Kenyon Cox: Giverny? Augustus Saint-Gaudens? New Hampshire? How does it all tie together?

Nude by River’s Edge is dated 1908 and was given to Carlota Saint Gaudens, presumably that same year. Carlota was the wife of Homer Saint Gaudens, the son of Augustus Saint Gaudens. Augustus was one of America’s most important sculptors, and Kenyon Cox was one of his closest friends. The two formed a friendship in their early years in Paris around 1884, when Cox wrote an article for Century Magazine on the sculptor. Cox quickly came to feel the utmost regard for Saint Gaudens and revered him as a kind of “harbinger of the second Renaissance.” Cox was so pleased with the portrait he made of Augustus that he exhibited it at the Society of American Artists in 1888. Saint Gaudens appreciated the portrait and returned the favor in 1889 by creating a likeness of Cox in an oblong bronze medallion. In 1904, the portrait of Augustus was destroyed in a fire in the sculptor’s studio. In 1908, Cox created another version of it as a memorial to Augustus, the year after the sculptor’s death.

There are no formal records explaining why Kenyon gave the painting to Carlota. It is known that Carlota married Homer around 1905 and spent her summers with him in Cornish, New Hampshire. Augustus had established himself in Cornish many years earlier and spent his summers there with his family. Cox was friendly with both Homer and Carlota. Carlota was noted for her statuesque figure, blond hair, and high spirits, and Augustus was both pleased and fond of her. It is possible to speculate that Cox gave the painting as a gift after Augustus’s death as a gesture of generosity. It is also possible that Carlota purchased it, as Cox was often in need of money and lived hand to mouth.

It is further possible that the woman in the painting is Cox’s wife, Louise, as there is a resemblance. Whatever the circumstances under which the work came into Carlota’s possession, it remains likely that it was given out of fondness. Cox was not the most outwardly sociable or amiable of men; he had only a small circle of close friends, and Augustus was among the most important to him. Cox was one of the speakers at Saint Gaudens’s funeral.