Little Studio of Augustus Saint-Gaudens

When Augustus Saint-Gaudens first purchased his house and property in Cornish, New Hampshire, in 1891, he used an existing barn as his personal art studio. In 1903 he decided to upgrade, tearing down the barn and building a new studio on the same spot. It was called the Little Studio because a larger studio used by his assistants stood elsewhere on the property. Today it is one of two studios that house a collection of his works. Guests of Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park can visit the Little Studio on their own or as part of a guided tour. It is open from Memorial Day weekend until October 31^st between the hours of 9 AM and 4:30 PM.

Inside the Little Studio

The centerpiece of the collection is the six-foot Diana, Saint-Gaudens’ only female nude sculpture. This is a reduction of the original 13-foot statue. Reductions, though smaller, are exact copies of the originals that are made using a machine called a pantograph. Pantographs are also used to turn small sculptures into large ones.

Diana was commissioned by architect Stanford White—one of Saint-Gaudens’ frequent collaborators—to be used as a weather vane on the tower of the second Madison Square Garden, which opened in 1890 (White was the architect). The original sculpture was 18 feet tall and was installed in 1891. This addition made the Garden, previously the second tallest building in New York City, the tallest. However, the statue was too heavy to rotate in the wind and was subsequently removed and sent to the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. It remained at the Fair after it closed and was destroyed in an 1894 fire along with many of the buildings.

Realizing that the original statue was too large, Saint-Gaudens created a new 13-foot version of Diana—one different from the first, not a reduction—and this was placed atop the tower in 1893. It is noted as being the first statue ever lit by electric light. It remained a New York landmark until being removed in 1925 before the building was torn down to make way for the New York Life Insurance building. It is now part of the collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Bronze reduction of Diana

The body of the sculpture was modeled by Julia Baird. The face is that of Davida Clark, Saint-Gaudens’ mistress. The two had a son together, Louis. A plaster bas-relief portrait of the boy is on display. Many other privately commissioned bas-relief portraits and busts adorn the room.

Portrait of Louis Paul Clark