Chapter 12: The Farragut Summary and Analysis

Augusta Homer was an art student from Roxbury, Massachusetts, who lived and worked in Rome. She met and fell in love with Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Her New England Protestant parents were alarmed when they heard about her relationship. They feared since he had an Irish mother and a French father that he was a Roman Catholic. Augusta glossed over the subject not mentioning that he was a lapsed Roman Catholic. Saint-Gaudens communicated his serious intentions about their daughter to her parents in several letters. He cut Augusta a cameo engagement ring. The couple were married in Augusta's family home in Massachusetts and in the summer in 1877, they settled in Paris.

Saint-Gaudens entered a competition to create a statue of Charles Sumner for the Boston Public Garden. His entry was rejected. He learned of plans for a memorial in...