Robert Louis Stevenson,

1890

Among the particular strengths of sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens is his distinctive work in low relief, which he employed to produce bronze portrait plaques and medallions notable for their naturalism, fine detail, and subtle effects — all in seeming contravention of their unyielding material. His portrait of the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894), whom the artist greatly admired, was modeled from life while Stevenson was in New York, en route to a tuberculosis retreat upstate. The novelist and poet is shown in typical working mode, sitting up in bed, as his weak constitution often required. One of several versions of the portrait differing in size, inscription, and detail, this second variant was made from the original model, and this particular cast, commissioned by the <br>businessman, collector, and Princeton graduate George A. Armour, is considered the finest of the type. The wooden mount surrounding it was designed by architect Stanford White (1853–1906), whose customized frames for numerous artist friends are distinguished for their sensitivity to the objects they embellish.