In this talk, Thayer Tolles, Marica F. Vilcek Curator of American Painting and Sculpture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and President of the Saint-Gaudens Memorial , will examine how Saint-Gaudens’s widow, Augusta (1848–1926), drove efforts to posthumously cast the sculptor’s bronzes — collaborating with his studio assistants and technicians, choosing foundries and models, and setting prices, copyrights, and marketing strategy.

Tolles will also compare her efforts to those of other sculptors’ widows and situate the campaign within the broader goal of canonizing “The Saint” through exhibitions and publications in the years after his death leading to the founding of the Saint-Gaudens Memorial in 1919.