Josephine Shaw Lowell
While working on the monument to General William Tecumseh Sherman (1892-1903; Grand Army Plaza, New York) in Paris between 1897 and 1900, Saint-Gaudens executed several independent portrait commissions including a bas-relief of Josephine Shaw Lowell (1843-1905). Lowell was the older sister of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and founder of New York’s Charity Organization Society (now the Community Service Society). The resulting portrait depicts the middle-aged Lowell with a hint of a double chin, her hair gathered and twisted at the back. Her delicate lace fichu, with its undulating ruffles, is particularly fluently rendered. To her left, Saint-Gaudens included his customary monogram cipher. The portrait was translated to marble in 1901 by Saint-Gaudens’s sister-in-law, Annetta Johnson St. Gaudens (who used a variant spelling of the family name). Upon its completion, Lowell expressed her satisfaction for "making her look so well."
Artwork Details
- Title: Josephine Shaw Lowell
- Artist: Augustus Saint-Gaudens (American, Dublin 1848–1907 Cornish, New Hampshire)
- Date: 1899; carved 1901
- Culture: American
- Medium: Marble
- Dimensions: 16 x 9 1/4 in., 34lb. (40.6 x 23.5 cm)
Framed: 21 7/8 x 18 5/8 x 3 1/2 in. (55.6 x 47.3 x 8.9 cm) - Credit Line: Gift of Charles C. Burlingham, 1925
- Object Number: 25.89
- Curatorial Department: The American Wing
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