Image: public domain, courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Victory

Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1892–1903

This golden winged figure comes from Saint-Gaudens' monument to General Sherman in New York. She wears a laurel crown and holds a palm branch, both old symbols of victory.

🧩 Build this sculpture as a puzzle

🏛 Enter the 3D museum

🎧 Audio guide available in the 3D museum

Did you know?

The main model was Hettie Anderson, a Black woman from South Carolina who posed for many New York artists.
Saint-Gaudens called her the most handsome model he had ever seen; years later she worked at the Met.
This statuette is about one metre tall; the Victory on the real monument is over three metres high.
On the full monument, Victory strides ahead and leads General Sherman, who follows on horseback.
Saint-Gaudens had the monument covered with two layers of gold leaf so it would not look dull.
Saint-Gaudens also designed one of America's most beautiful coins, the 20-dollar gold piece.

About the artist

Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907) was born in Dublin, grew up in New York, studied in Paris and Rome, and later worked in Cornish, New Hampshire.

He was America's leading sculptor of his day, known for great public monuments such as the Shaw Memorial in Boston and the gilded Sherman Monument in New York, and for a famously beautiful twenty-dollar gold coin.

His country home and studio drew so many artist friends that Cornish became a lively art colony, and today it is a national historical park.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens ›

Where it is today: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York · Museum page