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Amor Caritas

1880–98, cast 1918
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 700
“Amor Caritas” represents the perfection of Saint-Gaudens’s vision of the ethereal female, a subject that he modeled repeatedly, beginning in 1880. The elegant figure in a frontal pose with free-flowing draperies and downcast eyes also appears in the caryatids for the Vanderbilt mantelpiece (25.234) and in several funerary works. Here, Saint-Gaudens made subtle changes in the drapery and added upward-curving wings, a tablet, and a belt and crown of passionflowers. He considered several titles with universal themes, including To Know Is to Forgive, Peace on Earth, God Is Love, and Good Will towards Men, before settling on Amor Caritas [Love (and) Charity].

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Amor Caritas
  • Artist: Augustus Saint-Gaudens (American, Dublin 1848–1907 Cornish, New Hampshire)
  • Date: 1880–98, cast 1918
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Bronze, gilt
  • Dimensions: 103 1/4 x 50 in. (262.3 x 127 cm)
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1918
  • Object Number: 19.124
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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