William Henry II and Cornelius Vanderbilt III
Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
16 1/4 x 26 1/8 in. (41.3 x 66.4 cm)
Classification
Sculpture
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Friends of the American Wing Fund, Dorothy Schwartz Gift, and Morris K. Jesup Fund, 2010
Accession Number
2010.425
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the gilded opulence of 1882 America, Augustus Saint-Gaudens crafted intimate bronze relief portrait of young cousins William Henry Vanderbilt II and Cornelius Vanderbilt III. Captured in elegant profiles, the boys—scions of the era's wealthiest railroad dynasty—gaze thoughtfully side by side, their youthful features rendered with Saint-Gaudens' signature. Measuring 16¼ x 26⅛ inches, this work exemplifies the sculptor's mastery of low-relief technique, where subtle modeling and a warm patina bring depth and life to a shallow bronze surface. Saint-Gaudens, a leading figure in the American Re...
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...