Augustus Saint-Gaudens biography

Augustus Saint-Gaudens By: Jack Smith Have you ever seen a sculpture by someone and thought, “Where did the sculptor get that idea?” Well, I got you covered on Augustus Saint-Gaudens. He was born in Dublin, Ireland on March 1, 1848. Gaudens had a wife that was deaf. She was an artist named Augusta. Gaudens was friends with the author Robert Louis Stevenson who wrote very famous children’s books like Treasure Island. He died on August 3, 1907. I hope you are at least a little interested. There is a lot left to learn. Gaudens had such a short lifetime because he died when he was only 59. It was so incredible. Here is part two. He was first a cameo cutter when he was a little kid. Then, Gaudens studied in France’s #1 art school. He was an apprentice to Francois Jouffrey who was a famous sculptor. He immigrated to America at only 6 months old. He was raised in New York for a large part of his life. That gives you information about his life. Now it’s time to learn about his career. He had a long list of accomplishments. Now you might be thinking, “Why was he so famous? What did he do?” Well, here you go… Augustus St. Gaudens was a sculptor from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. Other designers admire his style and have tried to copy it. His career as a sculptor was incredible. And here’s even more. I haven’t really told you about his sculptures so here you go. Gaudens made a cool statue of a man standing in front of a plaque for the Charles Stuart Parnell monument at the North end of Dublin's in 1911. He made a sculpture of Lincoln that stands in Lincoln Park in Chicago. Gaudens used a random model for the making of his famous sculpture of Lincoln. At central park in New York City there is a sculpture of General Sherman on horseback next to an angel women it is in Sherman Memorial. As you can see, his work is loved and memorialized worldwide. Here are some more reasons why Saint Gaudens was so famous and why we still care about his work today. He designed a coin, the $20 double eagle which is considered one of the most beautiful coins in the world. He also designed a $10 Indian head coin. He began his artistic career as a cameo cutter when he was only 9 years old. Some of Saint Gaudens coins are worth up to $4,000 dollars today. Well, isn’t Augustus Saint Gaudens cool? In my opinion, he is an incredible man.