The Puritan

Details

Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907)
The Puritan
inscribed '·THE·PVRITAN·/PRESENTED TO GEORGE B. WOODWARD BY THE SUPERINTENDENTS OF THE METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE CO. 1894·1919' (along the base)--inscribed 'AVGVTVS SAINT GAVDENS' (on the base)--inscribed 'COPYRIGHT·BY·/AVGVSTVS SAINT-GAVDENS·/·M·D·C·C·C·X·C·I·X· (on the rear of the base)
bronze with brown patina
30 ¼ in. (76.8 cm.) high
Modeled in 1886.

Provenance

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, New York.
George B. Woodward, gift from the above.
Walter T. Foster, Tustin, California.
Private collection, Tustin, California, by descent.
James Graham & Sons, New York.
Acquired by the late owner from the above, 1987.

Literature

W. Craven, Sculpture in America, Cranbury, New Jersey, 1968, pp. 384-85.
B.G. Proske, Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture, Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, 1968, pp. 9-11, another example illustrated.
T. Armstrong, et al., 200 Years of American Sculpture, New York, 1976, pp. 51, 81, pl. 18, another example illustrated.
J.H. Dryfhout, The Work of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Hanover, New Hampshire, 1982, pp. 162-66, other examples illustrated.
M. Evert, Discovering Pittsburgh’s Sculpture, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1983, pp. 293-94, another example illustrated.
K. Greenthal, Augustus Saint-Gaudens: Master Sculptor, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1985, p. 174.
K. Greenthal, et al., American Figurative Sculpture in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, 1986, pp. 238-42, no. 74, another example illustrated.
M.A. Goley, B. Wilkinson, Augustus Saint-Gaudens: American Sculptor, From the Collection of the Saint-Gaudens Historic Site, exhibition catalogue, Washington, D.C., 1992, pp. IV, VIII, no. 24.
T. Tolles, ed., American Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. I, New York, 1999, pp. 285-88, no. 123, another example illustrated.
H.J. Duffy, J.H. Dryfhout, Augustus Saint-Gaudens: American Sculptor of the Gilded Age, exhibition catalogue, Washington, D.C., 2003, p. 75, no. 39, another example illustrated.

Lot Essay

The present bronze is one of several reductions made after Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ 1886 monumental statue, The Puritan. The original work was commissioned for Stearns Square in Springfield, Massachusetts by Chester W. Chapin to pay homage to his ancestor, Deacon Samuel Chapin, a founding member of the city. As there was no record on which to base Deacon Chapin’s appearance, his descendants worked closely with Saint-Gaudens to ensure accuracy in the figure’s dress, utilizing seventeenth century woodblock prints for research. The stalwart figure, who confidently strides forward with walking stick in hand, a book held firmly under his left arm, was unveiled on Thanksgiving Day 1887. Representing more than just the singular man on which it was based, The Puritan stands for qualities of resilience, courage and moral fortitude--the all-important makings of an early American settler.

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