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Richard Watson Gilder, Helena de Kay Gilder, and Rodman de Kay Gilder

modeled 1879, cast ca. 1883–84
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 764
Between 1877 and 1880 in Paris, Saint-Gaudens completed around twenty informal, low-relief portraits of artists and friends, many of whom were part of his intertwined social and professional orbits. The reliefs reveal his preference for a shoulder-length profile format with personalized inscriptions and attributes. This compact multifigure portrait was the sculptor’s most ambitious to date, completed during the Gilder family’s extended trip to Europe. It depicts the journalist and editor Richard Watson Gilder (1844–1909) facing his wife, Helena de Kay (1846–1916), a talented painter and a founder of the Art Students League of New York, and their two-year-old son, Rodman (1877–1953).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Richard Watson Gilder, Helena de Kay Gilder, and Rodman de Kay Gilder
  • Artist: Augustus Saint-Gaudens (American, Dublin 1848–1907 Cornish, New Hampshire)
  • Date: modeled 1879, cast ca. 1883–84
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Plaster
  • Dimensions: 8 5/8 x 16 7/8 in. (21.9 x 42.9 cm)
  • Credit Line: Gift of David and Joshua Gilder, 2002
  • Object Number: 2002.445
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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Rodman de Kay Gilder
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Paint box with nude study, Helena de Kay, Oil on wood, American
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Helena de Kay Gilder, Cecilia Beaux American, Oil on canvas, American
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