Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer (Mariana Griswold)

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer (1851–1934), an influential author, critic, and reformer, championed Saint-Gaudens in articles on his public monuments and relief sculptures. In this elongated portrait, the sculptor made full use of the textural possibilities of his medium by modeling the sitter’s dress and collar with lively surfaces that contrast with her smooth skin. The inscription animvs non opvs ("the spirit, not the work") refers to Van Rensselaer’s high-minded aesthetic ideals. The bronze is encased in a carved oak frame designed by Stanford White; the floral medallions on the frame cleverly echo those at the bottom of the relief.

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