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"AMOR, CARITAS', A GILT-BRONZE RELIEF inscribed " AVGVSTVS SAINT GAUDENS M.D.C.C.C.XC.VIII " and " *AMOR*CARITAS* " and stamped with the artist's copyright seal dated 1899 39 7/8 in. (101.3 cm.) high, mounted against wood with conforming apron LITERATURE L. Taft, " The History of American Sculpture, " New York, 1924, 1969 reprint, pp. 296, fig. 42 W. Craven, " Sculpture in America, " New York, 1984 ed., p. 392 J.H. Dryfhout, " The Work of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, " Hanover, N.H. 182, pp. 234-235, cat. no. 169 K. Greenthal, " Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Master Sculptor, " Boston, 1985 pp. 29-plate XIV, 107-109, fig. 99 A quintessential example of Saint-Gaudens" Beaux Arts style, " Amor Caritas " is derived from several earlier commissions incorporating draped female figures, portraits of the artist's mistress and favorite model Davida Clark. Among these are his 1879-1880 project for the Edwin D. Morgan tomb which was never completed, his 1881-1883 caryatid figures for a mantelpiece in Cornelius Vanderbilt II's New York mansion, and the design of 1887 for the Ann Maria Smith tomb at the Island Cemetery, Newport, Rhode Island. Dissatisfied with the translation into stone of his design for the Smith tomb and inspired by John Singer Sargent's praise of the model. Saint- Gaudens reworked his design in 1898. " Amor Caritas " was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle of 1900 where it was awarded the Grand Prize. The French government purchased a bronze cast of this relief for the Luxembourg Museum - - a great honor for an American artist. In 1918, an example was cast in gilt-bronze for The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Saint-Gaudens cast approximately twenty reductions of " Amor Caritas " in response to the Salon reception and to the public's enthusiasm for the model. These were marketed in New York by Tiffany & Co. and in Boston by Doll & Richards.