Davida Johnson Clark

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

1886 · Plaster, shellac · The American Wing

This graceful underlifesize portrait of Davida Johnson Clark (1861–1910) was a gift from Saint-Gaudens to his longtime model and lover and the mother of his second son, Louis (b. 1889). The private token of affection also served as an early study for the head of Diana for the tower of Madison Square Garden, the most public of Saint-Gaudens’s outdoor sculptures. An over-lifesize cast of Diana is on view in the Charles Engelhard Court of the American Wing (acc. no. 28.101).

Artist

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Date

1886

Medium

Plaster, shellac

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Purchase, Gift of Alice and Evelyn Blight and Mrs. William Payne Thompson, by exchange, 2003