Robert Louis Stevenson
Augustus Saint-Gaudens American
Impressed by Robert Louis Stevenson’s collection of stories "New Arabian Nights" (1882), Saint-Gaudens told their mutual friend, Will Low, that he would be honored to model a portrait if the writer were ever to come to the United States. The opportunity presented itself in 1887–88, when Stevenson (1850–1894) sat for the sculptor in New York and later in Manasquan, New Jersey. Stevenson, suffering from tuberculosis, is shown writing in bed, as was his custom. The lengthy inscription is a poem by Stevenson dedicated to Low and published in 1887. The portrait became Saint-Gaudens’s most popular relief and was produced in three diameters (this is the largest size) as well as in rectangular variants.
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