Louise Adele Dickerson Gould

ca. 1894

Not on view

Between 1893 and 1904, Charles Gould commissioned Saint-Gaudens to complete three portraits of his deceased wife, Louise Adele Dickerson Gould (1856-1883), who died suddenly at age twenty-six. Marble versions of these variants are in The Met collection. Despite his praise that the second portrait captured his late beloved’s “girlish simplicity and sweetness,” Gould asked Saint-Gaudens to remake the bust in colored wax, in essence to bring her closer to life. Subtly painted by Herbert Adams, who specialized in polychrome sculpture, the portrait evokes the living aura of its subject, both immediate and vulnerable, present and haunting. The myth of Pygmalion, in which the love of a man brought stone to life, is vividly evoked in these busts.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

Title: Louise Adele Dickerson Gould
Artist: Augustus Saint-Gaudens (American, Dublin 1848–1907 Cornish, New Hampshire)
Artist: Herbert Adams (American, West Concord, Vermont 1858–1945 New York)
Date: ca. 1894
Culture: American
Medium: Pigmented wax
Dimensions: 14 1/2 × 17 × 9 in. (36.8 × 43.2 × 22.9 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Ute Wartenberg Kagan and Jonathan H. Kagan, 2024
Object Number: 2024.552
Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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