For more on the the Saint Gaudens National Historical Park, see the first post in this series. This post is available as a video at https://youtu.be/mjG1yrmXBrw.
This week we look at some of the low-relief portraits in the New Studio. On the exterior of the New Studio and the larger works inside it, see the second post in this series.
Dr. Henry Shiff, 1880
Shiff (1832-1907), a physician, served as a surgeon in the Confederate Army, then spent the rest of his life in Italy, Spain, and France. He was a noted collector of Chinese and Japanese bronzes. In Paris he became mentor to the young Saint Gaudens. Saint Gaudens gave his son Homer the middle name “Schiff” in this man’s honor.
Saint Gaudens’s first job was as an apprentice to a cameo-cutter, and it shows in his relief portraits. They’re in exquisite low relief, but suggest three-dimensionality. Look at how he fills the space with this man’s head and shoulders. The area on the right is filled in with fine lines, so it’s not shiny, which might compete with Shiff’s shiny forehead. The inscription is turned into a decorative element: that’s typical of Saint Gaudens.
The inscription is in Italian, abbreviated, which is beyond my ability to translate: see it here, from the Musee d’Orsay’s transcription. The elegant frame is by architect Stanford White, who frequently collaborated with Saint Gaudens.
Louise Miller Howland, 1884
The inscription above the woman’s head reads: “Et uxor et mater dulcissima et benemerens” (“Gentlest and most well-deserving wife and mother”). I love the frame on this one, designed by Saint Gaudens and cast with the portrait relief.
Helen Parrish Lee and Sara Redwood Lee, 1881
A mother (right) and daughter. Even in this very low relief, you can see the differences in flesh and bone between the two women.
Jules Bastien-Lepage, 1880-1881
Bastien-Lepage (1848-1884), a French painter, is today most famous for his Joan of Arc, 1879, which you’ve probably seen if you’ve visited the European paintings wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Robert Louis Stevenson, 1887 or later
Saint Gaudens met and admired Stevenson (1850-1894) in 1887, and did sketches for a relief portrait of him. The famed Scottish writer was quite ill and skeletally thin, but Saint Gaudens chose to show him relaxing against pillows, reading with a cigarette in hand. The composition beautifully fills the circular space. Saint Gaudens also did other versions, one of which we’ll see in the New Gallery.
George W. Maynard, 1877
Maynard (1843-1923), a native of Washington, DC, was a painter of portraits and murals.
Homer Schiff Saint Gaudens, ca. 1882
Homer (1880-1958) was the only child of Augustus and Augusta Saint Gaudens.
Next week: more portrait reliefs from the New Studio.
More
- Admission to the Saint GaudensAdmission to the Saint Gaudens National Historical Park is free if you have a senior pass from the National Parks Service, which can be purchased for a one-time fee.
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