Mrs. Stanford White (Bessie Springs Smith)

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

1884, carved by 1888 · Marble · The American Wing

Saint-Gaudens completed this portrait of Bessie Smith White (1862-1950) on the occasion of her marriage to the architect Stanford White in 1884. Modeling the portrait was the sculptor’s gift to the couple, and he then funded its translation to marble to settle a debt with White. Bessie White is depicted in her bridal ensemble, brushing aside the flowing veil and holding rose blooms symbolizing love and beauty. By the mid-1880s, Saint-Gaudens’s style of relief sculpture was more technically ambitious, incorporating passages of low and high relief, ranging from the sketchy veil to the deeply undercut chin. The tabernacle frame with a scrollwork and floral pattern was designed by White.

Artist

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Date

1884, carved by 1888

Medium

Marble

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Erving Wolf Foundation, in memory of Diane R. Wolf, 1976