
Aspet, Windsor, Vermont, August 29, 1905.
Dear Dan:
. . . Louis, who bears a letter from me to you, has
just been in on his way to the station and has told me
of Mr. Cassatt's letter. I heartily agree with Mr.
Cassatt. Nothing could be more appropriate than that
the statues of Fulton, Stephenson and the others
should be given great prominence in the station. But,
aside from the fact that it would represent a row of
men in knee breeches, which would be unfortunate, I
fear they would not "tell" at that distance as they
ought to, for of course one of the merits of such statues
should be their characteristics as portraits.
I think figures of an abstract nature would certainly
be more in place, and representations of the North,
South, East and West flanked by "The Thinker," and
"The Laborer" or "Commerce" and "Transportation"
would be far preferable should the "Discoverers" with
their romantic and vigorous characteristics be discarded.
Mr. Cassatt's idea is so good, however, that I do not
think it should be abandoned. Could you not intro
duce them in the station? It seems to me that panels
257

THE REMINISCENCES OF
in rehef on the walls representing the men he proposes
might be made most effective, and although neither my
brother nor I could do them, I should be most happy
to advise and direct in the execution.
Finally in wandering even farther afield I must touch on
one other characteristic line of service. My father was fre
quently being asked as to the genuineness of antiques and
never failed to give his best efforts to unearth the fraud that
so often surrounds these objects. I will take one instance in
which I was directly concerned, the so-called Praxiteles Aphro
dite exhibited in The National Arts Club of New York in the
early winter of 1905. The genuineness of this marble was
attested in most emphatic terms by its sponsor, Mr. Charles
DeKay, and as emphatically denied by others, until Miss Gilder
of the Critic Magazine asked me to see if I could not reach
the bottom of the matter in a short article. In the course of
my efforts I applied to my father who gave me any amount
of valuable time, traveling back and forth from the chocolate-
colored lady at the National Arts Club to a cast of the Medici
Venus in the Metropolitan Museum. This is the letter on the
question he sent to me for publication, and I quote it as being
characteristic of his attitude. He writes:
Unless some scientific examination, microscopic or
otherwise, would reveal how long ago the surface was
cut, no one can tell whether or not the Venus is a modern
copy. It is so perfect, I mean has so few abrasions,
that I feel almost certain it is a modern copy of the
one at the gallery in Florence, with both its beauties
and its defects. For in the two cases the arms are
badly drawn and the lower legs and feet rather un
gainly, though the rest of the figure possesses unusual
258

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
charm, particularly the profiles. In both cases, too, the
head is by no means as beautiful as many of the Greek
heads. The Medicean Venus, in fact, is not one of the
great ten or twenty antiques ; perhaps it would be nearer
to say not one of the first thirty or forty. It is won
derfully placed and lighted in the gallery of Florence
and of a color that adds to the fullness of its beauty.
This, coupled with the reputation given it by the poets
and literati, has exalted it beyond its real merits from
a sculptor's point of view. If the statue under discus
sion is an original it is, of course, of great value; if not,
it has the worth of an admirable copy, comparatively
easy to make. This question all the experts in the
world cannot decide unless positive evidence of its find
ing is given. I could copy this Venus with the aid of
a machine, have the replica buried with the original,
and when they were dug up, some years later, not be
able to tell them apart myself. It all resolves itself
into this being as beautiful a work as the Venus de
Medici, but some do not consider that statue the high
est Greek art, and we do not know whether this Venus
is ancient or modern.
Let me turn now to the American Academy at Rome, in
which, as I have said, my father took a major interest. Its
object is to provide for American students of the Fine Arts
who already have laid at home a firm foundation for their
work, much the same advanced instruction as the French Gov
ernment offers in the Villa Medici. That this school might
be firmly established with an endowment of one million dollars,
my father lent his strongest aid, since he had never forgotten
259

THE REMINISCENCES OF
the poignant charm and deep inspiration of his life and work
in the Eternal City. His first efforts began in company with
a number of other artists who were working in the Chicago
World's Fair, where, in short order, through their enthusiasm,
the movement was set on foot. For some time their endeavors
had poor success, despite the fact that, lacking an endowment,
the friends of the undertaking used their own resources, and
devoted art scholarships such as the Rinehart and Lazarus
funds to support the pupils. At last, however, an exhibition
of the work in the School, held in 1904, proved so satisfactory
that Mr. Charles F. McKim and Saint-Gaudens set about tak
ing advantage of the interest aroused, by soliciting subscrip
tions. They were soon generously aided by Mr. Henry
Walters of Baltimore, who, besides purchasing the Villa Mira-
fiori as a home for the Academy, presented them with one
hundred thousand dollars to start an endowment fund. This
lead was quickly followed by Mr. J. P. Morgan, Mr. William
K. Vanderbilt, Harvard University through Mr. Henry L.
Higginson, and Mr. James Stillman, each of whom, by giving
one hundred thousand dollars, brought the sum up to the
five hundred thousand dollar point from which the rest of the
endowment was obtained with comparative ease.
As one earnest of his enthusiasm, indeed, my father, in the
course of this work, delivered two speeches. The task was
ever fraught with much agony to his modest nature. But
here he felt the cause too high and his own opinions too vital
to hesitate on grounds of personal comfort. Therefore, early
in its progress, he said in Washington:
I have been asked to express my ideas concerning
the Roman Academy. What I have to say can be said
in few words and I take pleasure in so doing, not only
from a feeling of sentiment arising from my early asso
ciations with the £cole des Beaux Arts and its organi-
260

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
zation, but more because I am of the firm conviction that
an institution, such as that, is an admirable one.
My reason for thinking it admirable, is my belief that
the strenuous competition required to gain access to the
Villa Medici, as weU as the four years of study in that
wonderful spot, tend to a more earnest and thorough
training than could elsewhere be gained under the
present conditions of life in our times.
I am not one of those who believe that only the few
who possess marked talent should attempt to be artists,
although I do think that there are but a smaU number
in the world who are gifted and who possess that in
definable quality, that elusive something, which makes
the great artist. In art, as in everything else, only the
fittest survive. But in our civilization a certain por
tion of the population will go into the fine arts "willy
nilly," sooner or later to drop out to what the law of
the survival of the fittest brings. However, this great
band of the unfit have their work to perform ; their love
of the beautiful contributes to happiness and tends to
a wider enjoyment of life in the revealing of beauty
where otherwise it would have been ignored.
I know it is a question whether such a knowledge in
creases the general happiness and morality of a com
munity. I firmly believe it does, as I beheve that any
effort to do a thing as well as it can be done, regardless
of mercenary motives, tends to the elevation of the
human mind.
The result, however, of the serious education required
by the system of the £cole des Beaux Arts and the
261

THE REMINISCENCES OF
School of Rome is that those who do not attain to high
achievement will, at any rate, be better workmen in the
various vocations they finally enter. In our period of
hurry and of gaining ends no matter how superficial in
the quickest possible way, no one will dispute that this
is a healthful fight to make.
In the repeated attacks that are made on the Roman
Academy and on the £cole des Beaux Arts and in the
incessant cry for greater freedom in the development
of the artistic mind, there is a certain amount of truth.
But in such reaction the pendulum swings too far and
the real question is lost sight of. There is a middle
ground on which to stand. It seems to be rarely real
ized that the very men who are shown as examples
against the schools were, if not actually brought up in
the School of Rome, all men of thorough academic
training. Only after such training does the mind be
come sufficiently mature and the individual personality
so developed as to be able to indulge in unqualified free
dom and liberty of expression.
Rodin, one of the leaders of the movement against
Academic education, had a thorough and arduous train
ing during the early years of his career and I am of the
opinion that that training instead of dwarfing or mini
mizing his extreme power of expression, has been of
enormous assistance to it. Leaving out of the ques
tion the exhaustive early study of the great masters of
the past, Michelangelo and others, and coming to our
own times, to the brilliant men of the French school,
262

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
we find that aU have had the same early experience.
Paul Dubois, one of the masters of French Art— al
though not a member of the Villa Medici — had a train
ing fully equal to that which could be gained there,
and is one of its strongest supporters. Houdon, Rude,
Falguiere, men whose work Uves and breathes with
divine fire, were trained there. Puvis de Chavannes
and Baudry, to enter another domain, I may add to
my list. It is needless to say that none of these were
injured by it.
Sculpture is no more exempt from the necessity of
thorough preparation than is music, architecture or any
of the arts and sciences. Only constant diligence and
earnest application in early years, harnessed with a
natural talent, gives us master-workmen.
The disastrous results to those who ape the manner
isms of such masters as Rodin and Monet and foUow
in their wake, are pathetic in their futiUty and weak
ness when they are not comic, and their failure leaves
them not only bad artists but, and here I come to what
I consider the main point of my contention, weak and
crude workmen in whatever else they do. I am in
clined to think that if it were not for this class and this
condition of things, I should not be so strong a partizan.
But the betterment of this class and at the same time
the help that is given to the young master makes it
worth while. . . .
It cannot be asserted that the four years of undis-
tracted attention, devoid of pecuniary worries and sur-
263

THE REMINISCENCES OF
rounded by a sympathetic environment where the whole
thought is directed to the highest artistic achievement
possible in the formative years of a young man's life, can
be anything but an enormous assistance and of vital
importance to the few who have the divine gift. If it
were but one in a century who was helped in this way,
the institution would be worth while.
Later he said in the same vein:
My deep interest in the project comes of a vision
which presents itself to me of the immense possibilities
of the United States in that which makes for beauty
and all that it implies. There is no question but that
the mixture of the impulsive, imaginative races of the
South, with the power, reserve and sense of measure
of the races of the North under proper opportunities
for development must result in exalted achievement.
It is in the laying of foundations for such opportunities
that this Institution is accomplishing its great work, a
work which must tend mightUy to counterbalance our
besetting evils, of looseness, amateurishness, and shift-
lessness in the training for the struggle of life. . . .
However, and here I will repeat what I have said on
another occasion, if but one commanding figure in a
century shaU result from this foundation; one man in
spired by the breath of genius, all the money that wUl
be spent in founding and maintaining it wUl have been
worth while.
We are nearing the goal of our ambitions and it is
because of the conviction that it is the West with its
264

THREE GENERATIONS
Bernard, Augustus, and Homer Saint-Gaudens

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
open-mindedness and breadth of vision that wUl lay
the final stones in our structure that we have to come
here as pleaders.
When this is accomplished there is nothing I shall
be more proud to have my children's children associate
me with than the achievement of this work.
To these speeches I append an extract from a letter to my
mother which amplifies my father's attitude, and moreover
shows his modesty regarding his efforts, and the manner in
which he used to turn to her for advice in such matters.
Dear Gussie:
WUl you criticize, modify and improve, to the best
of your abihty, this reply to Mowbray's request. You
can change the whole damn thing if you wish. I have
no vanity about my writing any more after reading all
the stuff I 've sent to various committees for years.
Write it out nicely and send it to me to sign. Here
is my draft of it :
To the Executive Committee of the American School
at Rome.
Dear Sirs: I believe the foundation of our institu
tion in Rome, in a general way simUar to that of the
French Government at the Villa Medici in that city,
would be not only a work of value, but one of necessity
as far as the art interests of the United States are con
cerned. The conditions of life with us make the long
and serious preparation necessary for the thorough
training of an artist almost an impossibUity. The
temptations to plunge into an artistic career with minor
preparation are constant and inevitable. To take the
267

THE REMINISCENCES OF
best of the young men and protect them from these
temptations as weU as to give them the other undoubted
advantage of surroundings and general atmosphere is
one of the principal benefits of such an institution.
I believe no Academy can make a genius, but it can
greatly facilitate his development. Such an Institution
moreover inevitably forms a nucleus of thoroughly
equipped men who on their return home would gradu
ally and powerfully contribute to the heightening of
the general level of artistic development.
In such a foundation, I believe we should profit by
the experience of the French and establish our Academy
on lines of greater liberality than obtain there in the
selection of the scholarship and the rules of residence.
On the whole I am firmly convinced that great ad
vantage would result to the interests of art with us
from such an institution and I will do everything in
my power to favor its development.
Yet my father did vastly more than make occasional speeches.
He donated an infinite amount of time and energy to seeing
that his dream became practical and financially assured. Here,
for example, is one of the "begging letters" which he was
constantly sending out to those he thought might be of aid.
The letter is to Mr. H. C. Frick, and it is pleasant to record it
as a successful one. He writes :
Dear Mr. Frick:
. . . You remember our conversation three years
ago regarding the American Academy of Fine Arts in
Rome. Since that time matters have progressed. In
268

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
January last a dinner of four hundred guests was given
in Washington, to celebrate the passage of the bill in
Congress incorporating the Academy. The President
signed the bill and was the principal guest and speaker
at the dinner, which was probably the most notable ever
given in the United States. The presidents of the
great Universities were there, and most of your dis
tinguished friends and acquaintances, including Secre
taries Hay, Root and Taft; Messrs. Cassatt, J. Pier-
pont Morgan, James Stillman, Henry Walters of
Baltimore, Cardinal Gibbons, Speaker Cannon and
many senators and representatives and Supreme Court
justices. Mrs. Roosevelt and ladies of her acquaint
ance occupied the gaUery.
This representative dinner lacked your presence to
the regret of everybody, for every one felt that the
national incorporation of this Academy was the most
important step ever taken in America for art.
The Academy will occupy the royal Villa Mirafiori
in Rome, bought for it by Mr. Walters for that pur
pose. Each year one man will be accepted as a scholar
in architecture, painting, sculpture, and music, and one
man in each art will graduate. The course is four
years long, so that there will always be sixteen men at
the Villa and they are to be selected by competition
from the entire country, thus assuring the very brightest
men we have. In the course of a few years we shall
have in the fine arts, many briUiant men trained as well
as, or better than, those from the Villa Medici, the
French Academy in Rome. 269

THE REMINISCENCES OF
France has had her school of Rome at the Villa
Medici for two hundred years, and it is due to this that
the French nation has been supreme in the fine arts.
From this time we propose to stand on the same or a
still higher plane.
The endowment fund is fixed at one million dollars.
It is the wish of the board that ten men, families, or
institutions of learning shaU be the ten founders.
Those who have already taken part are :
W. K. Vanderbilt  $100,000.00
James Stillman  100,000.00
J. Pierpont Morgan  100,000.00
*Henry Walters (outside of his purchase of
the Villa Mirafiori)  100,000.00
Harvard University  100,000.00
Columbia University  100,000.00
Chicago University  100,000.00
Yale University  100,000.00
Already subscribed  $800,000.00
The names of the founders of this great national
school will be recorded in the Villa at Rome, and there
can be no higher distinction for a family than the asso
ciation of its head with this source of inspiration. In
Florence the Medici name is as fresh to-day as it was
four hundred years ago, and in Genoa the Doria name
*Mr. Walters not only gave $100,000, but purchased the Villa Mira
fiori to be held by him until the school was financially able to take charge
of it.
270

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
is the same, and it is largely because the heads of these
two families were patrons of the fine arts.
While our miUion doUars may be said to be in sight,
it seems to me that this should be funded for the in
come, and that we should have two hundred thousand
for library and equipment. Would it interest you to
connect your name with that of Princeton University,
or to become a founder yourself? It is an ideal cause
and one in which a man wUl gain just distinction of a
very high order. Your connection with the Academy
also would give you a delightful status in the most
select art and governmental circles in Rome, Paris,
London and the United States. I only wish my for
tune were sufficient to enable me to take the place I
suggest for you.
So much for my father's efforts. I have, however, one letter
more to include before I close the subject. It is from Mr.
H. Siddons Mowbray to me, giving an estimate of what my
father's colleagues thought of his efforts in this direction.
Washington, Conn., November 16, 1908.
My Dear Mr. Saint-Gaudens:
There have been several periods in my career as an artist
that have been turning points — these I have invariably traced
back to your father. But whilst he — on his part — was so
often forming opportunities for me, and I, on mine, had such
a profound admiration for him, we saw really very little of
each other and exchanged very few letters. . . .
However, permit me to suggest one subject which I do not
think should be lost sight of: the great factor your father
was in the founding of the American Academy of Rome. I
have not seen this subject touched on as yet, as it concerned
271

THE REMINISCENCES OF
Saint-Gaudens, but he had it deeply at heart. I am sure he
would wish to have his name associated with this work, for he
labored hard both in organizing the' movement and raising the
Endowment Fund. At some future day, when the aims of the
school are appreciated and begin to show a result in higher
standards of taste and execution, your father's name will loom
out large as one who led the way.
¦ From this matter of the Roman Academy I turn to my
father's interest in the artistic development of the National
Capitol at Washington, where under the auspices of the Park
Commission together with Charles F. McKim, D. H. Burnham
paid Frederick L. Olmstead, he spent much time and gave the
best of his assistance in criticism and advice toward establish
ing on a firm basis the beauty of that city. In illustration
of his endeavor I present a few extracts of what he wrote on
the subject:
The first is to President Roosevelt:
Aspet, Windsor, Vermont, August 15, 1903.
My dear Mr. President:
... I have been very apprehensive with regard to
the disposition of the new Public Buildings proposed
in Washington. It would be deplorable in the ex-
itreme if they were not placed according to some com-
iprehensive plan, binding all the Public Buildings with
some idea of unity and harmony. Even if the scheme
suggested by the commission of which I was a member,
was discarded, I cannot express too strongly the hope
that nothing will be done without first consulting pro
fessional men, not directly interested in any one
building. . . .
I don't know how to thank you for your more than
272

THE ADAMS MONUMENT IN THE ROCK CREEK CEMETERY, WASHINGTON

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
kind words about the "Sherman" and my other work.
When I realize that you have taken the time to say this
to me amid the multitude of other things on your mind,
it is a fact that touches me deeply and your letter will
be set aside and treasured for those who come after me.
Here also is the draft of a paper which my father wrote
while on the commission, showing one of the many directions
in which he employed the privilege of his membership, this
time for the preservation of the beauty of Arlington, the
home of General Lee, on the south bank of the Potomac, op
posite Washington. He writes :
CEMETERIES
There is nothing that needs proper supervision and
planning more than the modern cemetery, for there is
certainly nothing that suffers more from vulgarity,
ignorance and pretentiousness on the one side, and
grasping unscrupulousness on the other; and instead
of being a place to which one should go with a senti
ment of respect and peace, as into a church or sacred
place, the eye and the feelings are constantly shocked
by the monstrosities which dominate in aU modern
cemeteries. There is no doubt that the feeling which pervades
the majority of people who erect monuments to their
dead is one of the tenderest — a sincere desire to do
nothing, even in the simplest form, which is not fitting
and in entire harmony with the feeling which prompts
the erection of the memorials. This feeling, if properly
protected and guarded, would lead to the harmonious
and sober treatment so necessary for such places.
275

THE REMINISCENCES OF
A great example of the effectiveness of such restraint
and guidance is the extraordinary dignity, impressive-
ness and nobility of the Soldiers' Cemetery at the
Soldiers' Home, Washington; also that part of the
Arlington cemetery set apart for the private and un
known dead. This is not attained by any large monu
ments, but by the very simplicity and uniformity of the
whole. The trouble is that the majority of monuments now
in the cemeteries are produced by firms who make it
merely a business affair, the greater portion of them
having not the slightest idea of what is good or bad, and
possessing not even an elementary knowledge of archi
tecture or even good taste.
To remedy this it is absolutely necessary that the
designs for all the monuments in all the cemeteries
from the most modest to the most costly, should be
made by, or subject to, the approval of a commission
composed of two or three architects, and a landscape
architect of the highest professional standing. They
should lay out and design new cemeteries and establish
rules for their proper supervision, and should control
the designs for future monuments in those already
existing. A flagrant example of the abominable treatment in
such matters is what is being done at the Arlington
Cemetery immediately surrounding the Lee mansion.
If our information is correct, it is proposed to extend
the graves on the noble slope which descends from the
mansion to the river. This is one of the most beauti-
276

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
fui spots in the vicinity of Washington. That it
should not be defaced or touched in any way, and that
a law or rule should at once be passed forbidding the
placing of any monument on this hill, is the unanimous
opinion of this Commission. It would be desecration
to allow it to be changed in the sUghtest degree.
Again as I closed my account of my father's efforts for the
Roman Academy with a letter typical of the regard shown
his work by his contemporaries, let me repeat the process in
this case with the following letter which Mr. Burnham has
written me:
"I was with your father when he was a member of a jury
appointed in Washington to premiate a design in the archi
tectural competition for the Agricultural Building. A large
number of schemes were presented on paper, and hung up
where they could all be easily examined. Your father walked
around the room by himself and looked at each of the designs.
He then went near a window and sat down to read a news
paper while the other members of the jury were spending
most of the afternoon in studying the schemes, one of which
was finally selected by unanimous vote of the jurors, including
your father. After the decision was made, he said to me:
'I am glad we all agreed on the same design, which, to me,
was evidently the best within ten minutes after I came into
the room.' "
My father's outside interests, as I have suggested, were
valuable to him in varying the Cornish routine, and to this
end many trifles accomplished as much as larger efforts. For
example, various little happenings of this Washington life
diverted him thoroughly ; the imposing Justices of the Supreme
Court whom he watched file into their court room during
the spring he was modeling the relief of Justice Gray ; the cozy
277

THE REMINISCENCES OF
dinners at Mr. Henry Adams' house, where witty talkers were
always gathered; the foreign ambassadors' regard for eccle
siastical precedence at a dinner which Dr. David Jayne Hill,
then acting as Secretary of State, gave for Cardinal Gibbons.
On the latter occasion Dr. Hill led the way into the dining-
room with the Countess Santo Thyrso. Count Cassini, the
Russian Ambassador, was to follow with my mother, and other
diplomats in their turn, Mrs. Hill and the Cardinal coming
last. But by the time Dr. Hill and the lady at his side reached
their seats, they were alone. The others were still bowing
and making way for the dignified old man in his scarlet robe.
And even when the piquancies of his surroundings did not
altogether please my father as these had done, they managed
to furnish him with a variety of amusement. Invariably he
would bring home a story or two. I remember distinctly how
he enjoyed telling about a couple of dinners, one at which pink
silk napkins, impossible for a beard, were provided, the other
at which a tank of goldHGsh was set in the table center, with
the result that during all the speeches the guests were intent
not on the wit of the man upon his feet but upon the death
of a fish iri the water. Here are two interesting Washington
letters to Miss Nichols:
The Shoreham, Washington, April 16, 1901.
I think it is the 16th of April. At any rate it is a
beautiful day, Rose, and I have been reveling in the
languorous atmosphere here. The winter in the stren
uous air of Cornish made me forget the charm of gen
tleness that exists in the South. I am already fuU of
the languor myself and doing things in the easy soft-
going manner of the natives and negroes. This is a
great change from the infernal strenuousness of my
278

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
Painted in 1904 by Ellen Emmet

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
previous life. I can imagine you meanwhUe in London
moving about among the shadowy human beings that
appear and disappear in the fog like ships at sea. Do
you know Washington? It is a remarkably attractive
place, unlike any other place I know of in the feeling
of elbow room and the gentle easy-going social customs.
In a few days I am to sit next the French Ambassador
at dinner and then, and then, I wear the little red but
ton* for the first time. I shall commence work here
to-morrow on the bust of Assistant-Secretary HiU.
Again : January 12, 1905.
I am here "faisant antechambre" to the Office of Sec
retary of War Taft, where I have come to talk about
the Von Steuben monument. It ?s unpleasant, the
waiting when you have no ax to grind, but aU the more
so when you are trying to do the decent thing by others.
. . . At 1 :30 this morning LaFarge and his Jap valet
Awoki (or some name like that), Henry James and
I got into a cab made for two, on our return from the
big dinner. It was a great success from the Presiding
Toast-Master down to the speech I made, which was
the best because it was the briefest. Every one was
there and as Justice Harlan said, it was impossible to
dechne an invitation to dinner which was honored by
the President of the United States, The Ambassador
from France, the Cardinal Gibbons of the Church of
Rome, the high Protestant dignitary of the District
of Washington, the Secretary of State Hay, the great
*My father was an Officer of the French Legion of Honor,
281

THE REMINISCENCES OF
Ex-Secretary of War Root, the Speaker of the House
of Representatives, the Attorney General of the United
States, and last, but not least, Saint-Gaudens. Well,
I read my speech after evidently one of the biggest
storms of applause on rising. It was followed by stiU
another when I sat down. Cassatt, President of the
Pennsylvania Railroad, and Pierpont Morgan were
there, the latter having given one hundred thousand
dollars to the Academy in Rome, following the gift of
a like amount the day before by Mr. Walters of Balti
more. It's all an enormous triumph for McKim.
. . . I enclose a copy of my speech which if mem
orized and delivered with the proper intonations of
voice and proper vanity of smile, and quality of visage,
would have been the sum of all that I said.
Here is the speech:
"Charles the Charmer," in other words Charles F.
iMcKim, has assured me that it is essential that I should
speak to-night. This is as flattering as it is fallacious,
for although I have doubts about many things in life,
on one subject I have absolutely none, and that is the
hopeless and helpless limitations of my oratory. It is
much more calculated to reduce listeners to tears than
to contribute to their enlightenment or entertainment.
You wUl therefore understand why I refrain from ex
pressing anything more than my great pleasure at
being included in a company assembled to honor that
which makes for the nobility and elevation of life, the
love of Beauty, Character, and Dignity in our surround
ings as much in the halls of Government and Law as
282

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
in our homes and wherever we live, move and have our
being. The honors that this letter hints at which were pouring in
upon Saint-Gaudens, such as his election to the Royal Academy
and the degree of LL.D. conferred upon him by Yale Uni
versity, were a great source of pleasure to him. For while he
was always modest about his work and about his rank among
other men, such praise as he was now receiving could not but
deeply please his Celtic nature ; and, far from taking it for
granted, he invariably regarded it with the wonder and delight
of a child before a new and unexpected toy. In such a vein,
for example, not long after his election to the Royal Academy,
he wrote to Mr. Edwin A. Abbey: February 8, 1906.
You dear old thingj
"Hfour letteFis at hand. It is a swell honor that the
Royal Academy has done me and one that I appreciate
a very great deal, all the more for the surprise of it.
But one of the nicest things about it was getting such
a letter as you have taken the trouble to write me. I
appreciate that, too, old boy! At the same time, I feel
almost ashamed when I think that I step into Dubois'
shoes and that I follow in the procession with such a
lot of other swells. I don't know how these things
make you feel, but they overpower me with a sense of
humility and I feel like a fraud.
Yes, as you say, the alphabets and crosses, etc., that
are plastered on a feller's chest are not what count so
much. But when the feller who knows, thinks well of
your performance, that is good for the soul and cheery.
Well, here 's to you and the other chaps who have
283

THE REMINISCENCES OF
given me this lift. I am crazy to get over there, al
though I do not see that I can before next autumn.
I shall make a desperate effort to be at the Royal
Academy dinner, but no speeches. The things you
saw that I shot off at the Architects' dinner were
squeezed out of me by Blarney Charles who goes around
prodding us all in that direction, and for the general
good, we thus make fools of ourselves. The only re
venge is that he has to make speeches too, and to see
him perspire makes us wUling to bear with him. He
has been doing a lot of work you know. We have got
seven hundred thousand dollars for the Roman School,
this entirely through his rodent-like determination. A
gently obstinate is he. But what with his efforts there,
his work on the enormous Pennsylvania Railroad
station in New York and the struggle to complete a
beautiful library for Pierpont Morgan in two years
which should take ten, he gave out and has had to stop
for three months. We were nervous about him, but
are now glad to see that he is in harness again.
Again, June 3, 1906, he wrote once more:
... I have ordered sent you fifty dollars and when
ever you have time, send one of your slaves out to bring
you those Jefferson clothes you speak about and send
them over here by express. I will double the amount
if necessary. They have been at me for a long time
to do this Jefferson Monument and I have not yet de
cided to undertake it. It is a big affair, very important
and very conspicuous, and I don't want to do it unless
284

/

no

i.l

, fr

I -may
¦
It! *j.e
rs
* O f !'¦.¦"
11
f
¦
u
! '
,
- r •
Cf
the a
I'
tho fti
: . . ' ¦¦ I
¦ .
_^£_...
.s£
FACSIMILE OF PART OF A LETTER OF AUGUSTUS
SAINT-GAUDENS TO CHARLES F. McKIM
The letter, dated April 4, 1!)05, refers to the success ot tbe American Academy
in Rome, aud the caricatures typify the joy ofthe two friends
AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
it can be done in the right way and that costs time and
money and I am beginning to look at things carefully
in that direction now. ItJsbuUy in you to offer to get
these things for me Ind^TT^ppreciate the offer
much. . . .
It was impossible for me to exhibit with you this
year. I have been in pain for a long while, but I hope
I shall be over it some time or other and as soon as it
goes I wUl send something over. I should like to ex
hibit the Sherman group, but it is costly business, al
though I don't mind that so much. The trouble is that
I would need to have some one who understands it
thoroughly sent over from here to set it up properly.
It is a very comphcated machine. And then don't you
think it kind of pretentious? I know it looks like a
pose of modesty, but my things make me so damned
sick. I assure you that is the case. The action of the
Royal Academy in electing me makes me wonder
whether the world has gone mad or whether I am more
of a fool than I think I am. ReaUy as I look at my
things they make me pretty tired. However, I am evi
dently not entirely right, so if it does not seem too pre
tentious and does not cost me one hundred mUlion
dollars, I will send it next year.
The big English sheep dog, "Doodles," the one with
no tail, whose body is so covered with hair that he looks
like a busted mattress, has just jumped up on the
couch beside me and lies on the Navajo "blanket in the
flickering sunlight.
Good-by. 287

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
While in a like half -jesting tone my father replied as fol
lows to Mr. F. Peter Dunne's congratulations a year before
on the bestowal of the degree by Harvard University: July 6, 1905.
You dear Old Paddy:
Thank you for your letter. I feel like a fraud
though, and as if something 's wrong. When they give
me parchments and silk hoods and things and call me
Doctor of Laws I want to crawl under the table, gown
and all. However, that 's the way of things in this
dizzy world and when I am in New York next, we 'U
have a drink to the honor of it aU.

288

X
CORNISH SCULPTURE
1900-1907
The "Sherman" — Equestrian Statues — The Library Groups — The
St. Giles "Stevenson"— Lesser Work— The "Seated Lincoln"—
The "Daly"— The "Parnell"— The "Brooks."
THE first serious occupation toward which Saint-Gaud
ens directed his efforts after he left the hospital in
1900 was the completion of the Sherman monument,
the reconstruction of the large Stevenson relief for Edinburgh,
and the modeling of the statue of Governor Roswell P. Flower
for Watertown, New York.
At this time one cast of the "Sherman" stood in the Paris
Exposition, while a plaster duplicate had gone to the French
foundry. My father, however, still dissatisfied with the result,
decided to set up a third replica here in Cornish in order to
send further changes to Paris where they might be inserted in
the bronze. This tendency almost endlessly to alter and re-
alter details lasted to the close of his life, he himself being the
first to recognize his crotchet and to laugh at it. He used to
say that he would have been absorbed beyond measure in watch
ing Phidias, the sculptor of fame, experimenting with the tiny
holes he bored in the eyelids of his statues in order to insert
gold eyelashes. Hence, to carry forward his efforts success
fully in the case of the "Sherman," my father placed a shed
around the statue wherein, seated at the monument's foot,
wrapped up like an Esquimau, he spent many happy days di
recting not only those modifications of which he has spoken,
but such others as the "Germanic" hair at the back of the
289

THE REMINISCENCES OF
Victory's neck, or upon the tail of the horse or the tiny
angles and stiff marks of age on the animal which he felt
increased its nervous snap.
During the variations of these details he explained many old
and fixed ideas, some of wliich I have already given. As with
the "Shaw," he showed his dislike of objects wholly analyzed,
since he believed that the unreserved is the uninteresting. Ac
cordingly, he experimented with Sherman's lowered right hand
and hat until he had drawn across it a bit of the coat; and in
the same way he satisfied himself by lapping the Victory's wing
over Sherman's left leg. Again, he demonstrated how, after
he had built up a careful nude of the Victory, he could cut re
morselessly into her body to give a natural appearance to
her drapery. Once, for instance, while he was sitting at the
far end of the camera-shaped studio, he called up to an assist
ant who stood upon the scaffolding by the Victory's head,
"Make that line longer and deeper."
The assistant gouged into the clay.
"Deeper yet!"
The assistant gave another slash.
"No, no, deep!" My father climbed the ladder. "Is that
it?" he asked, pointing to a comparatively slight tool-mark.
"No, here you are," answered the assistant, indicating a tre
mendous hole.
My father retired, apologizing with, "That all goes to ex
plain that you must get far away from your work to see it
properly." The line was none too deep. Moreover, it was typical of
his difficult struggle with the head of the Victory. First, the
initial study failed to content him, for therein he had copied
certain beautiful features until he felt that he had filled it with
overmuch "personality." Then the second attempt, although
intrinsically of greater worth, appeared even more out of keep
ing with the monument. So finally he was forced to return to
290

Copr. DoW.O.Ward

THE SECOND STUDY FOR THE HEAD OF THE
OF THE SHERMAN STATUE

VICTORY *

Although Saint-Gaudens had a preference for this, it did not accord so well with tbe statue as the first
study. The latter was used for that purpose, and the profile of this second study was later
reproduced in relief as the model for the new cent and the ten-dollar coin

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
his earlier model, and to labor over it indefatigably until he
had developed it to his liking.
On the other hand, the bust of General Sherman, which he
had modeled from life, evolved smoothly. As it stood, of
course, it was not meant for use upon a monument. Conse
quently after he had determined the proportional size of Sher
man's body to the horse, he had his misgivings as he caused the
portrait to be enlarged to a point where it would appear in
proper relation to its new shoulders. Soon, however, he felt
well satisfied, remarking when the head had gone into place:
"If you have modeled your best sculpture in the small, you
should have accomplished your best results for your work when
it is made big. Your subject should contain both the detail
required upon close inspection, and the breadth that makes it
tell at a distance."
This need for carrying power he constantly dwelt upon in
his modeling. I remember that one day as he watched four
or five assistants engaged on various portions of the Sher
man, he broke the silence with : "lam going to invent a ma
chine to make you all good sculptors."
The stillness promptly became uneasy.
"It will have hooks for the back of your necks, and strong
springs." The stillness grew even more uneasy.
"Every thirty seconds it will jerk you fifty feet away from
your work, and hold you there for five minutes' contemplation."
But his troubles with that statue were not over even after
these alterations. He felt too deep an interest in this new
combination of the real and the ideal to let the monument es
cape him. So he set up the bronze itself in the field back of
his house, to the delight of the farmers, that he might experi
ment with the pedestal and supervise the application of the
patine. He had always spent much time over the color of
his productions, struggling to obtain the proper "mat" upon
293

THE REMINISCENCES OF
their surfaces either by paint or acids or gold-leaf; and in the
case of the "Sherman" he explained, "I am sick of seeing
statues look like stove pipes." Hence he longed for the un
usual combination of a gilded bronze on a cream-colored base.
The plan was not wholly feasible, as he failed to obtain the
stone he desired for his pedestal. But at least he covered the
"Sherman" with two layers of gold-leaf; and if the "Marcus
Aurelius" on the Capitoline Hill in Rome is a test, that gold-
leaf will remain on the "Sherman" for some centuries.
Unfortunately, after all his struggles, the surroundings of
the "Sherman" were never to my father's liking, For a long
time he fought to gain a location on Riverside Drive in front
of Grant's tomb; but the protests of some of the Sherman
family, he believed, settled the question against his desires
and placed the site at the southeast corner of Central Park.
Consequently accepting the inevitable, he wrote the following
to Mr. Daniel Chester French, then on the Art Commission of
the City of New York:
Windsor, Vermont, March 19, 1902.
Dear French:
In view of the fact that the "Sherman" site question
is now to be passed upon by the Art Committee it oc
curs to me that you might like to know my views with
regard to the Fifty-ninth Street site, which I have
just learned has been settled on by Mr. WUcox. I
consider it a most honorable and beautiful location, al
though not comparable with either the "Grant" or
"Mall" sites, and it is regrettable that considerations
which wiU have no weight in the future should annul
so remarkable an opportunity for giving a monument
to General Sherman a noble position.
At Fifty-ninth Street it will be very much hidden by
294

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
the trees and unless the circle is increased fifteen or
twenty feet in diameter the work cannot be seen to ad
vantage without stepping off the curb into the driveway
(twenty-seven or thirty steps). About sixty-five feet
from the pedestal is the proper distance for viewing the
work. There would be only fifty-five feet from the
side of the pedestal to the edge of the circle. Nearer
than forty feet from the pedestal it is impossible to see
the statue to any advantage. Therefore, if your com
mittee reports favorably, might I respectfully suggest
that you caU the attention of the Park Commissioners
to these disadvantages.
It is absolutely essential that the Circle be extended
and the grass plots eliminated in order that the specta
tor may be free to move at will around the monument.
It wUl also be necessary to make some redisposition of
the trees, but I cannot say how without further study.
Had even this request been granted Saint-Gaudens would
have had no further complaint. But when such comparatively
simple schemes as this were denied, his temper got the better
of him until he found himself involved in a controversy with
Park Commissioner W. R. Wilcox, which reached its climax
in a letter from the latter which said in part:
"In the first place, I do not agree with you that people
are prevented from viewing the statue because of the grass-
plots ; but it might be well to consider whether the parks were
made for statues or statues for parks. I am unwilling for a
moment to admit that the whole park system must revolve
around a single statue, or that trees and grass, or other park
features, must give way to any hobby, no matter by whom it
is ridden. 295

THE REMINISCENCES OF
"It is possible that there is no one here with sufficient intel
ligence to pass upon a question of this kind, and if that is
so the city will be obliged to stand the serious consequences —
at least for another month."
The defeat was my father's, but I cannot resist adding this
last letter which gives him, in spite of all, the final word.
Aspet, Windsor, Vermont, May 21, 1903.
Dear French:
I have given up the fight. After promising Mr. Mc
Kim that the two trees in front would come down, I
suppose Wilcox became frightened, and did nothing.
Then seeing the way the green came down over the
front of the statue (notwithstanding surreptitious cut
ting of the branches under his hand by Ardisson whUe
erecting the scaffold), he became bold again and sent
a boss with two men to trim off the concealing limbs.
Ardisson plied them with whiskey and they became en
thusiastic in their cutting (alas, not enthusiastic
enough) , and now I suppose Wilcox will become scared
again. But soon a kindlier feeling outweighed my father's chagrin
at the position of the monument, for it was welcomed by the
public with an admiration which gave the sculptor untold hap
piness. Here is a letter which he wrote to his good friend
Henry James concerning it: February 8, 1906.
Dear James:
It does not seem possible that anything I have done
is worth what you have written with such exceeding
kindness in the North American Review. Neverthe
less, I take off my hat to the honor you have done me
296

MEDALLION OF EX-ATTORNEY-GENERAL AND MRS. WAYNE MACVEAGH

THE ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON PANEL
The above variation of tbe Stevenson relief was modeled by Saint-Gaudens in 1807-09 for St. Giles'
Church, Edinburgh. The original relief, around one, represented Stevenson in bed with a cigarette
in his hand. Tlie alterations to couch and pen were made as being more suitable to the new setting.

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
and I cherish your appreciation very, very highly. I
take my hat off also to what you say of the figure of
Victory, Liberty, Peace (and what not besides I meant
therein) . It is because I feel so strongly the damna
tion of the whole business of war, that I made it, the
very reason for which you want it otherwise! And
there we are. Your reasons I am sure are better than
mine, but, to paraphase what Stevenson wrote in a book
he gave me, "Each of us must have our way
You with ink and I with clay."
It is interesting to refer, in connection with the "Sherman,"
to Saint-Gaudens' regard for the needs of such a statue and
to his opinion upon equestrian monuments in general. In the
first case, a portion of a letter sent me by Mr. William A.
Coffin well explains my father's personal attitude. Mr. Coffin
writes of the erecting of the Sherman monument at the Buffalo
Exposition. "To make a long story short, I got both the 'Sherman' and
the 'Shaw' and other important works by Saint-Gaudens, in
cluding the 'Stevenson.' As an assistant in placing and
setting up the sculpture, the actual work, I had the capable
services of Mr. Henry Hering. My letters to Saint-Gaudens
through it all were many and long. I felt I could not give
myself too much trouble. I determined to have the 'Sherman'
set up in fine emplacement in front of the Fine Arts Building
and to have it face the building. The place for the pedestal
was some distance out from the building. As I remember it
now, if placed facing the building, the way I was sure it would
look best, the light or the place of the sun would be for the
greater part of the day behind it. If placed with its back to
the building, the way Saint-Gaudens preferred to set his statues
299

THE REMINISCENCES OF
— face to the south — it would look out over the lake. The
emplacement was on a high bank of the lake — an open space,
macadamized, and we had got the Buffalo Park Department to
take away a fountain that stood there in order to put the
pedestal on the same spot. A pedestal was built and Hering
and his men with many days of labor set up the 'Sherman.'
I wrote Saint-Gaudens again and he came to Buffalo. He
looked at the 'Sherman' in the morning, at noon and in the
afternoon. He walked around it again and again by himself,
and he walked around it with Hering. He was greatly pleased
altogether. No mistake had been made, the effect was grand
— that is the word that is best to use — and he was content.
I told him Bartlett had been there and admired it, saying at
the same time that he for his part preferred a placing for his
works with the front to the north because of the better shadows,
showing masses better than if placed facing south. Saint-
Gaudens pointed out to me that in his (Saint-Gaudens') work
he 'made a great deal of detail and surface as well as mass,
wherein he differed from Bartlett, but that he was convinced
by seeing it that the 'Sherman' could not look better than
it did just as it was, and he was happy and pleased. He
thought the pedestal was too much of 'a block' in its design
so a new form of pedestal was drawn by William Bosworth,
Carrere and Hastings' representative on the Exposition
grounds, a pedestal somewhat resembling the fine permanent
pedestal in the Plaza, but not quite so high. Then the old
one was hacked away while the 'Sherman' was shored up and
the new one replaced it.
"What Saint-Gaudens said about surface and detail counting
for much in his work apropos of what I had' told him Bartlett
had said to me, reminds me of one of his characteristic ex
pressions. I had more than once discreetly hinted, when we
were together looking at some work or another of his, some
thing about the importance in my mind of weight and mass
300

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
as the essentials of sculpture and whenever Saint-Gaudens
seemed to think I was hinting in his direction he would say
the same thing, about in these words: 'Well, Coffin, you see I
have always a great fear lest my work should look Teutonic'
I knew he meant 'heaviness' and I knew I did n't, but I
always made the same reply, about in these words, 'Good
Lord! avoid anything that might look Teutonic' And there
the matter always rested."
My father's regard for other equestrian statues both
ancient and modern I can fairly well illustrate in the next
few letters. First let me explain that to his eyes came before
all others the "Gattamalata" by Donatello in Padua, then the
"Colleoni" by Verrocchio in Venice, and then the "Jeanne d'Arc"
by Paul Dubois in Rheims, about which I have already quoted
what my father has put down. Of contemporary American
equestrian monuments he has written at length in two letters
to Mr. V. A. Blacque: July 27, 1905.
My dear Blacque:
There are equestrian statues galore, most of them
atrocious. Three admirable ones, however, come to my
mind. The first is that of General Grant in Phila
delphia by French. It is very fine, dignified, strong,
and fuU of character. Then there 's the statue of Gen
eral Scott in Washington by H. K. Brown. The
figure is unusually exceUent and so is the horse. It is
really a swell thing. But it is too bad that the General
is too big for the animal. If it were not for that there
could be no adverse criticisms. Finally there is that
of General Thomas, also in Washington, by Ward. It
is spirited, and from some points of view, admirable.
The horse is unusuaUy good. 301

THE REMINISCENCES OF
If you want to know of the rotten ones I wiU try
and think them up. There are two other good ones, al
though I do not care so much for them, the Hooker
and Washington by French; the former near the State
House in Boston, the latter in Paris, given by the
women of America to France. Then of course there
is H. K. Brown's Washington in Union Square. That
is a noble work. The figure is particularly fine, the
horse rather modern. August 7, 1905.
Dear Blacque:
Your letter of August first is at hand. Another
good statue I had forgotten is that of Washington by
Ball in Boston; rather cocky and un-Washingtonian,
but good work. A bad one of General Grant by Re-
bisco is in Chicago. These, and another in the latter
category by Partridge of Brooklyn are all that I know
of, although there are legions I have no doubt in some
form or other at Gettysburg. As I write, three others
come to me, one equestrian Washington in Washington,
I do not know by whom, that contributes to the gaiety
of nations, the historically joyous old Jackson in front
of the White House and one of the revolutionary Gen
eral Greene also in Washington, poor, although the
horse is good. The Secretary of the Committee of
the Library of Congress can inform you of these and
of others in the United States, I have no doubt. And
still they come to my mind; two jokes in front of the
City Hall, Philadelphia, Meade and McCleUan. When
you are depressed, go and see them.
302

A PAINTED REPRODUCTION OF THE BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY FIGURES, SET UP BY
AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS TO DETERMINE THE SIZE

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
Other terrors are the Hancock and MacPherson also
in Washington, and there you are. If others come to
my mind, I shall tell you of them.
There is one of General Slocum recently erected in
Brooklyn by MacMonnies. I have not seen it.
Besides the "Sherman" my father brought back with him
from Paris two carefully studied groups for the Boston Pub
lic Library. The length of time that he had been ruminating
over this commission may be shown by this letter sent to
Mr. S. A. B. Abbott in 1894: May 21st, 1894.
Dear Abbott:
I am working on the Ubrary work on the following
rough lines: on one pedestal Labor, represented by a
man seated between two female figures- — Science on
one side and Art on the other — ; on the other pedestal,
a male figure of Law in the middle, with female figures
of Religion on one side and Force, or Power, on the
other. Sail into me all you wish about it, please. The
idea was to get two leading male figures, Law and
Labor, supported by the others as you see. It is an
extremely difficult thing to manage, and I have been
thinking of it more than anything else in my life.
Blarney * and you might say that "that is not saying
much." But such is the case.
These great elementary figures may be made to em
brace the principal sub-divisions by shields which they
may hold, or they may be indicated in the pedestals,
* Charles I. McKim. 305

THE REMINISCENCES OF
bearing the classifications. For instance, under Art,
we should put music, architecture, painting, sculpture,
poetry, and drama; and so on with the others. I am
feeling rather happy at this arrangement, as it seems to
have some kind of harmony, making Law and Labor
the units, on which the others depend. Although I am
happy about it I shall be happy as I said before if you
abuse me, now that there is something to abuse. I shall
be in Boston within a week or ten days surely.
i The outcome of this idea was a final arrangement in which
We pedestal bore four figures, Law, flanked on one side by
Executive Power, and on the other by two more personifying
[Love. The other pedestal had three figures typifying Science,
Labor and Art, the latter as expressed in Music. These names
convey little significance of the ideas he intended, nor would
a detailed description of the poses explain the quality of his
conceptions. For his own purpose he had created complete
studies and had he lived, he would have finished them rapidly.
But he considered the problem exceptionally serious with an
opportunity so unrestricted, and yet so difficult of treatment,
the figures to be placed in a position that would force the
results violently upon the visitor. He often used to say that
he would give much for the fertile imagination of Vedder,
who was just the man to conceive such compositions. Also
his anxiety about them was increased by the fact that they
were to go to Boston, a city which he regarded as filled with
ingrown hyper-criticism. Hence, though he had frequently
turned to the studies, he felt unwilling to finish them until he
could allot them whole-hearted devotion, with the result that
he never completed the work upon which he had looked long
and fondly. The third, and only other important production
which my father carried on in Europe to perfect here, was
306

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
the large variation of his Robert Louis Stevenson medallion
for the church of St. Giles, Edinburgh, Scotland. True, he
had the work sent to a French bronze foundry before he sailed
for home. But at that time he was suffering from the illness
that caused his return. Therefore, when he saw the relief
with fresh eyes in Cornish and discovered that the foundry,
after two or three failures to cast this huge surface, had
sent him an unsatisfactory result, he discarded that bronze
and altered the changes he had already made.
So much, in a general way, for the more vital work completed
between Saint-Gaudens' return to Cornish and the spring of
1902. The larger productions of the years which followed began
with a second Lincoln for Chicago, Illinois, wherein my father
realized his long-cherished hope of returning to one of his
earlier commissions and of developing it again according to
his later ideas. It is interesting to record that he nearly
lost this opportunity, however, through that very absorption
in his work which had placed him where he stood. As in the
case of the first Lincoln monument, so with the second, the
Committee asked him to enter a competition, which, of course,
he refused to do, and then came again with a direct offer.
Near the time of this second visit, about noon of a Sunday
morning, my mother went to the studio where my father was
working alone. On a large board was written: "Lincoln Com
mittee, Century Club, ten o'clock."
"Have you seen them?" asked my mother.
"Great Scott ! No !" cried my father, staring at the board.
He had forgotten his appointment, engrossed in his task.
At once my mother hurried to the Century Club to inquire
about what had happened. Alas! Here she found only a
note from Mr. Norman Williams saying they had waited an
hour in vain. From the Club, therefore, she followed Mr.
Williams to his hotel where she met him in company with an-
307

THE REMINISCENCES OF
other member of the Committee who intimated that any man
so oblivious to punctuality should not be intrusted with the
monument. Nevertheless, she succeeded in setting matters
straight. Possibly Mr. Williams felt thaf a sculptor who
could become engrossed in his work to the exclusion of
everything else would be just the man to do that work well.
At the time when Saint-Gaudens considered his original
Lincoln, as I have explained, he thought seriously of making
a seated figure; and though the idea was then given up, it
had always caused him a twinge of regret. So now, he gladly
began upon the project. He set his mind this time upon Lin
coln the head of the state, rather than Lincoln the man, as
in his earlier monument; but he wished a gaunt Lincoln in
a gaunt yet official chair, as he had placed a gaunt Sherman
on a gaunt horse. Accordingly, to reach his solution of
combining the personal with the national, he shifted the three
four-foot models of the statue back and forth over seats of
countless shapes and sizes; he added thereto the flag of the
United States ; while for the larger composition, he first con
sidered placing figures of Justice and Charity on each side
of the Lincoln, but later modified this scheme to an architec
tural one of two columns.
The work on this Lincoln well illustrated my father's care
for the proper dimensions of the monument as seen in the
large. Because, in order to determine this, before the small
model was half finished, he had full-sized solar enlargements
made of it and the result set up in a field behind the house,
together with a representation of the architecture. While
the statue progressed, also, Saint-Gaudens' answers to a num
ber of questions which arose concerning it clearly revealed
tiow he never hesitated to tread on the toes of Nature if
forced thereto in the process of gaining the effects of Nature.
As in the standing Lincoln he had lengthened the body a
trifle at the waist, so here he slightly elongated Lincoln's
308

MODEL FOR THE PARNELL MONUMENT FOR DUBLIN, IRELAND
This full size model was erected by Saint-Gaudens at his home at Cornish, Now Hampshire, against a background
of trees m that the sculptor might judge of the effect. The monument stands in u Dublin square

itffr

fea *-

%J^:m0^

MODEL OF THE SQUARE IN DUBLIN IN WHICH THE PARNELL WAS PLACED,
MADE BY AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
legs from the knee down, to guard against the foreshorten
ing by the low point of view of the visitor. The head he
"shrunk" since he had a horror of making a man "look like
a tadpole." The hair he modeled in a manner quite different
from the hair seen in photographs of Lincoln, though the
result seemed to give the onlooker that proper sense of Lin
coln's hair which my father desired to convey. On the other
hand, with his usual care, he spared no pains to obtain correct
materials for costume and figure. He even asked Mr. John
Bixby, who posed for the statue, to wander among the farmers
dressed in black broadcloth of the cut of Lincoln's time, that
he might wear the proper wrinkles in the suit.
The other two statues in the round that my father planned
soon after the Lincoln were those of Marcus Daly for Butte,
Montana, and of Charles Stewart Parnell for Dublin, Ireland.
The Parnell in especial my father attacked with zest, be
cause he declared that he felt in his element with anything
Irish; though on second thought he added that Parnell was
only as Irish as himself, which was just one-half.
At the outset in this commission he found trouble both in
lack of portrait material and in a scheme for an original treat
ment of modern clothes. The portrait presented unusual
difficulties because Parnell had sat for few photographs, all
of which proved of exceptionally little use. But before long
the sculptor was lucky enough to think of a series of carica
tures in Punch and such_.jMljrj,3iijffirirtuJtfdiiid^
trial by bianey P. Hall, John Tenniel, Harry Furniss, and
others; through which curious means he made this monument
in Parnell's honor.
For the composition as a whole Saint-Gaudens placed a
table with a draped flag close by the figure, forming the
requisite mass at the foot of such a shaft as he had long been
anxious to erect. Moreover, here again he displayed his custom
ary anxiety over the final harmony of his work with its sur-
311

THE REMINISCENCES OF
roundings and took care to reinforce his powers of visualization
by experiments with tangible objects. First he procured a map
of the square in Dublin where the monument was to stand,
together with detailed photographs and measurements of the
blocks that surround the square. Next he caused a small
model of the place to be erected from this data, that photo
graphs might be taken of this with the miniature shaft in
the midst of it. Lastly he had the cast of the nearly finished
statue set up in a field before a wooden pillar over seventy
feet high, marked to resemble stone, with the result that when
he asked the committee to inspect the result one of them said :
"Wonderful! Wonderful! It looks just like a marble
statue !"
In one other respect, too, the monument is of peculiar in
terest. Except for the face, the figure represents not so
much the man in accurate detail, as his spirit in the broad
sense. For although Parnell was known to speak poorly, my
father portrayed him in the midst of oratory, with his thin
right arm stretched rigidly from his shoulder. Here is Saint-
Gaudens' idea of this question, expressed in a letter to Mr.
Thomas Baker of the Parnell Committee:
Windsor, Vermont, September 12, 1904.
Dear Mr. Baker:
. . . It would be very regrettable if I were called
upon to lower the outstretched arm, for, aside from the
fact that the people who knew ParneU have told me that
the gesture was one that they saw him use, and it is
referred to in one of his "Lives," it is one which treated
rightly can give the commanding spirit of Parnell and
the nobUity and calmness of his bearing impossible to
show in any other way. Besides, from an architectural
312

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
and monumental point of view it is very much finer.
The work is to endure for generations, when idiosyn
crasies will have been forgotten and the monument will
count as a whole regardless of any personal peculiarities.
The studio fire of 1904, as I have said, made a definite break
in the progress of my father's work. In the reorganization
which followed he found opportunity to take up other com
missions long-delayed. Chief among these was the monument
to Phillips Brooks for which he had already created over
twenty sketches, and on the small model of which he had
already progressed. How many years earlier he began to
think about this monument is shown in this letter sent in 1893
to Dr. Winchester Donald. The general scheme of sculpture
and architecture mentioned therein was never altered. He
writes :
148 West Thirty-sixth Street, Dec. 26, 1893.
Martin Brimmer, Esq.,
Rev. Winchester Donald,
Dear Sirs:
Since our correspondence in relation to the monu
ment to Phillips Brooks, I have visited Boston and
examined the vicinity of Trinity Church and fully con
sidered the matter. As far as my conception now goes,
I should wish to make the monument a covered one on
the principle of the Scagliere Monument at Verona,
and compose the Bishop with an accessory figure, the
character of which to be determined by fuller study.
The figures would be about ten or eleven feet in height
and the entire work about thirty feet; the monument to
313

THE REMINISCENCES OF
be so designed that it would be placed in the triangle
on the north side of the church to compose with the
church as it now stands, or to be either in the center or
at the entrance of an enclosure or cloister, should that
be determined on in the remodehng of the buUd
ing. . . .
Before dealing with the sculpture directly, however, I will
emphasize for a moment this question of the architecture men
tioned in the letter I have just given. Because this archi
tecture, more elaborate than usual, my father studied most
earnestly with Stanford White. It is strange that these two
men who first worked together in Trinity Church, Boston,
should have designed their last composition to go under the
shadow of that building. I give three letters between them :
January 17, 1906.
Dear Stan:
I return you the drawings you made for the Brooks
years ago. I think I like the plan of Number Four
the best and the style of Number Three, but I leave this
entirely to you. I will say, however, that I should
greatly Uke to have it in the character of your Park-
hurst church, which I think great and just in the line
I had wished for this. I think you must provide for a
bulge out in front as in Number Three and for the cross
to run up as in Number Three also.
The statue of Brooks is to be eight feet and four
inches in height, or thereabouts, and the rest of the
group very much as shown in the drawings. Gus.
To which White replied: 314

¦¦HMm^H^^HH

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS ABOUT TWO YEARS BEFORE HIS DEATH

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
New York, March 17, 1906.
Dear Gus:
I send you with this a careful drawing for the PhU-
lips Brooks monument. In your letter to me you ask
that I should send drawings for both the square and
the circular one, but I am so positive that square form
is infinitely the best, every one agreeing with me (Mc
Kim, Kendall and Phil Richardson), that I beg you
to give up the idea of the round one and go ahead with
the square one. The round one might look well from
the front, but aU the other views would be complicated
and ugly. . . . Affy, Stanford.
To which my father answered: March 30, 1906.
Dear Stan:
. . . When the model is made I will communicate
with you. My objection to the square form and the
reason I preferred the circular was that the circular
covered the group more. You remember some one
objected to the Cooper monument, that it was a "pro
tection that did noV protect."
That my father clung to this determination to the end is
shown by a letter which he wrote on July 1st, 1907, directly
before his death, to Mr. Kendall of the firm of McKim, Mead,
and White, insisting on the semicircular canopy but leaving
the rest to the architects.
Saint-Gaudens' delay of ten years in starting the commis
sion seems inexcusable on the face of it. Yet there were three
317

THE REMINISCENCES OF
very definite reasons that held him back, love of his subject,
a dread of Boston such as also influenced his delay upon the
Library figures, and ill-health. This love of his subject came
to him through an especial quality of Brooks' nature which
Brooks defined when he said:
"Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men;
not for tasks equal to your powers, but for powers equal to
your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle,
but you shall be a miracle."
As for Saint-Gaudens' dread of Boston, here is what
he wrote to John La Farge about this undertaking:

I suppose I am getting well, as I am able to work
seriously for the first time in a year on the "Brooks."
Physically, he is terribly difficult to represent, consid
ering what he is in the minds of his admirers ; and when
beyond this there is the introduction of the Holy fig
ure, it makes me feel abominably audacious. . . .
While that other third cause of his delay, ill-health, is
rather gruesomely stated in this letter to Dr. Winchester
Donald :
Aspet, Windsor, Vermont, October 10, 1903.
Dear Donald:
I have your bully letter and if you were not such a
bully fellow I should have much trouble in answering
you. But you understand things.
For six years there has not been a day in my life
iwhen a horrible vision of death has not been constantly
panging over me. . . . About three months ago, as
the result of diet or something, a total change in men
tality came; the vision of death vanished and an entire
318

ORIGINAL SKETCHES OF IDEAS BY AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
The Magee Memorial The Brooke Memorial, Trinity Church, Boston
Standing in front of Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
new grip on life and health took possession of me. It
was so extraordinary that I seized on it as a drowning
man seizes on a rock. In order to maintain this grip,
I have not done a stroke of work for three months.
The "Brooks" is now where it was at that time. This
is the first time in my life, when sound in body and
mind, I have refrained from work. I am entirely a
new man and am crazy to get at it again. But I wUl
hold off as long as the fine weather lasts and then wiU
"sail into" the monument. This is a good deal of talk
about me and I only mention it to explain why there
has been no progress for these months.
As finished, Phillips Brooks stands well forward in the archi
tectural canopy; his left hand grasps a Bible that rests upon
a lectern; the right hand is raised in a gesture of concluding
emphasis ; the gown swings with energetic motion ; and the face
looks down at his listeners, earnestly, soberly. Behind, and
above the figure, and beside a cross that rises through the
shadow of the canopy, Christ, veiled, peaceful, half-remote,
touches the man softly on the shoulder with His right hand.
To my father's understanding, Brooks, in preaching, threw
back his shoulders and poured out thoughts and feelings as
if the effort of speech could not hinder the ideas he had to
deliver. So for some time he did his best to discover how to
express this and yet avoid a bug-bear of which he wrote :
I got at the "Brooks" again yesterday. I am mak
ing him more alive. I fear from the general things
I hear that I must not do anything that resembles in
the remotest degree academical oratory.
But, at last, sharply realizing that he had no means of
portraying freedom of vocal expression except by freedom
321

THE REMINISCENCES OF
of gesture, he acted, in a measure, after the fashion of his
work upon the Parnell. He chose a gesture he was told Brooks
occasionally took and he emphasized that, believing, as in the
other case, that since the statue was to last for all time it was
best to take a slight liberty with the personal idiosyncrasies
of the preacher, which would only go against the grain of a
few of his friends now surviving, in order to present to gen
erations to come a symbol of the spirit of the real man.
Indeed there were few objects in his later years that my
father "caressed" as long as he did this figure. He selected
and cast aside. He shifted folds of the gown back and forth.
He juggled with the wrinkles of the trousers, which invariably
obstructed the development far more than their final interest
justified. He moved the fingers and the tilt of the right hand
into a variety of gestures. He raised and lowered the chin
of this long-studied portrait until finally he left it lowered,
since he considered the angle of the head a question of art and
not of fact, and since he felt that he expressed more definitely
the magnetism of the preacher by having him appear to talk
directly at the visitor. He shifted the left hand first from the
chest to a position where it held an open Bible, and last to
the lectern ; because, although the lectern has aroused argument
as not being the point from which Brooks spoke, it was vitally
necessary for the composition.
The process certainly brought my father pleasure. As
long as he could stand and model for himself, he resumed his
former habit of singing airs from old Italian operas and of
whistling as he worked, after the fashion of the days in Rome
and later in the New York Thirty-sixth Street studio. "Maid
of Athens," "In the Gloaming," snatches from "Faust" and the
Offenbach Operas were mingled day by day with negro songs
such as "As I walk that Levee down," and ditties of the type of
"Johnnie Jones and his sister Sue."
When he first turned seriously to the character of the figure
322

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
behind Brooks, he designed sketches of fully thirty angels.
But after coming to work in Cornish he received the sugges
tion that he substitute a Christ for the angel he had planned.
The conception appealed to him more because of what he
might develop in the composition and because of the fitness
of the subject than from any desire on his part to portray
an idea of the character of Christ. However, as was his cus
tom, he sought, a "biography," and on being handed Renan's
"Life of Christ," read it eagerly. Next he procured Tissot's
"Life of Christ." After that, the story has it, he went to his
friend, Mr. Henry Adams, explained what he had been doing
and asked for another book on the subject. Whereat Mr.
Adams promptly suggested one called the Bible.
Then while he ruminated upon his task, a sincere change in
his attitude towards his subject came over him. Hitherto,
though educated a Catholic, he had never found appeal in the
historical self-chastising doctrines of Christianity. Only the
joy of religion had drawn from him any response. He always
remembered his aversion to his schoolmates, who, according
to their instructions, beat their chests and named themselves
"miserable sinners;" "Craw-thumpers," he and his brothers
used to call them. But now, as he gave the subject more
and more individual thought, Christ no longer stood to him
as the head of a cult that announced bewildering self-contra
dictions and endless punishment of sin, but became the man
of men, a teacher of peace and happiness.
From that time Saint-Gaudens began to express a genuine
faith in his conception of the physical image of Christ as a
man, tender yet firm, suffering yet strong. It scarcely co
incided with other representations in the past, though, of
course, a few of them proved the exception to the rule, the
"Bon Dieu" at the cathedral of Amiens, Dagnan-Bouveret's
"Christ," and Rembrandt's Christ in the "Supper at Emmaus."
Rather the greater share of influence from pictorial work
323

THE REMINISCENCES OF
came, as I have said, from Tissot's "Life of Christ," so well
illustrated by the author.
Here is a portion of a letter my father wrote to Tissot on
the subject:
I am making a statue of Christ and turn to you as
the highest authority in anything pertaining to Him. I
would be most grateful if you could give me some in
formation with regard to the shape and size of the gar
ments He wore; details of arrangement I cannot get
by simply studying the illustrations in your extraor
dinary work, which I have the good fortune to possess.
Will you excuse me if I take this opportunity to ex
press the profound admiration I have felt for your art
for a long time, beginning with the etchings of "The
Prodigal Son" which I saw years ago at Knoedler's in
New York. Your sincerity and devotion have been a
great incentive and inspiration to me.
Thereafter the development of the figure was inevitable.
For as soon as Saint-Gaudens knew exactly what he desired,
he worked not only with his usual energy but behind closed
doors in the fear that the committee would get wind of his
scheme and would judge adversely before he was prepared.
At first he designed two reliefs of Christ, the first low, the
second almost in the round, as in the case of the Shaw Memo
rial. He considered them failures, for one thing because he
insisted that the hand of the Christ should rest upon Brooks.
Of course as in the bas-relief of Dr. James McCosh he had
already modeled a complete hand extending from a medallion.
Yet he could not nerve himself to grasp the problem again, so
finally he constructed the whole Christ as a statue, and thereat
his troubles multiplied. He desired the figure back among
324

STUDY FOR THE HEAD OF CHRIST MADE FOR THE
PHILLIPS BROOKS MONUMENT
This and the medallion of Mrs. Augustus Saint-Gaudens were the last pieces of sculpture worked upon by Saint-
Gaudens with his own handB. In the monument the Christ head was somewhat veiled and altered

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
the columns, and sought in the head an air of mystery which
should be intensified by drapery and shadow, a sense so long
ago sought in the "Silence" and later in the "Adams Monu
ment." But for a while the folds of Christ's garments would
not compose as he wished. When they crossed the shoulder
in a humble manner they did not accord with the lines of
Brooks' figure, and when they harmonized with the preacher,
they failed properly to characterize the Christ. Eventually,
however, my father evolved a scheme which satisfied him.
The head of the Christ was one of the last two pieces of
sculpture that he actually touched with his hands, and as
it stood alone he felt most happy over the result. However,
when the bust had been placed upon the figure he believed it
too abstract and too remote, especially about the eyes, which
he desired to look directly toward Brooks. Moreover, for
reasons that have been explained in other cases, he wished the
head draped and in shadow. Accordingly, he set upon the
problem an assistant, Miss Frances Grimes, who, under his
direction, modified the features until at last he undoubtedly
gained what he sought because, toward the end of the com
mission, and of his life, he said more than once : "There, it 's
all right now ; all right now !"

327

XI
FINAL WORK
1904-1907
The "Hanna"— The "Magee"— The "Whistler"— The Coins— The
Puritan — The Hay Bust — Hay Letters — The Mitchell Relief —
The "Masque" — The "Sage" — The "MacVeagh" — Mrs. Saint-
Gaudens— The "Booth"— The Baker "Christ"— The Albright
Caryatids — Philosophy.
BESIDES the "Brooks," after the erection of the new
studio on the spot where the old one had burned, my
father turned not only to the reconstruction of the
statues which he had lost, but before long to a monument to
Marcus A. Hanna, memorials to Christopher Lyman Magee and
James MacNeill Whistler, the United States coins, the Cary
atids for the Albright Art Gallery, and other commissions.
The Hanna developed with unusual speed. To begin with,
the nature of the subject allowed my father to refer back to
photographs he had taken of his numberless sketches for the
Peter Cooper monument and so made possible his choosing a
pose without much difficulty. He secured, also, through ex
ceptional fortune, a series of satisfactory, unretouched photo
graphs of Mr. Hanna, though, as usual, without a profile
among them. As for the problem of the chair, which often
annoyed him, an assistant settled this early in the day by sug
gesting a method of treating the seat with an upholstery fringe
which, before that time, my father invariably had disliked.
The Magee Memorial, now standing in front of the Carnegie
Institute in Pittsburgh, provided for the sculptor an inter
esting opportunity to deal not only with the Greek stele, a
328

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
form he had always admired, but also with alto-relief. So
fond was he of this type of modeling that in his class-rooms
he had occasionally advocated creating it in the hope that it
would attain even greater success than the full round. Ac
cordingly, for the "Magee" he designed in such high relief a
figure of Abundance, a woman, large and somewhat removed
from his ideal type, with a cornucopia and cloak, standing
beneath an oak tree. This he planned to cut directly in the
monolith, until consideration of Pittsburgh smoke caused him
to decide on bronze.
The Whistler Memorial at West Point, which belongs to
the same period, developed into another stele. Saint-Gaudens
would have enjoyed modeling a figure of Painting upon it
and, indeed, submitted a sketch to the Copley Society who
controlled the commission. But as they desired no sculpture
in that sense of the word, seeking rather the simple stone, he
confined himself to an architectural composition and arrange
ment. The scheme for the United States coins — the cent, the eagle,
and the double eagle — also originated about this time at a
dinner with President Roosevelt in the winter of 1905. There
they both grew enthusiastic over the old high-relief Greek
coins, until the President declared that he would have the mint
stamp a modern version of such coins in spite of itself if my
father would design them, adding with his customary vehe
mence, "You know, Saint-Gaudens, this is my pet crime."
The following letter from my father to the President shows
conclusively what must have been their attitude toward their
subject: November 11, 1905.
Dear Mr. President:
You have hit the nail on the head with regard to the
coinage. Of course the great coins (and you might al-
329

THE REMINISCENCES OF
most say the only coins) are the Greek ones you speak
of, just as the great medals are those of the fifteenth
century by Pisanello and Sperandio. Nothing would
please me more than to make the attempt in the direc
tion of the heads of Alexander, but the authorities on
modern monetary requirements would, I fear, "throw
fits," to speak emphaticaUy, if the thing was done now.
It would be great if it could be accomplished and I do
not see what the objection would be if the edges were
high enough to prevent the rubbing. Perhaps an in
quiry from you would not receive the antagonistic re
ply that would certainly be made to me from those
who have the "say" in such matters.*
Up to the present I have done no work on the actual
models for the coins, but have made sketches, and the
matter is constantly in my mind. I have about de
termined on the composition of one side, which would
contain an eagle very much like the one I placed on
your medal, with an advantageous modification. On
the other side would be some kind of a (possibly winged)
figure of Liberty striding energeticaUy forward as if
on a mountain top, holding aloft on one arm a shield
bearing the stars and stripes with the word "Liberty"
marked across the field, in the other hand perhaps a
flaming torch; the drapery would be flowing in the
breeze. My idea is to make it a living thing and typical
of progress. . . .
To enlarge upon what my father indicated in this letter,
* See pages 67 ff. (Reference to Columbian Medal.)
330

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
he first purposed to model the cent with a flying eagle, the
formal lettering treated in a new fashion, and to execute for
the gold coins a full-length figure of Liberty mounting a
rock, with a shield in her left hand and a lighted torch in her
right, backed by a semi-conventional eagle, with wings half-
closed. For one reason and another, however, the scheme
proved impracticable. So, after months of confusion, he set
tled that the one cent should exhibit a profile head and the let
tering; that the ten-dollar gold piece should carry the same
head, with the inscriptions shifted, and the standing eagle;
and that the twenty-dollar gold piece should exhibit the full-
length figure of Liberty, without wings or shield, and the
flying eagle.
To accomplish this result, my father altered and realtered
the coins for a year and a half. The suggestion for the flying
eagle he developed from the bird on the 1857 "White Cent."
The conception . of the standing eagle he drew from a design
he had often used on such work as the Shaw Memorial, the
medal struck to commemorate the inauguration of President
Roosevelt, and the shield of the monument to President Gar
field in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. In all, he created sev
enty models of this bird, and often stood twenty-five of them
in a row for visitors to number according to preference.
The profile head he modeled in relief from the favorite, but
superseded bust of the Sherman "Victory," * adding the
feathers only upon the President's emphatic suggestion.
Many persons regarded it with disfavor at the time because
it was thought to have been posed for by an Irish maid,
Mary Cunningham, when none but a "pure American" should
have served for a model for our national coin. As a matter
of fact, the features of the Irish girl appear only at the
size of a pin-head upon the full-length Liberty, the body of
* See page 135.
331

THE REMINISCENCES OF
which was posed for by a Swede, while the profile head, to which
exception was taken, was modeled from a woman supposed to
have negro blood in her veins. Who, other than an Indian, may
be a "pure American" is undetermined. In reality here, as in
all examples of my father's ideal sculpture, little or no re
semblance can be traced to any model; since he was always
quick to reject the least taint of what he called "personality"
in such instances.
Finally he attacked the difficult problem of the inscriptions
by placing upon the previously milled edge of the coin, in one
case, the forty-six stars and, in the other, the thirteen stars
with the "E Pluribus Unum." The motto "In God We Trust,"
as an inartistic intrusion not required by law, he wholly dis
carded and thereby drew down upon himself the lightning of
public comment. It is interesting to discover in regard to
this that Secretary Salmon P. Chase received quite as severe
a censure for placing the words upon this coin as was aroused
by their removal.
Upon the striking of the coins it seemed impossible to
reach a satisfactory understanding with the mint authorities,
who, shortly after my father's death, began issuing the Eagles
with extremely poor results. In vain his assistant, Mr. Henry
Hering, who had personally carried on the alterations pro
tested to the authorities. They replied that they were forced
to lessen further the proportional depths of the relief, and that
in the process details were lost. Mr. Hering promptly ex
hibited three grades of relief reduced abroad to the same
extent from the same original by the same machine that the
mint employed. The details stood out quite as vividly in
the low relief as in the high. At last, however, Mr. Frank
A. Leach, the new Director of the Mint, took a hand in the
turmoil and brought the matter before the President, with
the consequence that the designs remained for a time some
what as my father planned them, though what with the
332

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
lowered relief and most careless reproduction, especially of
the profile head, the results appeared far from those he would
have allowed had he been alive.
Turning to his other final commissions he remade in the
round the original Springfield "Puritan" for the Pilgrim So*
ciety of Philadelphia, and he completed the bust of the Hon.
John Hay ; in relief he created a variant of the "Amor Caritas"
for Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, a plaque commemorating a
"Masque" at Cornish, and portraits of Mr. William Oxnard
Mosely, of the Hon. Wayne MacVeagh and his wife, of Justice
and Mrs. Stanley Matthews, of Governor Roger Wolcott, of
Jacob Crowningshield Rogers, of Mrs. John C. Gray, of
Justice Horace Gray, of Mr. Henry W. Maxwell, of Mr. Dean
Sage, of Mr. Frederick Ferris Thompson, and of my mother.
Among these commissions the creation of the Hay bust
proved of especial pleasure to him in that the two men were
warm personal friends. Secretary Hay's letter asking to be
modeled is characteristic of their mutual cordiality.
"I wonder if you could make anything of so philistine and
insignificant a head as mine. You succeed with all sorts and
conditions of folks, but, to tell the truth, I do not recall any
proposition you have ever tackled so unpromising as mine.
I lack profile, size, and every other requisite of sculpture, but
I have been an unusual length of time in office and I fear that
after I am dead, if not before, some blacksmith will try to
bust me. Turn it over a little in your mind."
Even further in connection with this commission, also, I am
fortunate in being able to quote a few of the letters which
passed between this statesman and the sculptor, letters which
showed not only the delight the two men took in one another
and in Mr. Henry Adams, with whom they made a most con
genial trio, but as well my father's continued power of main
taining his spirits. The Adams caricature to which they refer
is in the form of a small round bas-relief, representing a head
333

THE REMINISCENCES OF
of Adams flying by means of wings feathered with porcupine
quills. Adams' outward gruffness and inward gentleness had
earned him from Hay and my father the title of "Porcupine
Poeticus." My father writes:
Aspet, Windsor, Vermont, July 12, 1904.
My dear Hay:
. . . Now that we are neighbors, perhaps on some
day of leisure you may run up here. I would not
mind glancing at you again for a moment or so before
sending the work to the bronze founder. Then you
could see my new studio which I hardly dare enter
for two reasons : first, it is too perfect for my imperfect
self to dwell in; second, the danger of being sucked up
the fireplace chimney by the wonderful draft.
Aspet, Windsor, Vermont, August 19, 1904.
Dear Hay:
A package has been sent you containing another
which holds the bronze caricature of Adams. You
said you would send it to him with diplomatic seals,
etc., etc. Presently you will receive another for your
self. . . .
Aspet, Windsor, Vermont, August 30, 1904.
Dear Hay:
You are "a scholar and a gentleman" in the matter
of your offer to make the final payment on the bust, to
say nothing of your standing in other directions, and I
really do not know how to thank you in fuU apprecia
tion, but 334

4

' :/--Mjy/fi,mi?- SSfef

1

•?>'r ill ill fl. 41 M / ,s.frw

%)

; s

'diJl^VK

4m

Copr. DoW.C.Ward

PRELIMINARY SKETCH FOR THE DOUBLE EAGLE,
OR TWENTY-DOLLAR GOLD PIECE
he wings, shield, and head-dress were omitted as not suiting a composition within a circle. This dfisign was in
tended fur all ofthe gold coins, but the authorities hod a lieud substituted on the eagle, or ten-dollar piece

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
Whereas: The bust is finished in every respect so
far as I am concerned and aU that I can do is done; and
Whereas : There are four copies of the work in dif
ferent places, so that it is protected from loss unless
the world blows up, in which event nobody would care
except Henry Adams who would shriek and yell in
delight and derision as he sailed into the air, and
Whereas: The non-payment of a similar amount
due me for more than a month and the absence of all
signs of its appearance upon the horizon has thrown
my exchequer in still more glorious and inextricable
confusion than usual, qui n'est pas peu dire; and
Whereas : The protection from loss to you puts what
shreds of conscience still remain in me at ease in your
direction; and
Whereas : Henry Adams has counseled me always to
seize any money I can possibly lay hands on! I shall
be more than grateful, I assure you, to receive the
check, if you still have it so that you can dispose of it.
With regard to your inquiry as to the cost of a
repUca, I wiU tell you that I propose unloading two
busts on you, one in marble, the other in bronze — for
town and country, or for any other disposition you may
decide on — these to be included in the piratical charge
I have made for the work. . . .
To the letter Hay replied:
Newbitby, New Hampshire, September 1, 1904.
My dear Saint-Gaudens:
I inclose my cheque. ... I am glad to get it out of my
hands and into yours. Every little while some lunatic sues
337

THE REMINISCENCES OF
me for a million or two for not taking care of his interests
"outre mer." But I would rather he would do that than
dynamite me.
I note your generous offer about the replicas. I shall want
one or the other, for myself. As to Uncle Sam, he is a "vrai
grippe-sou" and gives for a portrait about as much as would
serve for a pourboire to the artist's concierge. I am not
speaking of Congress. They usually give twenty thousand
dollars, with always the proviso that it must be a hopeless
daub by a deserving, self-made, artist, who has spent at least
a year in lobbying for it.
All this month has been delightful, with a premature tang
of Autumn in it. I have missed the full enjoyment of it from
a grudging sense that it is too rapidly passing away, and from
the necessity of wasting from two to four hours a day on the
Washington mail. . . .
At about the same time, in connection with the aforemen
tioned caricature, Mr. Adams sent the following:
23 Avenue du Bois de Boulogne, 3 September, 1904.
My dear St. Gaudens:
Your winged and pennated child arrived yesterday by the
grace of God and his vicar the Secretary of State, or his
satellites Adee and Vignaud. As this is the only way in which
the Secretary will ever fulfil his promise of making me Cardi
nal and Pope I can see why he thinks to satisfy me by giving
me medallic rank through you. Docile as I always am to sug
gestion, I agree that the medal is probably worth more than
the hat. . . .
Work ! And make a lot of new porcupuses. I 'm sorry
you can't give Hay wings too, he needs them more than I who
live in holes. Adieu! Ever Yours,
Henry Adams.
In answer to this and to another letter, my father wrote :
338

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
Dear Adams: Aspet, September 15, 1904.
. . . It was good to hear of your automobile, and
the Salon, Rodin, Besnard and the Sixteenth Century
glass. I recall some pretty fine stuff of that period in
Brussels and in one or two of the "villes mortes" of
Holland, Monnickendam and Marken. Run up there in
your automobile, you wUl find it worth while. But
what 's the use of telling you anything. Is there any
thing you have n't seen or don't know about?
I hope the medal makes you a little miserable. It
was made for that purpose. And if I could believe
it did, it would compensate for the diabolique neurosis
or sciatica which keeps me prisoner here. If it had not
been for that I should have, I hope, accompanied you
on some of your automobile rushes this spring. And
if it were not for that also I would write this letter
straighter. But it 's hard to have an eye for the proper
"aplomb" when you are writing half -reclining. I suc
ceeded in getting Hay here for a day and a half and
his bust is finished and I 'm going to inflict two upon
him. One he can give to you. Some day I hope to
achieve a caricature of him, but I fear to approach it.
Sometimes they are shameful. I never know how they
may tempt me. . . .
Some months later Mr. Hay wrote:
Eden Hotel, Nervi, pres de Genes, April 12, 1905.
My dear Saint-Gaudens:
It has just occurred to me that I left God's country with
out taking leave of you and without saying anything of those
mineral treasures of mine in your charge. Whenever you like
339

THE REMINISCENCES OF
to be rid of them, please send them at my cost and risk to the
Department of State, where they will be taken care of.
As the American newspapers have set forth at quite unnec
essary length my miseries before sailing, I need say nothing
more about them. We had a delightful voyage, summer seas,
and a ship as steady as a church. My doctor here says there
is nothing the matter with me except old age, the Senate, and
two or three other mortal maladies, and so I am going to Nau-
heim to be cured of all of them. This involves parting with
the Porcupinus Angelicus — and I would almost rather keep
the diseases. He has been kindness itself — the Porcupine has
"passed in music out of sight" and the Angel has been per
fected in him. As Sir Walter sings,
"Oh! Adams, in our hours of ease
Rather inclined to growl and tease,
When pain and anguish wring the brow
A ministering angel thou."
In my father's answer which follows he speaks of the Acad
emy. This is the American Academy of Arts and Letters, of
which he was a member.
University Club, Fifth Avenue and Fifty-fourth
Dear Hay: Street, April 23, 1905.
I was delighted "de vous lire" (as the French com-
mercants write me) ten minutes ago. I found your
letter in the box here where it had been forwarded from
Windsor, and it was good to hear you were better, al
though I knew from Harry White that the newspapers
had been making their usual copy.
. I came here for the Academy meeting yesterday, the
/list you and Adams sent was what several of us based
(our votes on. Sargent and Gilder and Jefferson were
340

RELIEF SKETCHES FOR GOLD COIN, SHOWING EVOLUTION OF DESIGN

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
elected, but for the Ufe of me I cannot recall the two
others. Bigelow and Furness, I think. You wiU
know in a day or two from the indefatigable Johnson.
Howells, Lounsbury, and Stedman were there, fresh,
young and blooming, much more so than the younger
ducks. La Farge arrived when we were through. Mc
Kim, Stedman, and MacDowell were the others.
Lounsbury told me about Chittenden's work at Yale,
of the remarkable results in the food investigations he
has been pursuing; and there is no doubt that the trou
ble with you (if you have any trouble), and me, and
all of us is our blessed stomachs. Of course you have
the senile senate, and no wonder you ran away. . . .
I called at your house the day you ran away and I
can assure you you were well guarded. I had two
weird conversations at the little side door, the first with
a Gaul who told me some strange lie, the second on my
return in the afternoon (at the suggestion of the Gaul)
with a Puritan who had a front like the Palisades and
who told me a reverse lie. But she did it so much bet
ter than the treacherous Gaul that I was filled with de
light. . . .
Mr. Henry Adams had meantime printed privately for his
friends his remarkable book, "Mont Saint Michel and Chartres."
My father writes, thanking him for a copy :
Aspet, Windsor, Vermont, April 6, 1905.
You dear old Porcupinus Poeticus:
You old Poeticus under a Bushelibus:
I thought I liked you fairly well, but I like you
more for the book you sent me the other day. Whether
343

THE REMINISCENCES OF
I like you more because you have revealed to me the
wonder of the Twelfth Century in a way that never
entered my head, or whether it is because of the gen
eral guts and enthusiasm of the work, puzzles what
courtesy calls my brains. You know I never read, but
last night I got as far in your work as the Virgin, Eve
and the Bees, and I cannot wait to acknowledge it till
I am through.
Thank you, dear Old Stick in the Mud.
Your brother in idiocy.
A year later he writes again : April 24, 1906.
Dear old Porcupine:
. . . You have heard no doubt of my having been
nailed in the hospital and all that. I am out of it, con
valescing, and they say I am getting fat, very pretty,
and all that. They have been teUing me that for the
last five years, and if I had been growing at the rate
they say I would be as big as a balloon by this time.
Perhaps the thing I regret the most in this captivity is
my not having been able to get to Washington and sit
by you for a little while and Usten to you pegging away
at somebody or other.
Well, everything is for the best, as our friend Vol
taire said. I am reading "The Bee" in the intervals
when I am thinking why I did not do a lot of things
while I was younger than I am now — when I was as
young as you are for instance.
Please excuse this typewritten letter, but this is the
344

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
only way in which I can communicate with my friends
now. I am not writing you, I am cylindering to you,
i.e., I am talking into a talking machine and the sec
retary reproduces it on the typewriter. It is a singular
sensation and to hear my voice makes me more tired of
myself than I am usually. If you want to be more
lowered than usual in your own estimation, listen to
your voice in one of these affairs. It is awful and
shows to what depths the human mind can de
scend. . . .
To turn again to my father's last works, the commission for
Dr. S. Weir Mitchell held for him the same fascination of
improving an earlier work which he had felt with the "Puri
tan" for Philadelphia. Here is a portion of a letter to me
on this subject from Dr. Mitchell.
. . . When I wrote to your father asking him to make
a monument commemorative of my daughter, my wife's only
child, he said it was simply impossible, that he had work on
hand for two lifetimes. Then Mrs. Mitchell wrote to him.
What she said I do not know but he replied by saying, "I
shall throw aside all other work until I have done this thing
for you." He then created a modified replica of his "Angel
of Purity," or so he called it, which is, I think, in the Luxemr
bourg in Paris. There is some resemblance, but much dif
ference. This exquisite monument satisfied Mrs. Mitchell, and
nothing could exceed the kindness and care and effort he gave
to the whole business and the friendly relation of the most
affectionate nature which he created with my household. I
think a sweeter gentleman I never knew, nor one so magnan
imous about his fellow-artists, nor any so capable of putting
the high poetry of his imagination into marble. I have often
regretted that I have not seen more of him.
345

THE REMINISCENCES OF
And here is part of one of the letters which my father wrote
to Dr. Mitchell: October 9, 1901.
Dear Dr. Mitchell:
I enclose a photograph and two sketches. The pho
tograph is of the rehef bought by the French Govern
ment and now in the Luxembourg. It is a modifica
tion of a monument in Newport and is one of the things
I care for most that I have done. As time goes by I
can think of nothing that would be better forxthe pur
pose we have now in mind. Of course there wiU again
be changes in this that wiU prevent it from being a
replica of these other works. The Greeks did this, and
I do not believe we can do better, in this memorial at
least, than follow in their footsteps. I am having a
large solar print made which will be sent directly to
you, and if you agree to my proposition, I shall have
the work begun at once. It seems that the character
of this suits the beautiful and youthful character you
have described. Of course a principal feature in the
memorial will be the inscription which wiU surround
the figure, and I believe the result wiU be a happy one.
I have been for years hoping for an opportunity to
make such an arrangement and modification of this
figure, and it is of great interest to me. . . .
The remaining ideal relief is the plaque for the " Masque,"
the reason for its existence having developed in a charming
manner from a remark my father let fall to three of his
friends during the winter of 1905, when he said that, as the
following summer would number his twentieth in Cornish, he
346

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
intended celebrating it by an outdoor party. The subsequent
spring the Cornish neighbors removed that scheme from his
hands. I can do no better than to include a portion of what
Mr. Percy MacKaye wrote of the pageant in his article in
Scribner's Magazine:
"In 1905, to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the
founding of the Cornish Colony by Augustus Saint-Gaudens,
an outdoor masque was performed by his neighbors in a pine
grove at Aspet, his estate.
"The masque, written by Mr. Louis Evan Shipman, the
dramatist, with a prologue by myself, was produced under the
direction of Mr. John Blair, the actor. More than seventy
persons took part, among whom were some forty artists and
writers of craftsmanly repute, who had spent many weeks in
careful preparation.
"About twilight, on the longest day of the year, the sculp
tor, with his family and some hundreds of guests, were seated
in front of a green-gray curtain, suspended between two
pines, on which hung great gilded masks (executed by Mr.
Maxfield Parrish). Close by, secreted artfully behind ever
greens, members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra awaited
the baton signal of Mr. Arthur Whiting, conductor and com
poser of the music.
"First, then, in the softened light there emerged from be
tween the curtains the tall, maidenly figure of Iris, in many-
hued, diaphanous veils, holding in one hand a staff of living
fleur-de-lis. "Fresh from the courts of dewy-colored eve,
Jove summons me before you."
"With these words, she began the prologue — a brief tribute
in verse to Saint-Gaudens, as artist and neighbor — at the
close of which commenced the first strains of the hidden wind-
instruments, and the curtains parted. Visionary as some
Keatsian glade, the natural stage disclosed at its farther end
347

THE REMINISCENCES OF
a sculptured altar, beneath a little temple of Ionic columns,
from whose capitals suspended laurel ropes and flowers
stretched to a nearer column on either hand. Still nearer, on
both sides, stood classic benches. Behind the temple, from a
precipitate ravine among the pines, rose faintly the murmur
ous roar of a stream.
"Enter, then, with staff and crown and snaky caduceus,
Juno, Jupiter and Mercury. The motive of the masque, com
posed in a spirit of chaffing comedy and local allusions, was to
compass — with pictorial effectiveness and practical groupings
— the presentation to Saint-Gaudens of a golden bowl of ancient
Greek design — a token from the Cornish Colony. To this
end, Jupiter, declaring that he has an important communica*
tion to make, despatches Mercury to summon all greater and
lesser divinities to hear it. . . ."
From the only contemporay record of this fete, written by
Mr. Kenyon Cox in The Nation, for July 1, 1905, I quote the
following :
"First came somber Pluto and his court, in black and gold
and purple ; then Neptune and Amphitrite, with their attendant
Nereids in sea-green and blue; Venus and her body-guard in
varying shades of tender rose ; Diana and her nymphs, in white
and silver and pale blue; the Wood-gods, in green and dun
and yellow; Apollo and the Muses, all in white and gold,
grouping themselves about the altar; Ceres, all in yellow,
crowned with corn; Pan, gilded all over and exactly imitating
an archaic Greek statue; Mars, a gigantic figure, in blood-red
draperies and armor; last, Chiron, the Centaur — the one
frankly comic figure in the masque — at the head of a rout of
children. "All being assembled, they are informed by Jupiter that he
has decided to abdicate; Pluto and Neptune dispute the suc
cession; Minerva, calling upon Fame to decide, makes invoca
tion, and strikes the altar with her spear. Immediately smoke
348

d

«flp|j

Coyr. UoW.U.WiLrd
PLAQUE MADE BY SAINT-GAUDENS AS A GIFT TO EACH OFTHE
PARTICIPANTS IN THE MASQUE WHICH HAD BEEN GIVEN IN
HIS HONOR AT CORNISH, NEW HAMPSHIRE, JUNE 23, 1905
The original was modeled about two feet high. Reductions three inches high were
made for the participants, their names appearing on the plaque, which shows
the Greek altar in front of which the masque was performed

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS V
and varicolored fire transfigure the temple and the irradiated
pines, and out of the altar rises a Sibyl of burning gold,
maidenly, Olympian, holding aloft in both hands the golden
bowl. This Minerva takes and draws from it the name of —
Saint-Gaudens. "The cry is taken up by all voices, the bowl is delivered to
the master-artist, and group by group the divinities are pre
sented before him. Then, as these form in procession, a
chariot, embellished with a medallion of the sculptor, is dragged
from its covert by fauns, nymphs, and satyrs, Saint-Gaudens
and his wife enter it, and are dragged across the long, golf-
turfed slope to the pergola of the studio, where a banquet is
spread under twinkling Japanese lamps.
"As Mercury, it was my prerogative to head the procession
just behind the chariot, in which the sculptor stood looking
back with emotion upon the astonishing beauty of the scene.
In the afterglow of sunset, that edged with gold the blue
volcanoesque summit of Ascutney, the pied procession of those
ephemeral gods swayed and then broke into glorified groups
of frolic over the yivid sward: Apollo skipped flower-ropes
for the laughing Muses. Swart Pluto gamboled among the
sea-nymphs. Semi-nude children twitched the hind legs of
the Centaur. Graces locked arms with dun-hued Fates.
Cupid, with little wings, danced with the statued Pan. And
still while a lump rose in the throat of each, and revelry spread
glamour over all, there echoed, rhythmical, from the New
Hampshire hillside, the long, spontaneous shout of 'Saint-
Gaudens !' "
It was a scene of beauty which became fixed in my father's
memory. But more than that, the charm of the tribute
deeply stirred his Gallic nature. Later he wrote of the oc
casion :
Much of pleasure in life has happened here in the
past twenty years, but nothing so delightful and in
351

THE REMINISCENCES OF
every sense remarkable as the "Fete Champetre," which
was given on my place to commemorate the twentieth
anniversary of the founding of the Colony. The real
founder was Mr. C. C. Beaman ; there is no doubt of this,
for he subsequently brought friends here directly, and
it was through him and the foresight of Mrs. Saint-
Gaudens that I came. However, my friends choose to
think it is through my coming that the place has taken
the artistic and literary development which characterizes
it, and therefore did me the great honor of executing a
"Masque," as it was called, within a few days of the
twentieth anniversary of our entering the house, and in
commemoration of the event.
It was certainly extraordinary and it is beyond my
powers of narration to do it the slightest justice here.
I wish I could quote what my friend Kenyon Cox wrote
of it at the time.
As the play ended and the performers followed the
chariot up to the house in their classic dresses, all bathed
in a wonderful sunset, it was a spectacle and a recall
of Greece of which I have dreamed, but have never
thought actually to see in Nature. It closed with a
ball which marked the opening of the new studio built
to replace the one destroyed by fire, and if anything
can console me for the destruction that happened then,
it was the beauty of the day and occurrence, and the
great-hearted friendhness of the neighbors.
Not long afterwards, therefore, Saint-Gaudens composed
his relief representing the temple of the Masque, with a young
god, lyre in hand, standing upon the steps in an attitude rem-
352

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
iniscent of the sketches of the winged Liberty for the coins,
and the following summer he distributed reductions of it among
those who had shared in the performance.
Of the remaining portrait reliefs, only two need mention,
the first of the Hon. Wayne MacVeagh and his wife, the second
of my mother. In one way the MacVeagh interested my
father more than the others because, like the Lee and Howells
reliefs, it was modeled to be shown in two lights.
On the medallion of my mother, my father worked last with
his own hands at a time when he could no longer stand, nor,
indeed, labor for many consecutive minutes. In the composi
tion he suggested the columns of the porch outside the studio,
the golden bowl of the "Masque," and the tangle-coated sheep
dog already referred to in a letter to Edwin Abbey, and
associated with my mother by the phrase, "go 'way, Doodles !"
Unfortunately, when the dog received an anonymous hair-cut,
my father was forced to call a premature halt on the lower
part of the relief.
Let me pause here for a moment, before making a conclusion
of this account of his final tasks, to speak of a monument,
the erection of which was close to his heart though he never
came even to sign the contract. The members of the Players
Club, of New York, desired him to erect before their building
in Gramercy Park a memorial to the first player of them all,
Edwin Booth. So at Mr. Francis Wilson's request I wrote
to my father on the subject and drew the following reply:
April 21, 1906.
Dear Wilson:
. . . It goes without saying that for many reasons,
artistic as well as sentimental, nothing would give me
greater pleasure than to undertake such a work. Some
thing should be done to show our feeling toward Booth
and I should be only too glad to help in any possible
353

THE REMINISCENCES OF
way to further an adequate- memorial, no matter what
form it should take and whether I am directly concerned
with it or not. I shall, of course, be very glad to hear
from you and go into any details that you may wish to
know about. . . .
After my father's death, this monument was given to Mac
Monnies.
At the time of which I speak, however, two large commissions
were still at hand, and both of these deeply attracted Saint-
Gaudens; the figure of a seated Christ with a background of
two angels in relief for Mr. George F. Baker, and the Caryatids
for the portico of the Albright Art Gallery in Buffalo.
When Mr. Baker had come to him asking for a seated figure
that should carry with it something of the same feeling as
that brought by the one at Rock Creek, my father had ac
cepted the commission with alacrity. For after his reading
in preparation for the figure in the Brooks monument, it was
natural that he should feel impelled to express still further his
new sense of the beauty of Christ. As far as the main figure
was concerned, the monument developed smoothly enough to
completion, except for the sculptor's usual difficulty in getting
the legs sufficiently long, and for some trouble with the
drapery which fell over the rock on Christ's left side. Of
the angels that were to go behind the figure, Saint-Gaudens
left only the roughest sketch. Mr. Baker, however, kindly
allowed the modeling of this relief to be entrusted by my
mother to one of my father's most gifted assistants, who,
under his direction, had finished much of his sculpture and
who had worked for him upon the Christ, Miss Elsie Ward,
now Mrs. Henry Hering. She, with infinite care and patience,
developed this composition from details suggested by the Mor
gan Tomb figure, the "Amor Caritas," and the like, until, at
354

V

v

- \

.-¦

¦V- . . -

[til

J| ill WW i
Iii ¦ il'

i

< 'i

SKETCH FOR RELIEF OF MRS. SAINT-GAUDENS

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
last, she produced an astonishingly beautiful and poetic result,
filled with the spirit of his work.
Last of all, the Albright Caryatids strongly held my father's
attention since he appreciated the rich worth of the archi
tecture he was adorning. For such a building, bearing to him
a strong note of Greece, he wished to create his caryatids as
large, reposeful women, in no way personal and to some extent
archaic. Short portions of letters which he wrote to Mr.
Albright on the subject show his feelings toward them as
well as the manner in which, from his first commission to his
last, he ruminated over his tasks before ever he touched his
hands to clay. He writes:
The scheme is a most alluring one, admitting of in
finite possibilities as regards treatment. I have thought
of making twelve different figures, but this would be a
formidable undertaking; besides, it seems to me now
that it would not be necessary. I think that the system
adopted at the Erectheum would be the best here, and to
have two, three, or four different models of which the
other figures would be replicas, modifications being
made in each of the other eight, nine, or ten figures, in
the folds of the drapery, some detail or accessory.
Again: This doing something to recall the Erectheum is
what perhaps frightens me more than anything I have
done in my Ufe. It seems so presumptuous. However,
we shall see.
And again, much later:
They have made good progress, I suppose on account
of the years of thought, and the year of preliminary
357

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
studies devoted to them before the actual large size
figures were begun a year or so ago. It 's not the finger
but the brain- work that takes the time; and I knew
what I wanted to do and have done it, in fact more than
I proposed, as I have made three different heads in
stead of two.
First my father decided to have wings upon the figures;
then he purposed that they should carry garlands in their
hands. Later he developed a plan for the four central figures
to hold lettered tablets, and those on the corners, palms.
Again he conceived a more elaborate scheme of representing
at the corners Attributes, and between them Arts. He feared,
however, that such an idea might confuse. So at last he de
cided that he would place palms in the hands of the end
caryatids, while by the middle ones he should denote Archi
tecture, Sculpture, Painting and Music.
At the outset he studied the figure of Painting with detailed
care, as all the others were to be variations upon it. For
example he had cast a heavy plaster cap, under which the
living model could pose for only a moment, though during
that moment he could see her head at an angle which banished
the hated "stuck out chin." His general scheme of drapery
he drew from the decorative figures on a terra cotta Etruscan
altar; but he developed these compositions mostly through
deliberate and original thought, partially through accident;
one morning, for instance, showing pleasure when he found
that the garments had happened to be cut off in a way that
cast a straight, dark line across the feet. •
With that commission my father's work came to its end, closed
while he was making almost superhuman efforts to keep active
despite the progress of his illness. In that commission he gave
his strongest indication of what his future work would have
been, work notably of a monumental character he had never
358

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
before attained. His sickness brought only feebleness of
hand, none of mind. To the last his vision grew even fuller
and deeper.
A few days before his death which came on August third,
1907, he lay watching a sunset behind Mount Ascutney, from
"Aspet," the spot which years before had seemed to him
restful and far away. He spoke out of a long silence, "It 's
very beautiful," he said, "but I want to go farther away."

THE END

359

CHRONOLOGY OF THE WORK OF AUGUS*
TUS SAINT-GAUDENS
1867 Bust of his father Bernard P. E. Saint-Gaudens. 15 in.
high. Signed and date.
1869 Model of Nude Male Figure.
1870 Miss Belle Gibbs. Marble bust.
1870 Miss Florence Gibbs. Marble bust.
1871 Hiawatha. Marble. Seated Figure.
1871 Fisher Boy. Statue.
1872 Edward W. Stoughton. Marble bust.
1873 Edwards Pierpont. Marble bust.
1873 Mrs. Pierpont. Marble bust.
1874 Silence. Marble Statue. Heroic size.
1874 William Maxwell Evarts. Marble bust.
1875-1879 Theodore Dwight Woolsey. Marble half statue.
1876 Benjamin Greene Arnold. Marble bust.
1876 Fresco Painting, Trinity Church, Boston.
1876 Henry E. Montgomery, D.D. Bronze medallion.
1877 George W. Maynard. Bronze medallion.
1877 David Maitland Armstrong. Bronze medallion.
1877 William L. Picknell, Bronze medallion.
1877 William Gedney Bunce. Bronze medallion.
1878 Angels adoring the Cross. Saint Thomas' Church. New
York.
1878 Miss Helen Maitland Armstrong. Bronze medallion.
1878 Charles F. McKim. Bronze medallion.
1878 Caricature Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Charles F. McKim and
Stanford White. Bronze medallion.
1879 Richard Watson Gilder, Wife and Son. Bronze medallion.
1879 Rodman Gilder. Bronze medallion.
1879 LeRoy King Monument. Newport, R. I.
361

CHRONOLOGY OF THE WORK OF
1879 Mrs. Emilia Ward Chapin. Bronze medallion.
1879 Dr. William E. Johnston. Bronze medallion.
1 879 Frank D. Millet. Bronze medallion.
1879 Dr. Walter Cary. Bronze medallion.
1879 Miss Maria M. Love. Bronze medallion.
1880 Dr. Henry Shiff. Bronze medallion.
1880 John S. Sargent, R.A. Bronze medal.
1880 Tomb of Ex-Governor Morgan.
1880 William Oxenard Moseley. Medallion and bust.
1881 Children of Prescott Hall Butler. Bronze relief.
,1881 Admiral David Glasgow Farragut Statue unveiled in Madi
son Square.
1881 M. McCormick. Medallion.
1881 Leonie Marguerite Lenoble. Medallion.
1881 Mrs. Charles Carroll Lee and Miss Lee. Bronze medallion.
1881 Miss Sarah Redwood Lee. Bronze medallion.
1881 Dr. Josiah Gilbert Holland. Bronze medallion.
1881 Samuel Gray Ward. Bronze medallion.
1881 Two Caryatids for marble mantel in house of Cornelius Van
derbilt.
1882 Sculpture decoration in Villard House.
1882 Homer Saint-Gaudens. Bronze medallion.
1882 Ex-President Chester Allen Arthur. Bust.
1882 Commodore Vanderbilt. Bronze medallion.
1882 Two sons of Cornelius Vanderbilt. Bronze medallion.
1882 Miss Gertrude Vanderbilt. Bronze medallion.
1883 Dr. Alexander Hamilton Vinton. Bronze relief, heroic size.
1884 Robert Richard Randall. Bronze statue.
1884 Mrs. Stanford White. Marble relief.
1884 Prof. Asa Gray. Bronze medallion.
1884 Dr. Holland monument. Springfield, Mass.
1884 Dr. S. Weir Mitchell. Bronze medallion.
1884 Portrait of a Lady. Bronze medallion.
1884 Charles Timothy Brooks. Memorial Tablet.
1885 Two seated Angels, Stewart Tomb.
1885 Bust of Homer Saint-Gaudens. 362

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
1885 Dr. Henry Bellows. Bronze Memorial Tablet.
1885 William Evarts Beaman. Bronze medallion.
1885 Chief Justice Waite. Bust.
1886 Son of Joseph H. Choate. Marble bust.
1886. Henry P. Haven. Bronze medallion.
1886 Smith Tomb. Angel.
1886 Fountain in Lincoln Park, Chicago.
*.1887 Abraham Lincoln. Bronze statue. Heroic size.
1887 Amor Caritas. Bronze tablet.
-1887 The Puritan. Bronze statue.
1887 Chester W. Chapin. Bust.
„-1887 Robert Louis Stevenson. Bronze relief in rectangular form.
1887 Robert Louis Stevenson. Bronze circular medallion.
1887—1902 Robert Louis Stevenson. Rectangular bronze tablet
St. Giles.
1887 Mrs. Grover Cleveland. Bronze medallion.
1888 William M. Chase. Bronze medallion.
1888 Children of Jacob H. Schiff. Bronze relief.
1888 William M. Evarts. Bronze medallion.
1888 Bust of General William T. Sherman.
1888 Dr. Edwin Hubbell Chapin. Bronze memorial tablet..
1888 Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer. Bronze medallion.
1888 Oakes Ames. Large medallion.
1888 Judge Tracy. Medallion.
1889 Kenyon Cox. Bronze medallion.
1889 Washington Medal. Bronze medal.
1889 Dr. McCosh. Bronze Memorial Tablet.
1889 Jules Bastian Lepage. Bronze medallion.
1889 Hollingsworth Memorial. Bronze.
1890 Miss Violet Sargent. Bronze relief.
—1891 Adams Monument. Bronze statue.
1891 Seal for the Boston Public Library. Stone relief.
1891 Study for the Head of Diana.
1891 Peter Cooper. Tablet in Cooper Union.
1892 Mrs. Hamilton Fish monument. Two figures adoring cross.
—1892 Diana. Bronze figure. 363

CHRONOLOGY OF THE WORK OF

1892-1893 Columbian Medal.
1894 Charles Cotesworth Beaman. Bronze relief.
1895 President Garfield Monument.
1895 Tomb for Mr. Henry Nevins.
1895 Miss Annie Page. Bronze Head.
1896 William Astor Chanler. Bronze bust.
1896 Martin Brimmer. Marble bust and medallion.
^1897 Memorial to Col. Robert Gould Shaw, unveiled.
1897 General John A. Logan. Equestrian Statue.
-_ 1897 Peter Cooper. Bronze statue.
1898 William Dean Howells and Miss Howells. Bronze medallion.
1898 Miss Howells. Bronze medallion.
1898 Charles A. Dana. Bronze medallion.
1899 Mrs. Charles Russell Lowell. Marble medallion.
1900 Mrs. Charles C. Beaman. Bronze relief.
1901 Hon. David Jayne Hill. Marble bust.
1901 Jacob Crowninshield Rogers. Medallion.
1901 Justice Horace Gray. Bronze relief.
1901-1902 Governor Roger Wolcott. Marble relief.
1901 Robert Charles Billings. Rehef.
1902 Maxwell Memorial Tablet.
1902 Mrs. John Chipman Gray. Bronze relief.
1902 Senator Macmillan. Bust.
1902 Hon. and Mrs. Wayne MacVeagh. Bronze relief.
1903 Governor Roswell P. Flower. Bronze statue.
^1903 Equestrian Sherman Statue.
1904 Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Matthews. Relief.
1904 Mrs. Charles W. Gould. Marble bust and relief.
1904 Hon. John Hay. Marble Bust.
1904 Dean Sage. Bronze relief.
1904 Caricatures of Henry Adams, Charles A. Piatt and James
Wall Finn. Bronze medallion.
1905 Marcus Daly. Bronze statue.
1905 Commemorative Medallion of the Fete at Cornish.
1905 Head of the Victory. Bronze.
1905 Victory head medallion. 364

AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS
1905 The Pilgrim. Bronze statue.
1906 Charles Stewart Parnell. Bronze statue.
1906 Frederick Ferris Thompson. Marble relief.
1907 Designs for the U. S. Coins. Eagle, Double Eagle and
One Cent.
1907 William C. Whitney. Bronze bust.
1907 Marcus A. Hanna. Bronze statue.
1907 Sketch of Figure of Painting.
1907 Whistler Memorial at West Point.
1907 Abraham Lincoln. Seated Statue, Bronze, heroic size.
1907 Boston Public Library Groups. Unfinished.
1907 Caryatids for Albright Art Gallery.
1907 Magee Memorial.
1907 Phillips Brooks Memorial.
1907 The Baker Monument.
1907 Mrs. Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Bronze relief.
1907 Study for the head of Christ. Marble.

365

INDEX

INDEX

Abbey, Edwin A., i. 276, ii. 43, S3;
Saint-Gaudens' letters to, ii. 57,
283
Abbott, S. A. B., Saint-Gaudens'
letter to, concerning groups for
Boston Public Library, ii. 305.
Academy of Fine Arts, New York,
founding of, i. 34
-Adams, Henry, relief caricature of,
i. 156, ii. 333, 334, 338; Saint-
Gaudens' letters to, ii. 339 843,
344
Adams, Herbert, ii. 10, 42, 116, 211
- Adams monument, Rock Creek Cem
etery, Washington, i. 356; early
sketches, i. 358; meaning of the
statue, i. 363-364; estimates of
the work, i. 365, 366; view of,
iL 274.
Agate, F. S., an organizer of the
New York Drawing Association,
i. 34
Agnew, Br. Cornelius Bea, his in
fluence on the early life of
Saint-Gaudens, i. 17; Saint-Gaur
dens gives drawing lessons to his
children, i. 160
Allbright Art Gallery caryatids, ii.
357, 358
Alexander, John W., ii. 44, 216
Alhambra, Saint-Gaudens' compari
son of it with the Parthenon,
ii. 165
American Academy of Fine Arts
in Borne, Saint-Gaudens' efforts
toward the founding of, ii. 259-
272, 281, 282; the endowment
fund and its contributors, ii.
260, 270

Angel with the Tablet, or the
Amor Caritas, Luxembourg
Museum, i. 274, 350, ii. 128, 193,
197, 202; work in Paris studio,
ii. 128-132; picture of, ii.
200
Aphrodite, Praxiteles, at The Na
tional Arts Club, Saint-Gaudens'
opinion concerning its genuine
ness, ii. 258
Architecture, Saint-Gaudens' regard
for, ii. 59
Ardisson, Gaetan, molder for Saint-
Gaudens, twenty years, ii. 232
Arlington Cemetery, Saint-Gaudens'
plea for the preservation of its
beauty, ii. 275-277
Armstrong, B. Maitland, with Saint-
Gaudens in Paris, i. 214; mem
ber of the American Art Jury
of Paris International Exposi
tion, i. 251, 253; letter to Saint-
Gaudens concerning the Farra-
gut monument, i. 265; portrait
relief of, i. 192, 256, ii. 167
Art in America, to 1848, i. 32-34;
to 1867, i. 56-60; about 1875, i.
153, 184-189; 1878 to 1890, i.
274-278, ii. 41-59; to 1907, ii.
206-211, 216-222
Art Students' League, Saint-Gau
dens as teacher at, ii. 3-25
Art theories, or the lack of them,
Saint-Gaudens', ii. 16, 18, 19, 31,
33, 4,0, 41, 210
Aspet, France, birthplace of Saint-
Gaudens' father, i. 5, 9; streets
in, i. 7, ii. 160, 256; Saint-Gau
dens' visit to, ii. 141, 147, 148

369

INDEX

Assistants in Saint-Gaudens' studio,
ii. 6-15
Augur, Hezekiah, i. 33
Avet, cameo cutter, Saint-Gaudens'
apprenticeship to, i. 38-43, 48
Babb, George Fletcher, i. 278, 283,
316, ii. 59, 239
Baker, George F., the Christ monu
ment for, ii. 354
Ball, Thomas, i. 57, 58, 153
Barnard, George Grey, ii. 42, 211
Bartlett, Paul, ii. 36
Bartlett, Truman, i. 64, 108
Bas-relief work, Saint-Gaudens',
real beginning of, i. 214, 215,
271; encouragement given by La
Farge, i. 162, 215; Gilder's letter
concerning, i. 216; the Bastien-
Lepage the most satisfactory, i.
216, 217; combined portraits, sit
ters facing each other, i. 216;
see also names of portraits.
Bastien-Lepage, his acquaintance
with Saint-Gaudens, i. 215; bas-
relief of, i. 217, 250; his portrait
of Saint-Gaudens, i. 215, 219
Beaman, C. C, i. 274, 311, ii. 352;
portrait relief of, ii. 167
Beaux, Cecilia, ii. 44, 221
Beaux Arts, Saint-Gaudens as a
student at, i. 68, 73
Beckwith, J. Carroll, i. 250, ii. 43
Beecher, Henry Ward, chiseling out,
i. 159
Bell, Hamilton, ii. 115
Bellows memorial, All Souls'
Church, New York, i. 312
Bion, Paul, his intimate acquaintance
with Saint-Gaudens, i. 79; letter
to Saint-Gaudens concerning
Paris and friends of student
days, i. 148-151 ; Saint-Gaudens'
letter to, i. 291 ; his appreciation
of the Shaw memorial, i. 344;
death, ii. 119
Bissell, George, i. 153
Blacque, V. A., ii. 301, 302

Blashfield, Edwin Howland, i. 250,
ii. 43, 58, 216
Blum, Bobert, ii. 44
Bohutinsky, studio man, i. 335-337
Booth, Edwin, memorial, ii. 3
Boston Public library, Saint-Gau
dens' interest in the building, ii.
113, 114; his groups for, work
in Paris, ii. 123; work in Cor
nish, ii. 305; painted reproduc
tion of them, ii. 304; final ar
rangement, ii. 306
Bradford, William, i. 59
Brewster, Charles 0., ii. 243
Brimmer, Martin, ii. 313; bust of, ii.
124
Brooks, Phillips, first meetings with
Saint-Gaudens, i. 331
Brooks memorial, commission of
fered to Saint-Gaudens, ii. 97,
98; work on, ii. 313-327; let
ters to Stanford White com-
cerning architectural features,
ii. 314, 317; sketch of, ii. 320;
the figure of Christ, ii. 323-
327
Brown, Henry Kirk, i. 33, 57
Brush, George de Forest, i. 317, ii.
44, 54, 216
Bull-fight in Spain, Saint-Gaudens'
description of, ii. 165-175
Bunce, William Gedney, i. 108, 260,
ii. 119, 221; caricature of, ii. 182
Burnham, Baniel H., i. 327, ii. 59,
257
Butler, Prescott Hall, bas-relief of
sons of, i. 271, 280

Cameo-cutting by Saint-Gaudens, in
New York, i. 38-48; in Paris, i.
63, 68; in Rome, i. 108, 144;
most skilled engraver in Paris
and Rome, i. 143, 144; last work,
on engagement ring for Augusta
F. Homer, i. 144
Capri, Saint-Gaudens* visit to, i.
137

370

INDEX

Cathedrals, Saint-Gaudens' feeling
about, ii. 161-164
Champ-de-Mars, Saint-Gaudens' ex
hibit at, in 1898, his success, ii.
185-188
Chanler, William A., bust of, ii. 167
Chapin statue, Springfield, Mass., i.
353, ii. 14
Chase, Alexander, ii. 221
Chase, William M., i. 275, 276; bas-
relief of, i. 272
Choate, Joseph H, i. 268
Christ figure, Phillips Brooks me
morial, ii. 323-327; George F.
Baker monument, ii. 354
Cisco, John J., i. 162, 167, 181
Clemens, Samuel, i. 248, 262
Cleveland, Mrs., Saint-Gaudens
modeling bas-relief of, i. 300.
Coffin, William A., his letters con
cerning SainiJ-Gaudens, ii. 50, 93,
137, 245, 299
Coins, United States, Saint-Gaudens'
designs for, ii. 329-332, 336, 341
Cole, Thomas, i. 59
Coleman, Samuel, i. 59
Columbian Exposition, 1892, Saint-
Gaudens a general adviser re
garding the entire sculptural
scheme, ii. 73; his enthusiasm, ii.
66; his medals, their rejection
and his relations with the
Washington authorities, ii. 45,
66-72; his tribute to MacMon
nies, ii. 73, 74
Colvin, Sidney, ii. 126
Comet, Bonati's, i. 18
Competitions among sculptors, and
Saint-Gaudens' work for the
regulation of, i. 174, ii. 35-37,
253
Concerts on Sunday afternoon
in Saint-Gaudens' Thirty-sixth
Street studio, i. 281, 306, 309,
311
Cook, Clarence, his articles on the
National Academy of Design,
i. 187, 250, 257

Cooper, Peter, statue, ii. 74, 75, 108,
109, 111
Cooper Institute, Saint-Gaudens in
the drawing school, i. 45
Cornish, N. H, Saint-Gaudens' first
summer in, 1885, i. 311-315;
purchase of property, i. 316, 320;
barn studio, i. 317, 320; friends
near, i. 317-323, ii. 228; trip to
Europe in 1897, return in 1900,
ii. 206, 222; his delight in the
country, ii. 227, 228, 232-244;
picture of the house, ii. 241 ; stu
dio destroyed by fire in 1904, ii.
247, 248; studio work, 1900-1907,
ii. 289-358; twentieth anniversary
celebration of the Cornish Col
ony, ii. 347-352; Saint-Gaudens'
gift to participants in the
masque, ii. 350, 352; failing
health and last days, ii. 246, 359
Cottier, his work for La Farge, i.
257
Cox, George C, ii. 113
Cox, Kenyon, i. 250, 288, ii. 43, 94,
216
Crawford, Thomas, i. 33, 56
Cummings, T. S., one of the or
ganizers of the New York Draw
ing Association, i. 34
Bammouse, Albert, i. 73, 81, 88-92,
192
Bana, Charles A., medallion of, ii.
124
Begrees conferred on Saint-Gaudens
by Princeton, Harvard and
Yale universities, ii. 94-96, 283,
288
Bewing, Thomas W., i. 276, 278, 282,
317, 323, ii. 43, 217
Biana, tower of Madison Square
Garden, i. 393, ii. 99
Dix, Governor, i. 168
Bonald, Winchester, ii. 97, 98, 313,
318
Brama, Saint-Gaudens' interest in,
ii. 59

371

INDEX

Bublin, Ireland, house in which Fire destroyed Morgan tomb, i. 272-

Saint-Gaudens was born, i.
Dubois, George, i. 134-138
Bubois, Paul, ii. 49, 50, 183-185
Dunne, F. Peter, ii. 288
Durand, A. B., i. 59
Buveneck, Frank, i. 275
Eaton, Wyatt, i. 209, 276
Edinburgh, Scotland, Saint-Gaudens
in, ii. 125-128
Eliot, Charles W., ii. 91-94
Elliott, Loring, i. 184
Ellsworth, W. W., i 263
Emerson, Mrs. Oliver (aunt), i. 164,
255, 258
Emmanuel, King Victor, Saint-
Gaudens' description of his en
trance into Rome, i. 107
Equestrian statues, the first in
America, i. 56; Saint-Gaudens'
estimate of ancient and modern,
ii. 301, 302, 305
Evans, Joseph, i. 260, 278
Evarts, William M., acquaintance
with Saint-Gaudens, i. 113, 123;
bust of, i. 113, 129, 143, ii. 167;
Saint-Gaudens' estimate of, i.
178
Falguiere, i. 74, 77, ii. 47, 50
Farragut monument, Saint-Gau
dens' effort to secure commission
for, and its final award, i. 162-
172; aid given him by J. Q. A.
Ward, i. 170-172; beginning of
statue in Paris, i. 214, 216; cor
respondence between Saint-
Gaudens and Stanford White
concerning, i. 225-242; unveil
ing of monument, i. 268; public
appreciation, i. 265; view of, i.
269; Saint-Gaudens' attitude
toward his own work, i. 263, 267
Finn, James Wall, ii. 119 ; caricature
letter to, from Saint-Gaudens,
ii. 213; relief caricature of, ii.
230, 231

274; Cornish studio, in 1904, ii.
247, 248
Fish, Hamilton, tomb, Garrison-on-
the-Hudson, i. 355, ii. 108
Flanagan, John, ii. 215
Fluing, i. 343, ii. 22
Fountain, Chicago, ii. 6
France honors Saint-Gaudens, ii. 128,
132, 201, 281, 283, 287
Franco-Prussian War and Saint-
Gaudens' desire to enlist, i. 93-
102
Fraser, James Earle, Saint-Gau
dens' assistant, ii. 210, 231 ; cari
cature of, ii. 182
Frazee, John, i. 33
French, Baniel Chester, i. 153, 277,
ii. 42, 73, 210; Saint-Gaudens'
letters to, concerning Sherman
monument, ii. 294, 296
French and American Art and
artists, ii. 47-54
French Salons in 1898, Saint-Gau
dens' comments on, ii. 185
Garfield monument, Philadelphia, ii.
74; difficulties with the commit
tee, ii. 106, 107
Garnier, Alfred, with Saint-Gaudens
in Paris, i. 78; walking trip
with Saint-Gaudens to Switzer
land, i. 81-92; Franco-Prussian
War, letters from Saint-Gau
dens from Limoges and Rome,
i. 93-99, 118-120; trip to Italy
with Saint-Gaudens in 1900, ii.
138-152; caricatures in Saint-
Gaudens' letters to, ii. 225;
Saint-Gaudens' Comish letters
to, ii. 234-236
Gascon imagination of the Saint-
Gaudens family, i. 3, 10
George, Henry, his theories dis
cussed by Saint-Gaudens'
friends at Cornish, N. H., i. 318-

372

INDEX

German Savings Bank Building,
Saint-Gaudens' studio in, i. 154-
159
Gerome, Saint-Gaudens' admiration
for, ii. 50
Gibbs, Montgomery, his assistance
to Saint-Gaudens in Rome, i.
112, 113, 117, 120-123
Gibson, Charles Bana, his expe
rience in Saint-Gaudens' studio,
ii. 10, 11
Gilbert, Cass, ii. 59
Gilder, Helena de Kay, i. 186
Gilder, Bichard Watson, his com
radeship with Saint-Gaudens, i.
257, 283, 284; his opinion of
the Farragut monument, i. 265;
Saint-Gaudens' bas-relief por
traits of the family, i. 216;
Saint-Gaudens' letters to, con
cerning death of mother, i. 129;
concerning the Society of
American Artists, i. 186
Gortelmeyer, his friendship with
Saint-Gaudens, i. 46, 60, 130, 131
Greeley, Horace, and Bernard Saint-
Gaudens, i. 17
Greenough, Horatio, i. 33, 56
Grimes, Frances, Saint-Gaudens' as
sistant, ii. 231; Saint-Gaudens'
caricature signature on letter
to, ii. 225

Haddon, James, i. 27, 30
Hand of Saint-Gaudens, plaster
cast of, i. 96
Handwriting of Saint-Gaudens, i.
329
Hanna, Marcus A., monument, ii.
328
Hartley, Jonathan, i. 353
Hassam, Childe, ii. 47, 221
Hastings, Thomas, ii. 59
Hastings, Mrs. Thomas, Saint-Gau
dens' caricature signature on
letter to, ii 225
Hay, John, bust of, and personal

relations with Saint-Gaudens, ii.
333-343
Hering, Henry, Saint-Gaudens' as
sistant, ii. 231, 247, 332, 354,-
caricature of, ii. 182
Herzog, Louis, i. 60, 64, 128
Hewitt, Cooper, ii. 119
Hiawatha, modeling of, in Rome, i.
109, 112, 121, 122; picture of, i.
116; order for statue in marble
from Governor Morgan, i. 116,
122, 133
Hippopotamous, family and restau
rant in Rome, i. 114, 117, 132
Holt, Winifred, ii. 38
Homer, Augusta F., see Saint-Gau
dens, Augusta Homer
Homer, Mrs. Thomas J., Saint-Gau
dens' letters to, i. 167-170, 179-
181
Homer, Winslow, i. 185, 276, ii. 47,
221
Honors at home and abroad for
Saint-Gaudens, ii. 94-96, 128,
132, 201, 281, 283, 287, 288
Hooper, Edward, i. 331
Howells, William Dean, his letter
concerning Saint-Gaudens ii. 61-
65; Sainb-Gaudens' bas-relief of,
and of daughter, i. 216, ii. 61,
62, 77
Hudson River School of landscape
artists, i. 59, 251
Hughes, Ball, i. 33
Hunt, Bichard M., ii. 72
Hunt, William Morris, i. 185
Hutton, Lawrence, i. 27
Illustrations and the illustrators,
ii. 217, 218
Inness, George, i. 275, ii. 44
Instruction by Saint-Gaudens, see
Teaching by Saint-Gaudens
Italy, Saint-Gaudens' first stay in,
1870-72, i. 102-127; life in Rome,
i. 104-110; trip to Naples and
Mount Vesuvius, i. 110-112; his
second stay in, 1872-75, i. 132-

373

INDEX

151 ; walking trip to Naples with
Dubois and Mayor, i. 134-138;
visit to, with Alfred Garnier,
138-152
Jaegers, Albert, ii. 211, 215
James, Henry, ii. 65, 281, 296
James, William, ii. 79, 83
Jasper monument, Saint-Gaudens'
effort to secure commission, his
failure, i. 161, 174, 175, 181
Johnson, Eastman, i. 184
Jouffroy, Saint-Gaudens in atelier-
of, i. 74, 77
Jura mountains, Saint-Gaudens'
walking trip through, in 1869, i.
81, 82, 88-92
Keck, Charles, ii. 26, 37
Kimball, Isabel M., ii. 39
King monument, La Farge's, Saint-
Gaudens' work on, i. 161, 165,
210-212
La Farge, John, his first associa
tion with Saint-Gaudens, i. 161,
164, 213; his influence on and
assistance to Saint-Gaudens, i.
161, 162, 165; letters concern
ing the St. Thomas reliefs, i.
190-206, 256; the King monu
ment, i. 210-212; as mural deco
rator, ii. 42, 43, 216
Lathrop, Francis, i. 161, 276, 278,
307, 311
Lawrence, Mary, ii. 73
Le Brethon, Jules, cameo-cutter,
Saint-Gaudens' work for, i. 44,
48
Lee, Mrs. Charles Carroll, and Miss
Sarah Redwood, relief portraits
of, i. 216, 271, 272
Legion of Honor, French, Saint-
Gaudens an officer of, ii. 128,
132, 281
Leutz, Emanuel, i. 50, 184
Limoges, Saint-Gaudens in, i. 100-
103

Lincoln, Abraham, Saint-Gaudens'
remembrances of, i. 41, 42, 51
Lincoln statues, sketches of, i. 312,
ii. 27; suggestions for the chair,
i. 332; Gilder's letter concern
ing a life-mask of Lincoln, i.
355; model of the standing fig
ure, ii. 34; completion of the
standing figure, i. 350; the
seated figure, i. 356, ii. 307, 308,
311; clay model of the seated
figure, ii. 249
Logan monument, ii. 74; misunder
standings with the Logan com
mittee, ii. 103-106; mishap in
the studio and remodeling of
horse, ii. 101, 102; unveiling of,
ii. 84-88.
Low, Will H, i. 195, 250, 276, 278,
287, 288, 322, ii. 188, 198, 232,
237-239
Lowell, Mrs. Josephine Shaw, me
dallion of, ii. 124
Lupi, cameo-cutter, i. 61, 63
Luxembourg, Saint-Gaudens' Angel
with the Tablet in, i. 274, 350,
ii. 128-132, 193, 197, 200, 202

McCosh memorial tablet, i. 367,
369; amusing incidents in Saint-
Gaudens' studio i. 368-373
McGuiness, Arthur (maternal grand
father), i. 5
McGuiness, George (uncle), i. 9
McGuiness, Mary, see Saint-Gau
dens, Mary McGuiness
McKim, Charles F., friendship with
Saint-Gaudens, i. 160, 278; in
Paris with White and Saint-
Gaudens, i. 245; caricatures of,
i. 156, ii. 182, 286; his work
in connection with the Shaw me
morial, ii. 78; his efforts for
the founding of the Roman
Academy, ii. 260, 282, 284, 286
MacMonnies, Frederick William, his
beginning in Saint-Gaudens'

374

INDEX

studio, ii. 6, i. 312, 342; at Cor
nish, N. H., i. 320; Saint-Gau
dens' letter concerning his re
lations with the "grown up"
MacMonnies, ii. 15; Saint-Gau
dens' criticism of the Nathan
Hale statue, ii. 20; Saint-Gau
dens' admiration for MacMon
nies' work, ii. 52; the fountain
at the Columbian Exposition, ii.
73, 74; in Paris with Whistler
and Saint-Gaudens, ii. 179; cari
cature of, by Saint-Gaudens, ii.
182; the Edwin Booth monu
ment, ii. 354; other works, i. 42,
ii. 187, 210
MaeNeill, H. A., ii. 211
MacVeagh, Wayne, and his wife,
bas-relief of, i. 216, ii. 129, 297
Magee, Christopher Lyman, memo
rial, ii. 320, 328
Martin, Homer D., i. 59, 275
Martiny, Philip, Saint-Gaudens' as
sistant, i. 312, 342, 391, ii. 6
Masque at Cornish, on the twentieth
anniversary of the founding of
the colony, plaque made by
Saint-Gaudens, ii. 347-352
Maynard, George W., i. 161; por
trait relief, ii. 167
Mayor, Ernest, i. 134-138
Mead, Larkin G., 153
Mears, Helen, ii. 39
Medallions, see Bas-relief work;
names of persons
Medals, the Columbian Exposition,
ii. 45, 66; their rejection, and
Saint-Gaudens' relations' with
the Washington authorities, ii.
67-72; the Roosevelt inaugural
medals, ii. 253, 254
Merci6, i. 74, 77", 110, ii. 47
Metcalf, Willard L., i. 276, ii. 47,
119, 221
Millet, Francis D., i. 161, ii. 43, 44;
portrait relief, ii. 167
Mills, Clark, i. 56, 57
Mitchell, Br. S. Weir, monument to

daughter, a variation of the
Amor Caritas, ii. 345, 346
Money meant to Saint-Gaudens the
power to produce work, i. 274
Monvel, Boutet de, ii. 198, 201
Moore, Thomas, his testimony as
to Saint-Gaudens' optimism, i.
60
Moran, Thomas, i. 59, 275.
Morgan, Governor E. D., order for
the Hiawatha in marble, i. 116,
122, 133
Morgan tomb, first projects for, i.
179; work begun in Paris, i. 214;
correspondence between Saint-
Gaudens and Stanford White
concerning, i. 220-224; views of
angels, i. 228; destroyed by fire
in Hartford, i. 272-274
Morse, S. F. B., one of the organ
izers of the New York Drawing
Association, i. 34
Motto of Saint-Gaudens, i. 166, 167,
329, 344
Mowbray, H. Siddons, i. 44, ii. 58,
216, 271
Municipal Art Society, Saint-Gau
dens refused the presidency of,
ii. 115
Mural decoration in America, ii. 43,
216
Music, Saint-Gaudens' love of, i.
306, 307, 309, 311
Naples, Saint-Gaudens' visit at time
of eruption of Vesuvius, i. 110;
with Dubois and Mayor, i. 134-
138; with Garnier in 1900, ii.
145
National Academy of Design, be
ginning of, i. 34; Saint-Gaudens
as a student, i. 49; rejection of
Saint-Gaudens' "Sketch in
Plaster," i. 164, 188; revolt of
the "reformers," i. 185-189
New Mexico, Saint-Gaudens' trip
to, described in letter to his
wife, i. 294-305

375

INDEX

New York, in wartime, i. 41, 42;
the draft riots, i. 50
New York Brawing Association, or
ganizing of, i. 34
Nichols, Rose, Saint-Gaudens' let
ters to, i. 344, ii. 54, 87, 119, 125,
131, 134, 192, 278
Page, Miss, bust of, ii. 167
Paine, Robert Treat, ii. 97, 101
Painting in America, history of, i.
32, 34, 56, 59, 184-188, 274-276,
ii. 41-59, 209, 216-221
Palmer, Edmund, i. 159
Palmer, Erastus B., i. 38, 57, 153
Paris, Saint-Gaudens' in, first trip
in 1867, i. 52, 59-92; his French
relatives, i. 62; cameo-cutting,
i. 63, 68; poverty and many
lodgings, i. 63r-67; modeling at
the Petite Erole, i. 68-73; admit
tance to the Beaux Arts, i. 68,
73; in atelier of Jouffroy, i. 74-
79; his singing, i. 77, 78; amuse
ments and activities, i. 79-81,
87; walking trips, i. 81, 82, 88-
92; the Franco-Prussian War
and his desire to enlist, i. 93-
102; Paul Bion's letter con
cerning Paris and the friends
of student days, i. 148-151; re
turn to Paris with wife in
1877, i. 190; modeling of the
St. Thomas reliefs, i. 190-209;
work on the Morgan angels
and the Farragut and Randall
monuments, i. 214>-242; real be
ginning of the modeling of
medallions, i. 214, 215, 271;
meets Bastien-Lepage and
makes bas-relief of, i. 215-219;
trip down the Rhone with White
and McKim, i. 245-248; ap
pointment on American Art
Jury for Paris International
Exposition, i. 251, 253; home
life of the Saint-Gaudens fam
ily, i. 258-262; brief trip to

Paris in 1889; i. 323-326; last
trip abroad in 1897, ii. 87, 123;
work in studio, ii. 122-137;
friends and pleasures, ii. 178-
205; trip to Italy with Garnier,
ii. 138-152; trips to Spain, ii.
153-177; comments on the
French Salons, ii. 185; exhibi
tion of his work at the Champ-
de-Mars, his success, ii. 185-188
Paris International Exposition,
members of American Art
Jury, i. 251, 253
Parnell monument, Dublin, Ireland,
ii. 309-313
Parrish, Maxfield, ii. 218; caricature
letter to, from Saint-Gaudens,
ii. 220
Parrish, Stephen, i. 318
Pennsylvania Bailroad station
Washington, D. C, Saint-Gau
dens' assistance to D. H. Burn
ham in obtaining fitting sculp
ture for, ii. 257
Petite JScole, Saint-Gaudens' at, i.
68-73
Philosophy of Saint-Gaudens, ii.
203-205
Pierrepont, Edwards, bust of, i. 130
Plaque commemorating « masque at
Cornish, ii. 350, 352
Plastoline, evolution of, i. 342
Piatt, Charles A., i. 318; relief cari
cature of, ii. 230
Pointing machine, Saint-Gaudens'
experience with, ii. 97, 101
Post, George B., i. 349, ii. 10
Powers, Hiram, i. 33, 56
Proctor, A. P., ii. 101, 134, 210, 212
Puritan statue, i. 354, ii. 7, 14
Pyle, Howard, ii. 217
Bandall monument, Saint-Gaudens
receives commission, i. 163; his
ideas concerning, i. 172; begin
ning of work in Paris, i. 214;
correspondence between Saint-
Gaudens and Stanford White

376

INDEX

concerning, i. 225-242; finishing
of, in Sherwood studio, New
York, i. 268, 272
Reid, Robert, ii. 43, 119
Reinhart, C. S., ii. 43, 119
Remington, Frederick, ii. 218
Rhone River, trip down, by Saint-
Gaudens, White and McKim, i.
245
Richards, William T., i. 59
Richardson, H. H., i. 159, 165, 213;
his respect for Sainb-Gaudens'
opinion, i. 327; his suggestion
that Saint-Gaudens execute the
Shaw monument, i. 327, 328, 332;
his personality, i. 328, 331
Ridgway, Joseph, Saint-Gaudens'
effort to secure commission for
bas-relief of, i. 173, 177
Rinehart, William H., his friend
ship with Saint-Gaudens, and his
death, i. 139, 140
Rinehart scholarship, ii. 37
Rock Creek Cemetery figure, see
Adams monument
Rodin, Auguste, ii. 50, 183, 194
Rogers, John, i. 57, 58, 153
Rogers, Randolph, i. 57, 58, 139, 153
Roman Academy, see American
Academy of Fine Arts in Rome
Roman Slave statue, i. 134, 144, 147
Rome, Saint-Gaudens in, 1870-72, i.
102-127; trip from Limoges, i.
103; first impressions of the
city, i. 104, 107; cameo-cutting,
i. 108, 143, 144; acquaintance
with William Gedney Bunce, i.
108; studio with Soares and his
work on statue Hiawatha, i. 109-
112, 116, 121, 122; acquaintance
with Montgomery Gibbs and
family, i. 112, 113, 117, 120-123;
with William M. Evarts and
family, i. 113, 123; with Dr.
Henry Shiff, i. 114, 124-126; res
taurants Hippopotamus and
Caf<5 Greco, i. 114; leaves Rome
for America, i. 117, 118; returns

to Rome, life to 1875, i. 132-151;
meets Augusta F. Homer, i. 122,
138; work on statue Silence, i.
116, 130, 133, 134, 140-143; statue
Roman Slave, i. 134, 144, 147;
order from Governor Morgan
for marble statue of Hiawatha,
i. 122, 133; Saint-Gaudens' re
lations with other American
sculptors in Rome, i. 139; a
short stay in Rome, 1878, i. 215;
visit to, with Alfred Garnier, in
1900, ii. 144, 148
Roosevelt, President, Saint-Gau
dens' inaugural medal for, ii.
253, 254; letter to, concerning
designs for United States coins,
ii. 329
Boot, Elihu, i. 130
Boyal Academy, Saint-Gaudens
made a member of, ii. 125, 283,
287
Bush, William, i. 33
Saint-Gaudens, Andr6 (paternal
grandfather), i. 5
Saint-Gaudens, Andrew (brother),
birth of, i. 11; in Limoges, i.
100-102
Saint-Gaudens, Augusta Homer
(wife), met Saint-Gaudens in
Rome, i. 122, 138; her cameo en
gagement ring cut by Saint-
Gaudens, i. 144; portrait of, i.
145; marriage, i. 163; bas-relief
of, ii. 353, 355
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, 1848-
1907, birth in Dublin, i. 6, 9;
house in which he was born, i.
36; childhood homes in New
York, i. 11, 12, 18, 37; recollec
tions of childhood, i. 11-31;
Lispenard Street . house, i. 12,
18; North Moore Street school,
i. 20-22, 27; Twentieth Street
school, i. 37; his desire to be
come an artist, i. 17, 32, 38, 45;
work as cameo-cutter, i. 38-48;

377

INDEX

study at Cooper Institute, i. 45;
trouble with policeman and im
prisonment, i. 46, 49; study at
National Academy of Design, i.
49; optimism of his nature, i.
60, 83, 120, 129; love of swim
ming, i. 87; plaster cast of
hand of, i. 96; handwriting of,
i. 329; love for his mother,
i. 129; marriage, i. 163; his
motto, i. 166,' 167, 329, 344;
home life in Rome and Paris,
1878, i. 255-262; money meant to
him the power to produce work,
i. 274; his friends in the 80's
and their influence on his de
velopment, i. 275-284; loyalty of
his friends, i. 277; affection for
his father, i. 285; trip with
Stanford White to New Mexico,
i. 294-305; his love of music, i.
306, 307, 309, 311; his violent
outbreaks of temper, i. 336,
338, 341; effect of Stevenson
on the development of his
literary taste, i. 367, 389,
390; his personal appear
ance, described by W. D.
Howells, ii. 65; degrees con
ferred by Princeton, Harvard
and Yale, ii. 94-96, 283, 288; his
interest in club life, ii. 116;
confidence in himself after Paris
experience of 1897-1900, ii. 186;
honors received at home and
abroad, ii. 94-96, 128, 132, 201,
281, 283, 287, 288; his philoso
phy, ii. 203-205; his illness and
last days, ii. 221-226, 246, 359;
portraits: at cameo lathe, i. 48;
drawn by himself about 1867, i.
85; photograph from Rome in
the sixties, i. 105; photograph
taken with Dubois and Mayor on
walking trip, i. 136; photograph
from Rome in 1872, i. 145; cari
catures, i. 156, ii. 182; Paris,
about 1878, i. 208; New York,

378

about 1887, ii. 56; without a
beard, 1895, ii. 90; etching by
Anders Zorn, ii. 116, 118; with
cousin, Hector Saint-Gaudens, at
Salies du Salat, ii. 140; about
1901, ii. 208; in town of Aspet,
France, ii. 256; in picture of
three generations, ii. 265; paint
ing, in 1904, by Ellen Emmet, ii.
279; two years before his death,
ii. 316; in the pergola of the
Cornish studio, 1906, ii. 241;
see also names of his works;
names of persons and places.
Saint-Gaudens, Bernard Paul
Ernest (father), birthplace,
Aspet, France, i. 5, 9; his Gas
con imagination, i. 3, 10; mar
riage to Mary McGuiness, i. 10;
emigration to America, i. 6, 10,
11; his shoemaking business and
his distinguished customers, i.
12-17; his picturesque personal- •
ity, i. 16; bust of, i. 14; his shop
on Fourth Avenue, i. 37, 53; the
Farragut monument and, i. 263;
Saint-Gaudens' affection for his
father, i. 285; death, i. 285; the
picture of three generations, ii.
265
Saint-Gaudens, Francois (uncle), i.
62
Saint-Gaudens, Homer (son), birth,
i. 271; bas-relief of, i. 272, ii.
167; father's letter to, concern
ing a big-nosed little boy, i. 28-
31; Stevenson's letter to, i.
377; father's letters to, concern
ing arawings, ii. 31-36; concern
ing the Sherman statue, ii. 136;
in picture of three generations,
ii. 265
Saint-Gaudens, Louis (brother),
birth, i. 18; Garnier's letter to,
concerning Augustus, i. 82-92;
learns to cut cameos, i. 128; in
Rome, i. 130; in Paris, i. 244,
58; great love of Augustus for,

INDEX

i. 259, 278; his love of sleep, i.
271; letter to, from Augustus,
concerning his work, ii. 211; his
home at Cornish, N. H, ii. 235
Saint-Gaudens, Mary McGuiness
(mother), birthplace, i. 5; an
cestry, i. 5, 9; marriage, i. 10;
children, i. 6; picture of, i. 25;
Saint-Gaudens' love for, i. 129;
her death, i. 130
Saint-Gaudens family, legendary or
igin of, i. 3-5
Saint-Gaudens village, ii. 142
St. Thomas Church reliefs, com
mission from La Farge, i. 163;
modeling of, in Paris, letters to
La Farge, i. 190-200; shipment
to America, i. 199; picture of, i.
197; La Farge's criticism of, i.
201; Saint-Gaudens' letters con
cerning, i. 203, 206, 256; public
reception of, in New York, i.
209; destruction of, by fire, i.
210
Salies du Salat, France, Saint-Gau
dens' at, ii. 138-141, 149
Sargent, John Singer, i. 250, 276, ii.
43, 44, 194, 216, 221
Sargent, Violet, bas-relief of, i. 348,
351
Schiff, Jacob H., children of, in basi-
relief, i. 312, ii. 70, 189
Scott, Bavid B., i. 37
Sculptor's tendency to bias his
drawings in the direction of his
own likeness, ii. 5, 61
Sculpture, character of a work class
ifies it as good or bad, i. 278
Sculpture in America, to 1848, i. 32-
34; to 1867, i. 56-60; 1878 to
1890, i. 277; 1888-1897, ii. 42; to
1907, ii. 210
Shaw memorial, the execution of,
by Saint-Gaudens, suggested by
Richardson, i. 327, 328, 332; de
velopment of the plan, i. 332,
333, ii. 120; various sketches for,
i. 329, 332, 340; adventures with

negro models, i. 333-338; diffi
culties in modeling, i. 341-344;
fourteen years in studio, i. 344,
347; view of, ii. 82; worry over
the inscriptions, ii. 88-93; un
veiling of, ii. 78-84; congratula
tions and honors, ii. 93-96
Sherman, General, bust modeled by
Saint-Gaudens, i. 378, ii. 167;
his meeting with Stevenson, i.
381-383
Sherman monument, ii. 63; begin
nings of, in New York, ii. 77;
work in Paris studio, 1897-1900,
ii. 123, 124, 133-136; completion
of, at Cornish, N. H., ii. 227, 289-
300 ; controversy concerning
location of, in New York,
ii. 294-296; in French ex
hibitions, ii. 133, 135; at Buf
falo Exposition, ii. 299, 300;
ten years in studio, i. 347
Sherwood studio in New York, i.
268, 272
Shiff, Br. Henry, acquaintance and
influence with Saint-Gaudens, i.
114, 124-126; bas-relief of, i. 125
Shirlaw, Walter, i. 275, ii. 43
Silence statue, ordered by L. H.
Willard, i. 130; work begun in
Rome, i. 133, 134, 140, 141; dif
ficulties, i. 142, 143; picture of,
i. 116; Saint-Gaudens' letter to
J. Q. A. Ward concerning, i.
142
Simmons, Edward, ii. 43, 119
Smedley, William, ii. 119
Smith tomb, Newport, R. I., i. 350;
comparison with the Morgan
tomb, i. 354
Soares dos Reis, his friendship with
Saint-Gaudens, i. 79, 109
Soci£te des Beaux Arts, Saint-Gau
dens elected a member of, ii.
128, 201
Society of American Artists, found
ing of, and Saint Gaudens' in
terest in, i. 184-189; meetings of

379

INDEX

members in Paris, 1878, i. 250-
254; growth of, 1878-1890, i.
274-278
Spain, Saint-Gaudens' first trip to,
with his wife, ii. 153-164; Gav
arnie, ii. 154; across the Pyre
nees on mule-back, ii. 155; at
Catalonia, ii. 155-158; the mas
culinity of Spain, ii. 156; at
Saragossa, the cathedral, ii. 158,
161; at Madrid, the monastery
of the Escurial, ii. 161, 162; at
Toledo, the cathedral the em
bodiment of Spain, ii. 163; sec
ond trip to, with his friend
Colin, ii. 164-177; Granada and
the Alhambra, ii. 164; Alham
bra compared with the Parthe
non, ii. 165; at a bull-fight, ii.
165-175; the cathedral at Gran
ada and the tombs of Ferdinand
and Isabella, ii. 176, 177
Spanish architecture, its virility, as
seen by Saint-Gaudens, ii. 163,
164
Stevenson, Robert Louis, meeting
with Saint-Gaudens in New
York, i. 373; Saint-Gaudens'
personal impressions of, i. 374,
375; his letter to Homer Saint-
Gaudens, i. 376, 376; his meet
ing with General Sherman, i.
381-383; instilled into Saint-Gau
dens his first real taste for lit
erature, i. 367, 389, 390; Saint-
Gaudens' admiration for, i. 384,
385; letters to Saint-Gaudens
from Samoa, i. 385-388
Stevenson bas-relief, beginnings of,
i. 373, 375, 376, 378, 380; the
first medallion, i. 380; various
remodeled forms, i. 384, ii. 129,
297; work on, in Cornish, ii. 227,
307; form of, [for St. Giles
Church, Edinburgh, and Saint-
Gaudens' trips to England and
Scotland, ii. 125-129, 297; the
medallion in Samoa, i. 388

Story, William Wetmore, i. 57, 58,
139, 153
Stoughton, Edward, bust of, i. 130;
cameo cut for, in Rome, i. 144
Studios, see Cornish; German Sav
ings Bank; Paris; Rome;
Thirty-sixth Street; Sherwood
Sumner, Charles, Saint-Gaudens'
competitive effort to obtain or
der for statue of, i. 174
Swimming, Saint-Gaudens' love of,
i. 87
Switzerland, Saint-Gaudens' walk
ing trip to, with Dammouse and
Garnier, i. 81, 82, 88-89
Teaching by Saint-Gaudens, ii. 3-29 ;
at the Art Students' League, ii.
4, 12, 17, 21-23; relations with
pupils, ii. 3-15; his instruction
and advice, ii. 16-25; letters of
criticism, ii. 26-39; value of
study abroad, ii. 37-39
Terry, Ellen, at concert in Saint-
Gaudens' studio, i. 306
Thayer, Abbott H., ii. 44, 57, 216
Thierry, George, i. 67
Thirty-sixth Street studio, i. 274;
concerts in, on Sunday after
noons, i. 281, 306, 309, 311; early
work in, i. 348; later work, ii.
61, 74; confusion, ii. 86, 87, 97
Thompson, Launt, i. 38, 50, 57, 58,
153
Tonetti, Mrs. Francois M. L., ii. 73
Trinity Church, Boston, Saint-Gau
dens' work for La Farge, i. 164,
165, 213
Turner, C. J., ii. 42
Twachtman, John H., i. 276, ii. 47,
221
Vanderbilt residence decorations, i.
349, 350
Van Rensselaer, Mrs., i. 325, 345
Vedder, Elihu, ii. 54
Vesuvius, Saint-Gaudens' trip to, in
1872, i. 110

380

INDEX

Victory figure, see Sherman monu
ment
Walker, Henry Oliver, i. 318
Ward, Elsie, Saint-Gaudens' assist
ant, ii. 231, 354
Ward, J. Q. A., i. 56-58, 153; Saint-
Gaudens' letter to, concerning
the statue Silence, i. 142; aid
given Saint-Gaudens in securing
the Farragut commission, i. 170-
172; dean of sculptors, i. 277, ii.
42, 210; Saint-Gaudens' tribute
to, ii. 52
Ward, S. G., portrait medallion of,
i. 271, 272
Ward, T. W., i. 184
Warner, Olin, i. 12, 77, 153, 184, 277,
ii. 42, 210
Washington, Booker T., ii. 83
Washington, D. C, Saint-Gaudens'
interest in the artistic develop
ment of, ii. 272-277; his impres
sions of, ii. 277-282
Washington commemorative medal,
i. 391-393
Weimann, Adolph, i. 388, ii. 211, 253,
254
Weir, J. Alden, i. 276, ii. 43
Wells, Joseph, i. 278, 307; Sunday
afternoon concerts in Saint-
Gaudens' studio, i. 281, 306, 309,
311
Wendell, Mrs. Barrett, i. 362
Whistler, James MacNeill, Saint-
Gaudens' acquaintance with, ii.
179, 180, 183; memorial to, at
West Point, ii. 329
White, Stanford, his first meeting

with Saint-Gaudens, i. 159, 213;
his work on Farragut pedestal
in Saint-Gaudens' studio in
Paris, i. 214; letters to Saint-
Gaudens concerning Morgan
tomb, i. 220-224; concerning the
Randall and Farragut monu
ments, i. 225-242; caricatures, i.
156, ii. 182; his work on Trinity
Church, Boston, for Richardson,
i. 164, 213; with Saint-Gaudens
in Paris, 1878, i. 243-248, 258,
259; letters from Saint-Gau
dens, i. 255, 256; influence on
Saint-Gaudens' life, i. 281, 282;
trip to New Mexico with Saint-
Gaudens, i. 294-305; his assist
ance in placing of Chapin
statue, i. 353; in the treatment
of the Adams monument, i. 359,
361; his work on the Peter
Cooper monument, ii. 109; his
interest in the Boston Public
Library, ii. 114; his letters con
cerning the Phillips Brooks
monument, ii. 314, 317; his
death, ii. 248; letters showing
friendly relations with Saint-
Gaudens, ii. 251 ; Saint-Gaudens'
tribute to, ii. 252
Whitman, Walt, ii. 113
Willard, L. H., his order for a sar
cophagus and the figure Silence,
i. 130, 132, 140-143
Windsor, Vt., see Cornish, N. H.
Woolsey bust, i. 258, 272
Zorn, Anders, his etching of Saint-
Gaudens, ii. 116, 118

381

The Reminiscences of
Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Volume II.

YALE UNIVERSITY

a39002 Q^ff^f^fa