William Maxwell Evarts

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

1872–73; carved 1874 · Marble · The American Wing

Early in his career, Saint-Gaudens secured several commissions for portrait busts of middle-aged male sitters, all of which he executed in the hybrid real-ideal style that was popular at the time. This portrait of the prominent attorney William Maxwell Evarts (1818–1901) is a vigorous, naturalistic bust terminating in a classicizing undraped chest and an ennobling herm. When he first met the sculptor in Rome, Evarts was based in Geneva, Switzerland, as the United States’s counsel at the Alabama claims tribunal, which had been convened to review sanctions against the British for aiding the Confederate cause during the Civil War.

Artist

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Date

1872–73; carved 1874

Medium

Marble

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Erving and Joyce Wolf, in memory of Diane R. Wolf, 1987