The Spirit of Life

The Spirit of Life is a 1914 sculpture by American sculptor Daniel Chester French.

The Spirit of Life
ArtistDaniel Chester French
Year1914
TypeBronze
LocationSaratoga Springs, NY (smaller castings elsewhere)

Overview

The Spirit of Life began as a commission for a memorial to the famous Wall Street financier Spencer Trask (1844–1909). Trask was a summer resident in Saratoga Springs, New York and a founder of the committee which was charged with renewing the city's reputation as a health resort. The commission for the monument came from George Foster Peabody who was a friend of Trask's. Henry Bacon, who collaborated with French on the Lincoln Memorial, designed the setting for French's statue.[1] Audrey Munson was the model for the statue.

The statue stands in the heart of Congress Park in Saratoga Springs, New York, on a shallow niche of white marble with a balustraded terrace above and an oblong lagoon, set in marble and surrounded with verdant shrubbery, green lawns, and a wealth of flowers below. The statue is a figure of a winged woman, hands moving high above her head. The figure represents Hygieia, the giver of health, who usually appeared in Greek and Roman art accompanying her father, Asklepios, the god of medicine. She is often shown offering nourishment to a serpent entwined on the staff Asklepios carries. In French's conception, Hygieia holds a shallow bowl aloft and in the other hand clasps a pine bough, a reference to the towering pines on the grounds of the Trasks' estate. The goddess is poised lightly on a rock, and a stream of water pours from its cleft. The pedestal is a sculptured reproduction of the tufaceous deposits seen about the orifice of many of Saratoga's famous springs.[2] Inscription on the statue reads "To do good and serve my fellow man."[3]

The Spirit of Life is one of French's finest "active" statues. The flow of the angel's robe and the position of her right foot gives a great deal of motion. Several smaller castings of the statue were made and authorized by French; six were made between 1923 and 1931.

It is considered a contributing object to the National Historic Landmark District that includes the park and Canfield Casino.

gollark: ```The loneliest is a.(Abs function)(returns the absolute value of 'a thought')Abs takes a thoughtIf a thought is greater than nothingGive back a thoughtElseGive back nothing without a thought(end Abs function)(Pow function)(returns 'all' raised to 'your base')Pow takes all and your baseIf your base is emptyGive back the loneliest (end if)If your base is less than nothingPut nothing without your base into your baseGive back the loneliest over Pow taking all, your base (end if)Put the loneliest into the onePut all into the magicWhile the one is smaller than your basePut all of the magic into the magicBuild the one up (end while)Give back the magic(end Pow function)(some constants for Sqrt function)The wing is strange.My song is knickknack. lumberjacksPut Pow taking my song, the wing into the dawnHalf is flummoxing. huzza(Sqrt function)(iterates until the estimate update is less than 'the dawn')Sqrt takes a mountainIf a mountain is nowhereGive back nothing (end if)Put a mountain into a molehillPut a molehill into the seaWhile Abs taking the sea is greater than the dawnPut a molehill into the seaPut Half of a molehill with Half of a mountain over a molehill into a molehillPut the sea without a molehill into the sea (end while)Give back a molehill(end Sqrt function)```A simple maths library.
gollark: https://github.com/dylanbeattie/rockstar
gollark: ```Midnight takes your heart and your soulWhile your heart is as high as your soulPut your heart without your soul into your heartGive back your heartDesire is a lovestruck ladykillerMy world is nothing Fire is iceHate is waterUntil my world is Desire,Build my world upIf Midnight taking my world, Fire is nothing and Midnight taking my world, Hate is nothingShout "FizzBuzz!"Take it to the topIf Midnight taking my world, Fire is nothingShout "Fizz!"Take it to the topIf Midnight taking my world, Hate is nothingSay "Buzz!"Take it to the topWhisper my world```A fizzbuzz program.
gollark: !>!
gollark: ¶↓ßŧ#

References
  1. Daniel Chester French: The Spirit of Life
  2. Saratoga's Tribut to Spencer Trask; Unveiling of "The Spirit of Life," Completing the Memorial to Him, The New York Times, June 27, 1915
  3. The Spirit of Life

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