Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Augustus Saint-Gaudens was born in Dublin on 1 March 1848 and was brought to New York as an infant. He learned cameo-cutting in his father’s shop, studied at the Cooper Union and the National Academy of Design, and trained as a sculptor in Paris and Rome. Returning to the United States, he became the leading American sculptor of his generation. His Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Regiment Memorial, dedicated on Boston Common in 1897, shows Shaw on horseback beside the marching ranks of his men; it is widely counted among the finest public sculptures in the country. He also made a standing Lincoln for Chicago and a seated Lincoln, and he designed the United States $20 gold coin often called the Saint-Gaudens double eagle. He worked for many years at his studio in Cornish, New Hampshire, now Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park, and died there on 3 August 1907.

See also: Robert Gould Shaw · Daniel Chester French