Farragut Memorial at Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park

When Augustus Saint-Gaudens sought permission from the father of his girlfriend, Augusta Homer, to marry her, Thomas Homer would not allow it until the sculptor obtained a major commission to prove that he was capable of supporting a wife through his artwork. That chance came in 1876 when the New York Farragut Association, a group of wealthy New York bankers, commissioned Saint-Gaudens to create a public memorial for David Glasgow Farragut, an admiral in the United States Navy during the Civil War. Augustus and Augusta married the following year. The memorial was unveiled in 1881 in New York City’s Madison Square Park.

Original Farragut Memorial in Madison Square Park (photo by Mr. TinDC)

While sculptors create the actual sculpture, the bases are usually designed and carved by other individuals. In the case of the Farragut Memorial, the base was designed by architect Stanford White, a frequent collaborator of Saint-Gaudens. White, a member of high society who was known for seducing young women, was murdered in 1906 by millionaire Harry Thaw over an earlier affair that White had with his wife, Evelyn Nesbit. Deemed the “Trial of the Century,” White’s character was torn to pieces by the press, while Thaw was largely seen as a defender of womanhood. The jury was deadlocked for the initial trial in 1907, and at the conclusion of a second trial in January 1908, Thaw was found not guilty on grounds of insanity and sentenced to life in a mental hospital until well. He was eventually deemed sane and released in 1915. Popular belief was that he paid off the right people. The murder was the subject of the 1955 film The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, which starred Joan Collins as Nesbit, Ray Milland as White, and Farley Granger as Thaw. Marilyn Monroe was originally cast as Nesbit, but was replaced over a contract dispute.

The casting of the Farragut Memorial at Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park was made in 1994, but the base on which it sits is actually the original base. Made of blue sandstone, by 1935 it was deteriorating, so a new, identical base for the New York statue was carved from granite, and the original base was eventually donated to the park. To keep it from deteriorating further, it is now under a glass-roof pavilion.

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