Diana

Artist:: Augustus Saint-Gaudens (American, Dublin 1848–1907 Cornish, New Hampshire)

Date:: 1893–94, cast 1894 or after

Medium:: Bronze

Dimensions:: 28 1/4 x 16 1/4 x 14 in. (71.8 x 41.3 x 35.6 cm)

Classification:: Sculpture

Credit Line:: Gift of Lincoln Kirstein, 1985

Accession Number:: 1985.353

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 769

From its lofty perch on Madison Square Garden’s tower, the resplendent gilded “Diana” enjoyed iconic status on the New York City skyline from 1892 to 1925. Saint-Gaudens capitalized on its fame by issuing three variant reductions; in this second version, the lithe goddess, about to release her arrow, is poised atop a full orb on a two-tiered base (a monumental version is on view in the Charles Engelhard Court of the American Wing; acc. no. 28.101). The lustrous patina was achieved by electro-plating a mixture of gold, copper, and zinc to the bronze surface.

Signature: [top of base, front, right]: A St GAUDENS

Marking: [foundry mark, back of base]: E • GRUET Jne FONDEUR PARIS •

Lincoln Kirstein, by 1973–until 1985

Essays
Augustus Saint–Gaudens (1848–1907)
From Model to Monument: American Public Sculpture, 1865–1915

Timelines
The United States and Canada, 1800–1900 A.D.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
[adapted from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 66, no 4 (Spring, 2009)]
Augustus Saint-Gaudens: Master Sculptor
Masterpieces of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Masterpieces of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Recent Acquisitions: A Selection, 1985–1986
A Walk Through The American Wing