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Cornelius Vanderbilt I

1882
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 774
Saint-Gaudens’s work for Cornelius Vanderbilt II’s grand residence on Fifth Avenue at Fifty-Seventh Street included three low-relief portraits of family members. The posthumous likeness of patriarch Cornelius Vanderbilt I, a steamship and railroad entrepreneur, presents the Commodore, as he was known, posed in profile against a dense background of oak leaves and acorns. This motif, symbolizing strength and regeneration, was adapted from the family coat of arms, visible at the lower right. Saint-Gaudens’s bas-relief style underwent a noticeable shift in the early 1880s to incorporate such aestheticizing elements, rendering this portrait in harmony with the sumptuous tapestries and embossed leathers that decorated the house’s interior.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Cornelius Vanderbilt I
  • Artist: Augustus Saint-Gaudens (American, Dublin 1848–1907 Cornish, New Hampshire)
  • Date: 1882
  • Geography: Made in New York, New York, United States
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Bronze
  • Dimensions: 16 1/4 × 22 3/4 in. (41.3 × 57.8 cm)
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Brooke Russell Astor Bequest and David Schwartz Foundation Inc. Gift, 2016
  • Object Number: 2016.71
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Vanderbilt Mantelpiece, Augustus Saint-Gaudens American, Marble, mosaic, oak, and cast iron, American
Vanderbilt Mantelpiece
Augustus Saint-Gaudens
ca. 1881–83
Samuel Gray Ward, Augustus Saint-Gaudens American, Bronze, American
Samuel Gray Ward
Augustus Saint-Gaudens
1881, cast 1908
William Henry II and Cornelius Vanderbilt III, Augustus Saint-Gaudens American, Bronze, American
William Henry II and Cornelius Vanderbilt III
Augustus Saint-Gaudens
1882
Homer Schiff Saint-Gaudens, Augustus Saint-Gaudens American, Marble, American
Homer Schiff Saint-Gaudens
Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Piccirilli Brothers Marble Carving Studio
1882; carved 1906–7
Vanderbilt Mantelpiece date panel, Augustus Saint-Gaudens American, Mahogany, ivory, mother-of-pearl, and coral, American
Vanderbilt Mantelpiece date panel
Augustus Saint-Gaudens
1881–83

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