United States Twenty-dollar Gold Piece
1905–7, gold coin 1911
Medium
Gold
Dimensions
Diam. 1 5/16 in. (3.3 cm)
Classification
Coin
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Heinz L. Stoppelmann, 1979
Accession Number
1979.486.8
Tags
About this artwork
Augustus Saint-Gaudens' twenty-dollar gold coin represents the pinnacle of American numismatic art and a revolutionary moment in coin design. In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt sought to beautify American coinage and proposed Saint-Gaudens as an artist capable of the task. The sculptor created a design of unprecedented artistic ambition: the obverse features Liberty striding across a rocky outcrop holding a torch (representing enlightenment) in one hand and an olive branch (symbol of peace) i...
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...