Taking His Time: Saint-Gaudens and His Masterpiece

Sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens spent about 14 years on the tribute to a Black regiment that fought in the Civil War and its leader

c. 1910 photo of the Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial from the collection of the Library of Congress

Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907) allowed himself the time needed for his tribute to the Massachusetts 54th Regiment to evolve something meaningful.