The Children of Jacob H. Schiff

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Saint-Gaudens excelled at the art of relief sculpture—modeled forms raised in varying degrees from a two-dimensional background. In this ambitious double portrait of Mortimer Leo (1877–1931) and Frieda Fanny (1876–1958) Schiff, the artist’s technical command is evident, from the delicate, sketchy treatment of the Scottish deerhound’s wiry fur to Mortimer’s fully rounded foot extending over the edge of the plinth into the viewer’s space. The three-dimensional illusion is further enhanced by the architectural structure within which the children are framed. Their father, Jacob H. Schiff, was a prominent New York banker and philanthropist, who paid for the carving of this replica for the Metropolitan Museum in 1905.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art