January 16, 2020 09:00 AM PST Annex
59
Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907) Bronze Portrait, Robert Louis Stevenson
Framed Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907) bronze tondo portrait of Robert Louis Stevenson. Inscription begins, "Youth Now Flees on Feathered Foot…." At lower center, "Copyright by Augustus Saint Gaudens". Circa 1893. Partial D.B. Butler & Co label verso, (New York framers). Dimensions: (bronze) 17.75" diameter; (framed) 26.5"h x 24.5"w. Provenance: Estate of William B. Ruger, Jr.
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Augustus Saint-Gaudens became one of the more famous American sculptors of the late 19th century and was associated with a period called The Gilded Age. He brought the Beaux Arts style to America, as he had studied in Italy and France. A work for which he is particularly known is the monumental statue "Diana," a gilded copper weathervane for the top of the Madison Square Garden Tower in New York City. In 1875, he returned to New York and worked for Tiffany Studios and became part of a team of artists who did decoration in Boston for Trinity Church, designed by H.H. Richardson. Impressed by Robert Louis Stevenson’s collection of stories "New Arabian Nights" (1882), Saint-Gaudens told their mutual friend, Will Low, that he would be honored to model a portrait if the writer were ever to come to the United States. The opportunity presented itself in 1887–88, when Stevenson (1850–1894) sat for the sculptor in New York and later in Manasquan, New Jersey. Stevenson, suffering from tuberculosis, is shown writing in bed, as was his custom. The lengthy inscription is a poem by Stevenson dedicated to Low and published in 1887, "Underwood". The portrait became Saint-Gaudens’s most popular relief and was produced in three diameters as well as in rectangular variants.
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Condition:
Very good with minor surface wear and some wear to wood frame.
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Estimate:
$15,000 -
$25,000
Price Realized Including Buyer's Premium
$13,310
01/16/2020
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