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Replica of the Winged Figure from the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

American Art

This figure of “Victory” was cast from the fourth version of Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s memorial to Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, commander of the first African American regiment raised in the North. The Massachusetts Fifty-fourth regiment was best known for its assault at Fort Wagner, South Carolina, in 1863.

In 1897 the black educator Booker T. Washington proclaimed that “all that this monument stands for will not be realized until . . . no man in all our land will be tempted to degrade himself by withholding from his black brother any opportunity which he himself would possess.”
MEDIUM Gilded bronze
  • Place Made: United States
  • DATES 1884–1897
    DIMENSIONS 34 3/4 x 118 7/8 x 11 1/8 in. (88.3 x 301.9 x 28.3 cm) [irregular]  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS American Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 23.288.1
    CREDIT LINE Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION High relief sculpture with female allegorical figure floating in horizontal position, face in 3/4 profile with eyes closed, proper left arm outstretched, she wears heavy robes and hood, holds branch of laurel leaves and posies in right arm. Condition: Good.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Augustus Saint-Gaudens (American, born Ireland, 1848–1907). Replica of the Winged Figure from the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, 1884–1897. Gilded bronze, 34 3/4 x 118 7/8 x 11 1/8 in. (88.3 x 301.9 x 28.3 cm) [irregular]. Brooklyn Museum, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund, 23.288.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 23.288.1_cropped_reference.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 23.288.1_cropped_reference.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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