Irish-born American sculptor, son of an Irish mother and a French father. His family immigrated to New York when he was an infant. An apprentice in cameoGLOSSARYSmall relief made from gems, glass, ceramics, or shell having layers of different colours and carved so that the design stands out in one colour against a background in another. cutting at 13, he gained mastery over low-reliefGLOSSARYA sculptural work in which all or part projects from the flat surface. There are three basic forms: low relief (bas-relief, basso rilievo), in which figures project less than half their depth from the background; medium relief (mezzo-rilievo), in which figures are seen half round; and high relief (alto rilievo), in which figures are almost detached from their background. sculpture. He had an unusual geniusGLOSSARYin classical Rome, a person's invisible tutelary god. In art from the classical period onwards, the low-ranking god was depicted as a winged, usually childish figure. for plastic expression and an unfailing enthusiasm and industry. He studied drawing at Cooper Institute (now Cooper Union) and the National Academy of Design. Moving (1867) to Paris, he was trained at the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and gained knowledge of the Italian Renaissance from his stay (1870-75) in Italy.
He returned to America where between 1880 and 1897 he executed most of the works that earned him his reputation as the foremost American sculptor of the late 19th century. His statue of Admiral Farragut (1881) for Madison Square, New York City, set a new standard for public monuments and made Saint-Gaudens one the foremost Beaux-Arts sculptors in the United States and a strong influence in the development of American sculpture. Stanford White collaborated on the pedestal for this figure and several others. In 1887 the figure of Lincoln in Lincoln Park, Chicago, was completed. Other works that followed are DeaconGLOSSARYa minister who was below the rank of priest in the Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox churches. Deacons originally cared for both the sick and the poor in early Christian communities. Samuel Chapin (The Puritan), Springfield, Mass.; the Shaw Memorial, Boston Common; General Logan, Chicago; General Sherman, entrance to Central Park, New York City; and the seated Lincoln for the Chicago lakefront. Of the portraitGLOSSARYThe Roman portrait bust survived in the form of life-sized reliquaries of saints, but it was in 15th century Florence that the individual features and character of a contemporary sitter were accurately recorded by sculptors such as Donatello, Desiderio da Settignano, Mino da Fiesole and the Rossellino. A similar degree of realism occurs in 15th century tomb sculpture. The equestrian portrait, based on antique statues such as the Marcus Aurelius monument (Rome, Campidoglio), was revived in the 14th century. Two examples in fresco are Simone Martini's Guidoriccio (c. 1328; Siena, Palazzo Pubblico) and the posthumous portrait of Sir John Hawkwood (1436; Florence, Cathedral) by Uccello, which gives the illusion of a 3-dimensional statue seen from below. The Venetian Republic ordered imposing monuments from Donatello (1447; Gattarnelata, Padua) and Verrocchio (14799; Colleoni, Venice), whilst other statesmen ordered their own images to be erected in public places, directly relating themselves to the military heroes of ancient Rome. Another form of political portraiture derived from antiquity was the commemorative portrait medal designed by artists such as Pisanello. The carved or painted profile portrait became popular in the 1450s. The realism of the clear, flattened image, painted under the influence of Flemish examples by the Pollaiuolo brothers, Piero della Francesca and Botticelli, was superseded by the three-quarter and frontal portrait, psychologically more complex, such as Leonardo's enigmatic Mona Lisa (Paris, Louvre) with her momentary smile or Andrea del Sarto's arresting Portrait of a Man (London, National Gallery). The 16th century portrait became generalized, Lotto's Andrea Odoni (1527; Royal Collection) being an idealized concept of a collector rather than an individual. Group portraits, decorating whole rooms, include the narrative scenes of the Gonzaga court painted by Mantegna (completed 1474; Mantua, Palazzo Ducale) and the elaborate schemes commissioned by the Farnese family in Rome from Vasari (1546; Palazzo della Cancelleria) and Salviati (after 1553; Palazzo Farnese). Portraits were also incorporated into religious narratives, as in Ghirlandaio's fresco cycle painted for Giovanni Tornabuoni in S. Maria Novella, Florence (1486-90). tablets and plaques, most notable are Dr. McCosh, Princeton, N.J.; Robert Louis Stevenson for St. Giles, Edinburgh, Scotland; and charming low reliefs of children. Among his idealized figures is the veiled Adams Memorial, Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, D.C., one of his most splendid works.
