In this installment of “Profiles in History,” we look at the works and life of a great American sculptor of public works.
Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907) possessed the rare gift of expressing the heroism of both mythological and natural figures, and often, he combined the two to express the heroism of modern Americans.
Born in Dublin in the midst of the Great Famine, his French shoemaker father, Bernard Paul Ernest Saint-Gaudens, moved his family to America only months after Saint-Gaudens’s birth. It was a decision both immediately necessary and ultimately history-making.
The Apprentice
During the years of the Civil War, Saint-Gaudens apprenticed with French cameo cutters in New York City, learning first under Louis Avet for three years, and then, after a falling out with Avet, under Jules Le Brethon. While apprenticing, he also attended classes in New York at the National Academy of Design and the Cooper Union. Noticing their son’s gift for sculpting, Bernard Saint-Gaudens and his wife, Mary McGuinness, permitted him to pursue his artistic education in Paris.
