.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Upon reading Robert Louis Stevenson’s The New Arabian Nights, Augustus Saint-Gaudens wrote to his friend, painter Will H. Low, “if Stevenson ever crossed to this side of the water, I should consider it an honor, if he would allow me to make his portrait.” (as quoted in T. Tolles, ed., American Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. I, New York, 1999, p. 288) Low, who knew the writer well, took it upon himself to arrange a meeting of the two men, and in 1887, Saint-Gaudens began work on the present bronze portrait relief.
First convening over the course of five sessions at the Hotel Albert in New York where Stevenson was staying, Saint-Gaudens subsequently finished the modeling of the work in Manasquan, New Jersey, the following spring. Ill with tuberculosis, Stevenson is depicted in bed, propped up on pillows with a cigarette in hand and a sheaf of papers on his lap. Soon after these sittings, Stevenson moved to Samoa, and the two men never met again, although they would correspond through letters up to the writer's death in 1894.
In casting the relief in bronze, Saint-Gaudens initially created a rectangular composition, but after coming to the conclusion that the work was much improved by a circular format, the sculptor removed the lower portion of the bed and rearranged the ivy border and inscription to fit the new shape. The first of the 35-inch diameter medallions, made for collector George A. Armour, was cast in 1890 at the Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company, New York. Three more casts were made in this size before 1900, including one for collector Benjamin Cable, one for Stevenson himself (the present lot), and another for his friend and biographer Sidney Colvin. All casts in this 35-inch size are unique, with changes in drapery, dedications and other details. In addition to the four casts made before 1900, there are later casts in this size held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, Cornish, New Hampshire; the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana; and the Robert Louis Stevenson School, Pebble Beach, California.
After Stevenson’s death, a renewed interest in his writings led Saint-Gaudens to cast editions of the bronze in several reductions. This image of Stevenson, in all its variations and sizes, served, and continues to serve, as a powerful homage to a talented and much admired figure in Western literature.
First convening over the course of five sessions at the Hotel Albert in New York where Stevenson was staying, Saint-Gaudens subsequently finished the modeling of the work in Manasquan, New Jersey, the following spring. Ill with tuberculosis, Stevenson is depicted in bed, propped up on pillows with a cigarette in hand and a sheaf of papers on his lap. Soon after these sittings, Stevenson moved to Samoa, and the two men never met again, although they would correspond through letters up to the writer's death in 1894.
In casting the relief in bronze, Saint-Gaudens initially created a rectangular composition, but after coming to the conclusion that the work was much improved by a circular format, the sculptor removed the lower portion of the bed and rearranged the ivy border and inscription to fit the new shape. The first of the 35-inch diameter medallions, made for collector George A. Armour, was cast in 1890 at the Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company, New York. Three more casts were made in this size before 1900, including one for collector Benjamin Cable, one for Stevenson himself (the present lot), and another for his friend and biographer Sidney Colvin. All casts in this 35-inch size are unique, with changes in drapery, dedications and other details. In addition to the four casts made before 1900, there are later casts in this size held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, Cornish, New Hampshire; the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana; and the Robert Louis Stevenson School, Pebble Beach, California.
After Stevenson’s death, a renewed interest in his writings led Saint-Gaudens to cast editions of the bronze in several reductions. This image of Stevenson, in all its variations and sizes, served, and continues to serve, as a powerful homage to a talented and much admired figure in Western literature.