Robert Louis Stevenson, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, modeled 1887, cast 1899

Augustus Saint-GaudensVerenigde Staten, 1848–1907

Robert Louis Stevenson

modeled 1887, cast 1899 · Sculpture-Relief · 27.7 × 44.5 cm

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Waar is „Robert Louis Stevenson” nu? Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor, 17A, Washington D.C. Ja, nu te zien. Gecontroleerd 25 september 2026.

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Washington D.C., Verenigde Staten

ZaalLuce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor, 17A

Nu open· tot 19:00

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Gecontroleerd: 15 dagen geleden
Ongewijzigd sinds: 25 sep 2026
Bron: Het museum

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Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was a Scottish author, poet, and travel writer whose literary works include such well-known titles as Treasure Island (1883), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), and A Child's Garden of Verses (1885). Stevenson traveled to the United States in 1887 in search of a place to soothe his chronic tuberculosis, considering both Colorado and the Adirondacks in New York. Augustus Saint-Gaudens became a fan of Stevenson's writing after reading New Arabian Nights (1882), a collection of short stories, and encouraged their mutual friend William H. Low to arrange an introduction. The meeting took place in September 1887 at the Hotel Albert on Eleventh Street in New York City. Saint-Gaudens quickly expressed interest in making a bas-relief of the author. The portrait shows Stevenson reclining on a sofa, propped up with pillows and with a stack of papers on his lap.

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The inscription at the top of the relief is a poem from Stevenson's Underwoods (1887) dedicated to Low, which reads: "Youth now flees on feathered foot / Faint and fainter sounds the flute / . . . Where hath fleeting beauty led? / To the doorway of the dead / Life is over, life was gay / We have come the primrose way." Stevenson and Saint-Gaudens became close friends during their modeling sessions and stayed in contact even after Stevenson moved to the South Pacific. Stevenson died in Samoa at the age of forty-four. The bas-relief of Stevenson became extremely popular and was reproduced in several different bronze castings and electrotype editions, some with changes in decorative detail, design, and selected inscription.

Smithsonian American Art Museum