Saint-Gaudens ‘Victory’ First Study Up for Bid

In 1991, a ground-breaking feature article in Numismatic News confirmed that African American Harriette “Hettie” Anderson from Columbia, S.C., served as the model for Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ Victory at the lead of the Sherman Monument in New York. She is credited by association as the model for the Saint-Gaudens double eagle gold coin (1907-1933) as well. 

Now, Saint-Gaudens’ First Study for the Head of Victory, modeled by Miss Anderson in the late 19th century and believed to be unique, is coming up for bid in Heritage Auctions’ Nov. 17 American Art Signature Auction #8145 with a pre-auction estimate of $40,000 - $60,000.

Saint-Gaudens is known to have created the First Study for the Head of Victory in 1897. The catalog (Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1848-1907: A Master of American Sculpture) for an exhibit of nearly 130 of his works at the Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, France (Feb. 12 - May 30, 1999), and the Musée national de la Coopération franco-américaine, Château de Blérancourt, France (June 26 - Oct. 18, 1999), noted of origin of this bronzed First Study for the Head of Victory: “Saint-Gaudens presented Hettie Anderson with a plaster cast of the head, from the early sketch model for the figure – from which this apparently unique bronze was made. The sculptor valued the work and had great admiration for the model, as can be seen from his correspondence and the early manuscript for his Reminiscences.”

Subsequent Victory head studies, designated in the catalog as the Second Study for the Head of Victory, show Victory adorned with a laurel wreath and carry the inscription NIKH-EIPHNH (Peace-Victory). That version, as described in the aforementioned catalog, was produced by Saint-Gaudens in versions with inscriptions to friends and as a non-inscribed, unnumbered edition by the sculptor and (following his death in 1907) by his wife – examples of which have since appeared in auctions or reside in major museum collections.

The First Study Head for Victory, now up for bid, was further said by Saint-Gaudens’ son, Homer Saint-Gaudens, in The Reminiscences of Augustus Saint-Gaudens to be the version of the head ultimately selected by the sculptor for the Sherman grouping. The figure of Victory, as confirmed by the correspondence of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, was also modeled after Anderson.

Over the 30-plus years since the revelation of Anderson’s role in the statue and the gold coin, her story has been told in books, magazines, and feature articles in publications such as this one. The bust was lent by its owners to various Saint-Gaudens retrospectives, including the above-mentioned French exhibit.

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The First Study for the Head of Victory is described in Heritage’s auction preview listing as follows: 

 • Head of Victory, 1897, cast after 1908

 • Bronze with brown patina

 • 12-34 inches (32.4 cm) high

 • Signed and dedicated: To HETTIE AN / AUGUSTUS SAINT / 1897

 • Inscribed on base: COPYRIGHT 1905, BY H.E. ANDERSON

 PROVENANCE:

 • The artist;

 • Harriette (Hettie) Eugenia Anderson, gift from the above;

 • By descent to the present owner.

LITERATURE:

 • J.H. Dryfhout, The Works of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Hanover, New Hampshire, 1982, p. 219, no. 164.

“Harriette (Hettie) Eugenia Anderson was the preferred model (out of three) for famed sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. In the words of the artist himself: ‘[Hettie Anderson] was the ‘handsomest model I have ever seen of either sex, and I have seen a great many.’ Anderson was from South Carolina and lived off and on in that state as well as in New York City while also modeling for Saint-Gaudens in Cornish, New Hampshire. Her role as the model for the bust of NIKE and the figure of Liberty from the Sherman Memorial at the entrance to Central Park was not well known until an award-winning article in 1991 proved Hettie Anderson was the definitive model for both works.

Hettie’s African-American heritage undoubtedly prevented full recognition of her as the model for the figure of Liberty, and by extension the figure of Liberty on the 1907 ten and twenty-dollar gold pieces. Until 1991, the prevailing notion was the figure for these works was a combination of three models. But a simple examination of the bust itself would have revealed an explanatory label (now lost) that reads: FIRST SKETCH OF HEAD / VICTORY / SHERMAN MONUMENT, and on the lower right side, “TO HETTIE ANDERSON / AVGVSTVS SAINT-GAUDENS / 1897.

Hettie Anderson was essentially written out of the biography of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, as edited by his son, Homer, six years after the sculptor’s death. Homer’s overlooking the importance of Hettie Anderson as his father’s favorite model was not a racial slur but rather because she refused to allow Homer to reproduce Saint-Gaudens’ bust of her. The sculptor advised her to refuse reproduction of the bust, and less than a week after his father’s death, Homer Saint-Gaudens contacted Hettie Anderson to loan the bust so a duplicate could be made.

In Anderson’s reply to Homer Saint-Gauden's request, she stated:

‘I rec’d your letter of the 9th inst asking me to loan, for the purpose of duplicating, the study of the head made from me, by Mr. Saint-Gaudens when he first began the Sherman Group.

When Mr. Saint-Gaudens gave me the head, he said: ‘Some day this may be valuable to you, and if you will let me, I will take it abroad and have it put in bronze for you; it may be worth a great deal of money.’ Valueing [sic] it as I do, and knowing as I do that it is the only one in existence, in that state – I am not willing to have any duplicates made of it, for any purpose whatever.

You will realize that if I were to allow it to be copied, it would greatly depreciate its value – innumerable copies could be made of it. In my possession, it is the only one and therefore more valuable.'

According to Saint-Gaudens scholar John H. Dryfhout, the present work traveled for exhibition to six cities between 1908 and 1911, including stops in New York (1908), Washington, D.C. (1908), Pittsburgh (1909), Chicago (1909), Indianapolis (1909-10), and Rome, Italy (1911). Dryfhout describes the work as follows: ‘This bust is cast with a circular pedestal. Miss Anderson’s head is directed and looking front, and her hair is fastened firmly in a Grecian knot. Hettie Anderson was a New York model who posed for Saint-Gaudens.’ (J.H. Dryfhout, The Works of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Hanover, New Hampshire, 1982, p. 219)

Heritage Auctions is honored to present this unique and fascinating work at auction for the very first time.”

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The sale is to be held at Heritage’s Dallas auction gallery at 2801 W. Airport Freeway. For additional auction information, visit Heritage at https://fineart.ha.com.