Augustus Saint-Gaudens, March 1, 1848–August 3, 1907, was an Irish- and American-born sculptor who became one of the leading figures in late nineteenth-century American art. Born in Dublin and raised in New York, he trained as a cameo cutter before studying art in Paris and Rome, where he absorbed both classical and Renaissance models that shaped his mature style.

After returning to the United States, Saint-Gaudens built a distinguished career as a sculptor of public monuments, portrait reliefs, and ideal figures. His major works include the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial in Boston, Standing Lincoln in Chicago, the Adams Memorial in Washington, and the Sherman Monument in New York, and he also designed the celebrated 1907 twenty-dollar gold piece.

In his later years Saint-Gaudens worked from Cornish, New Hampshire, while continuing to supervise important public and private commissions. His art combined technical refinement, historical seriousness, and a strong sense of form, and his monuments and reliefs helped define the highest ambitions of American sculpture at the turn of the twentieth century.

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