Fig. 1. Photograph of the unveiling of Sherman Monument at Grand Army Plaza, New York, 1903.

Augustus-Saint Gaudens originally conceived of Victory as an accompanying figure to the Sherman Monument in Grand Army Plaza, New York. Located at the intersection of 59th Street & Fifth Avenue south of Central Park, the Sherman Monument is a heroic-sized equestrian statue dedicated to Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman. Situated alongside the General as a symbol of triumph, the female allegorical figure of Victory holds a palm frond in her hand and wears an eagle on her chest as emblems of success. The present work is a bronze reduction of the heroic size completed for the Sherman Monument equestrian group.

Fig. 2. The Winged Victory of Samothrace, 2nd century BC. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Photograph by Marie-Lan Nguyen, 2007.

Although initiated in New York, Saint-Gaudens continued his work on the Sherman Monument in Paris, where he lived from 1897 to 1900, before ultimately revisiting the subject in his Cornish, New Hampshire studio. During his time in Paris, the sculptor studied the Greek Hellenistic masterpieces at the Louvre, including The Winged Victory of Samothrace (fig. 2). This graceful monumental sculpture dating back to the 2nd century BC undoubtedly provided inspiration for the form of Victory.

The commission to execute the Sherman Monument was a great honor for Saint-Gaudens. In an undated letter from the sculptor to his friend Charles Keck, he wrote, “I have such respect and admiration for the heroes of the Civil War that I consider it my duty to help in any way to commemorate them in a noble and dignified fashion worth of their great service” (Burke Wilkinson, Uncommon Clay: The Life and Works of Augustus Saint Gaudens, Orlando, 1985, p. 96). The thoughtfulness and esteem with which Saint-Gaudens regarded the Sherman Monument is reflected in the triumphant posture of Victory in particular.

“... it’s the grandest ‘Victory’ anybody ever made.”
- Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Fig. 3. Detail of Victory from the Wolf Family Collection.

Arm outstretched, eyes focused on the future, Victory is the physical manifestation of progress and achievement. Saint-Gaudens worked tirelessly to perfect the figure of Victory, amending every detail until the last possible moment (fig. 3). He studied the figures flanking the Boston Public Library among others in an attempt to successfully master her effortless drapery, writing to a friend of the “always complicated and terrible question of how to arrange flowing draperies” (Exh. Cat., Augustus Saint-Gaudens: Master Sculptor, 1985-86, p. 158). Even as his health began to fail, Saint-Gaudens stayed in constant communication with his studio assistant, Gaeton Ardisson, regarding the completion of Victory. “If the head of Victory is not cast, I should like the laurel leaves made a little bit more pointed on the head,” he wrote (John H. Dryfhout, The Work of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Hanover, New Hampshire, 1982, p. 254). According to the artist’s son, Homer Saint-Gaudens, he maintained this habit of endlessly altering and reworking sculptures until the end of his life (Dryfhout, p. 160).

Fig. 4. Augustus Saint Gaudens, Head of Victory. Bronze. 8 in. (20.3 cm.) high on a 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm.) marble base. Modern America: The Wolf Family Collection.

Sherman Monument was the sculptor’s final great work. It was unveiled in New York on May 30, 1903 before a parade of veterans and the city’s mayor. Saint-Gaudens died shortly after in 1907. Upon his death, his widow, Augusta Fisher Homer, issued a reduction of Victory. The reduced bronze cast was first presented in 1908 and ultimately copyrighted in 1912. The present work is one of eight known reductions of its size. Other casts reside in The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Arlington National Cemetery. The Victory reduction was also the source of the Head of Victory edition (fig. 4).