Amor Caritas
Modeled 1897, cast after 1899
Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
131.4 × 80.7 cm (51 3/4 × 31 3/4 in.)
Classification
sculpture
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
107050
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This angelic figure by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, a foremost sculptor of the Gilded Age, is the culmination of his portrayals of allegorical women. He made similar designs for the tomb of Edwin D. Morgan in Hartford, Connecticut, and the mantelpiece in the house of Cornelius Vanderbilt II in New York. Like many other late 19th-century artists, Saint-Gaudens often modeled angels to symbolize the traditional virtues of women. Amor Caritas (Love [and] Charity) probably depicts Davida Clark, the artist...
About the Artist
Augustus Saint-Gaudens · 1848–1907
Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907) was an Irish-born American sculptor widely regarded as the greatest American sculptor of the nineteenth century. Born in Dublin to a French father and Irish mother, he was brought to New York City as an infant. He trained as a cameo cutter, studied at the Cooper Union and the National Academy of Design, and then traveled to Paris, where he studied at the École de...