Piping Pan

Although his career was closely intertwined with that of his older brother Augustus, Louis St. Gaudens completed a number of independent works. “Piping Pan,” one of his most successful efforts, was first exhibited in 1882 at the Society of American Artists in New York where one reviewer remarked the figure’s elfish features represent “budding deviltry and fun.” A wreath of ivy balances precariously on his head, while the slender boy, cheeks puffed out, concentrates on making melodies come from the slender pipes. St. Gaudens exhibited “Piping Pan” at regular intervals throughout his career, including at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo where it earned him a silver medal. After the sculptor's death in 1913, his widow authorized three life-size bronze casts of “Piping Pan,” including the one in the Metropolitan's collection, as well as smaller statuettes.