Saint-Gaudens’ Greatest Work
Last month, my wife traveled to Boston on a business trip. She worked a day into her schedule to go sight seeing with one of her colleagues. I asked her, if it was conducive to her schedule, to get a picture of Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ monument to Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Infantry on Boston Common. Low and behold late that Friday morning she sent me the picture you see to the left. Saint-Gaudens completed sculptures of President Abraham Lincoln, Admiral David Farragut and Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman. His monument of Shaw and his regiment, the first all black unit raised in the North, marching to war is his finest. He used a number of models before deciding to use the 21 that are individually depicted. It was dedicated on May 31, 1897 and stands across on Beacon Street from the State House.
There ought to be a coffee table book on this piece.
Saint-Gaudens’ home in Cornish, New Hampshire, is a National Historic Site. I recommend it highly. A proof of the 54th Massachusetts monument is in the garden. Also several other proofs of Civil War figures, especially Lincoln’s statue in Lincoln Park, Chicago. A wonderful place to spend a warm afternoon.